This Cape-to-Cape challenge seems too good to resist—there must be an angle here somewhere.
A man comes to London seeking his chance and sometimes it just hits you in the face. In the last few days, I was just reading the papers about air racing and the aviation writers kept quoting Alan Loughead's bit of wisdom, "It Takes a Lockheed to Beat a Lockheed." Well, guess I'd better find a way to get a Lockheed. (Wait. Come to think of it, there is no mention of how to beat a Beech, a de Havilland, a Douglas, a Northrop, a Percival, a Spartan, or even a FIAT.)
Well, as it happens I got a lead on a rebuilt Lockheed Model 12A Electra Junior. This particular plane dates from October 1936 and was owned by Continental Oil before crashing and having to be repaired by the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa during the Spring of 1937. Reportedly owned by a local oil driller, the aircraft became available and was ordered by an Australian businessman named Sidney Cotton for his photography company in London. He has had it painted an eggshell green—there is simply no accounting for tastes. At the moment, he is currently flying another Model 12 for his trans-European business flights. He has agreed to have the new ship entered in the Cup as a private entry and seems open to the publicity for his company Aerofilms.
....
This entry is a nod toward a most interesting man.
Australian Sydney Cotton (1894-1969) flew for the Royal Naval Air Service in WWI when he invented a cold-resistant "Sid cot" flight suit that was widely used by the military and civilians until the 1950s. After the war he returned to the family property in Tasmania (where pioneered the development of dehydrated soups), flew an aerial seal spotting service in Newfoundland, conducted rescue missions over Greenland and the North Atlantic, ran a patent introduction service, and dabbled successfully in the English stock market. In the early 1930s he helped develop and market a revolutionary color film for motion pictures and stills photography that sold under the name Dufaycolor. While the effort eventually failed (it was replaced by the more expensive but technologically superior Technicolor and Kodachrome), Cotton earned substantial capital gains.
By 1938 it was clear that the British government urgently needed aerial reconnaissance of German and Italian military and industrial centers. That year Cotton had started up a company making aerial surveys called Aerofilms, with offices in Wembley and flying from Heston. As one who regularly flew over Europe on business and thus having a natural "cover," he was offered the job by MI6 and accepted. ...
Cotton had been an unconventional individualist who was often right when well-placed opponents were wrong. Somewhat arrogant and conceited, he made powerful enemies easily, which cost him recognition and financial rewards. Yet, he was a man of considerable courage and energy, with a sharp mind and a flair for improvisation. In another age he would have made a splendid buccaneer.
A true hero for practitioners of aviation entrepreneurship ... such as Merc Air.
(If you are interested, please see the longer piece in the attachment.)
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Aircraft: Golden Age Simulations Lockheed 12A G-AGTL. To be flown in FSX.
Pilot: Mike MacKuen (MM)
