Created by members of amateur radio club Q.R.M. / Q.S.T., this exceptional silent film shows activities at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio in 1929. The start of the film shows the elaborate parade with various floats. At :52 the air races are seen with the Bendix towers. At 1:16 German pilot Ernst Udet’s U12 Flamingo biplane marked D-822, thrills the crowd. At 3;21 the Flower Pageant, another parade, is shown. The date is August 24, 1929. At 4:14 the parking lot for the races is shown — packed with visitors. At 5:22 the film starts to show the activities of Q.R.M., the radio club which handled many of the scoring and reporting aspects of the event. At 5:40 the master control gang is shown. (Incidentally, Q.R.M. in radio parlance means “man-made interference.”) HAM radio club W8BXB operated the radio equipment seen at 6:10 and following. At 7:09 one of the radio pylons is shown in detail. At 7:24 heaps of dry batteries are shown, which powered the radios. At 8:40 as the air races commence, radio operators call in the positions, and fouls, of the various contestant aircraft.
At 13:30 the dirigible USS Los Angeles is shown arriving at the air races. At 13:30 the “high hats” corps of Army fliers is shown. At 14:03 three biplanes pass overhead, with two garlands strung between them. At 14:13 Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh are seen at the event. Lindy hand starts his plane’s propeller. Lindy poses for the cameras at 15:06 with a group of Army fliers. At 15:30 the man standing to his left is possibly Charles Rosendahl of the USS Los Angeles. At 15:40 a GoodYear blimp flies overhead. This is the Defender, a successor to the famed “Pilgrim” — GoodYear’s first blimp.
The film ends with shots of the Q.R.M. team including President J.P. Turner. At 17:00 some of the men drink a toast at a job well done while the “radio widows” look on.
The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that took place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew rapidly during this period; the National Air Races were both a proving ground and showcase for this. The races included a variety of events, including cross-country races originating in Portland, Oakland, and Los Angeles, that ended in Cleveland.[3]:79–81 Also included were landing contests, glider demonstrations, airship flights, and parachute-jumping contests. The more popular events were the Thompson Trophy Race starting in 1929,[3]:83 a closed-course race where aviators raced their planes around pylons, and the Bendix Trophy Race across most of the USA starting in 1931.
In 1929, Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, Ohio were the start and end for the Women’s Air Derby (nicknamed the “Powder Puff Derby”), featuring well-known female pilots such as Amelia Earhart, Pancho Barnes, Bobbi Trout, and Louise Thaden. Thaden was the winner in the heavy Class D (engines with 510-810 cu. in.), while Phoebe Omlie won the light Class C (engines with 275-510 cu. in.). This was also the year for the first female pylon race, the winner of which was awarded the Aerol Trophy beginning in 1931.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
