Who would have thought that a pair of estranged Irish brothers from County Dublin would become the pioneering spirits behind so many developments in aviation history? But they were exactly that. It was of course Lord Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail, who in 1909 generously offered £1,000 to the first pilot to fly the Channel. His brother, and fellow press baron, Lord Rothermere came on the scene later with his 'wake-up' gift to the nation in 1935 of 'Britain First', Bristol's sleek, twin-engined Type 142 beauty that was 50mph faster than the best of the current RAF fighters. There were many other contributions, too. To commemorate Bleriot's triumph 50 years later, in 1959 the Daily Mail proposed and superbly organised a race for the swiftest journey between London and Paris, centre to centre. They called it the Bleriot Anniversary Race. The efforts of the challengers were daring, sometimes funny, often dramatic and caught the imagination of the world. Their split-second adventures made headlines everywhere. The tense battle between crack entrants using jet fighters, helicopters and powerful motorcycles (see Aeroplane January 2016) was followed by millions.
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