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[[Left Article]] Eyes of World's Air Minded Turn To Clover Field For Great Derby -- Event Declared Biggest Mass Speed Trial Ever Held; 17 Women Are Among List of Entries -- $25,000 IN PRIZES -- Tests Show Plane Flown by Gladys O'Donnell to Be Fastest With Limit of 171 Miles per Hour -- The eyes of the world's airminded are on Clover field today. Seventeen women and 46 men, the cream of America's fliers, have jammed the field and hangars with their speedy planes, and late today the final test handicap runs are to be hun as the last preparation for the start of the 2,400-mile race to Cleveland, Ohio, tomorrow afternoon. Biggest Mass Race Known as the Santa Monica-to-Cleveland sweepstakes air derby, it will be the biggest mass race in the history of aviation, another honor for the field from which started and ended the U. S. army world flight in 1924. All day yesterday planes roared and zoomed over the field running handicap races against time. Gladys O'Donnell, Long Beach girl flier, took the laurels for speed. Her ship, a Speedwing Waco, flown by a disinterested pilot, was clocked at 171.43 miles an hour as it raced twice over the two - mile speed course. More Fast Jobs A plane that will be raced by Lester Glasscock of Dunedin, Fla., was credited with a top speed of 134.33 miles an hour yesterday, and G. B. Granville of Springfield, Mass., will fly a plane that has been officially clocked at 144.29. At the bottom of the speed lists stands the plane owned by A.J. Edwards of Los Angeles. His ship was rated at 81.25. Louise Thaden, Pittsburgh girl flier, flying a ship made by her husband, was clocked at 134.50. Officials believe Mrs. Thaden and Mrs. O'Donnell will fight it out in the women's race. However, speed apparently means little in the race, flight officials pointed out. Even the slowest plane has an equal chance against the speediest because of the formula used in giving handicaps. Formula Explained Explaining the formula, flight officials said that a plane credited with a speed of 100 miles an hour, in flight for 100 miles, will win over a ship credited with a speed of 200 miles an hour if the slower plane flies the distance in 59 minutes and the speedier plane takes 30 minutes to fly the lap. California, Oregon, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, Massachusetts, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, New York, New Jersey and other states are represented by the fliers here. $25,000 in Prizes The race is schedules to start at exactly 2:31 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. At minute intervals the planes will take off. Top prizes in the men's division total over $6,000; the same for the women fliers. Best speed for the entire hop will be rewarded with a $2,500 automobile. Special lap prizes will swell the total prize money to over $25,000. The contestants will leave here for Calexico, the first overnight stop. Preceding the start of the race stunt flights and aerobatics are to be held. Two squadrons of six army planes from Marsh field are to fly over the field in battle formation before the start of the race. A nominal fee will be charged spectators at the gates and parking space inside the fenced enclosure will also be charged for. Junior Chamber of Commerce officials said today that everything is in readiness for the race. [[Middle Article]] DERBY PLANES WILL BE GIVEN THOROUGH TEST -- Pilots Begin Giving Machines Tryouts For Race -- SANTA MONICA, Aug. 18. - Three Army pilots, under the direction of Lieut. W. A. Maxwell, arrived at Clover Field today to begin a test of each ship entered in the National Sweepstake Handicap Derby, which starts from this city next Sunday. Included in the first contingent of flyers entered in the continental event are Henry A. Little of Philadelphia; Lester Glasscock, Florida; Marcellus A. King, Minnesota; W. J. Carr, Michigan; Eldon Tessma and Eddie Rowlands, Kansas, and Debbie Stanford and Jean Larene, Texas. Official route of the air derby to Cleveland as announced today includes the following stops after the takeoff from Clover Field: Calexico, Calif.; Phoenix, Tucson and Douglas, Ariz.; El Paso, Roswell and Amarillo, Tex.; Enid and Bartlesville, Okla.; East St. Louis, Mo., Terra Haute and Fort Wayne, Ind.; Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. Flyers will leave Santa Monica Sunday and will finish at Cleveland one week later. In preparation for the derby entrees were today stowing away in their ships jugs of water, chocolate, concentrated food tablets and boxes of matches in compliance with an order issued by C. F. Lienesch, derby manager. Because of the fact that more than 1000 miles of dessert flying confronts those who take part in the derby, the derby management issued orders for emergency rations in case of a forced landing. Each entrant will also be required to wear a parachute and will be given instructions in studying the path of the parachute in a great white circle on the ground for a marker if a ship is forced down in some remote spot along the course of the race. 53 FLYERS SIGN TO START IN AIR RACE SUNDAY Ten More Pilots Have Agreed to Enter Contest SANTA MONICA, Aug. 21.- Fifty-three men and women flyers were signed up today for the Santa Monica-to-Cleveland National Sweep-stakes Air Derby, and 10 others have signified their intention of entering the race, the largest roster of entrants in any previous transcontinental air event, race officials announced today. It was originally the hope of the flight committee that there would be at least 30 aviators in the derby, a quota that will probably be more than doubled next Sunday, when the contestants hop off from Clover Field. Those in charge of the race were today awaiting word from Governor Rolph and from Postmaster General Walter F. Brown, both of whom have been invited to preside at the races. Mr. Brown arrived at 9 a. m. today on the steamer President Hoover and is a guest of Ed Hafer, Santa Monica Junior Chamber of Commerce member. By nightfall William (Young) Stribling, defeated challenger for the heavyweight pugilistic crown, will probably have made his selection of a plane which he and his wife will fly in the race. "Young" Stribling left his own plane in Georgia and came to Southern California by train. He is an officer in the reserve flying corps in Georgia.
