The Puss Moth of Jimmy Melrose at Mildenhall before the London to Melbourne Air Race. Flying solo, Melrose finished as seventh and as third on handicap, winning the second handicap prize. Roscoe Turner's Boeing 247, with not race number 57, but the Heintz Tomato Ketchup number 57, is also seen. Photo from: Civil Aviation Historical Society (Australia) / Geoff Goodall collection

The ninth and last finisher in the London to Melbourne Air Race, arriving on 3 November. Flown on to New Zealand, but shipped back to Australia for resale. Served as an airliner as VH-UUO with a tour of duty in the RAAF as A33-1 in 1940-42. Crashed on a service to Tooraweenah, NSW in 1952. Photo from: John Hopton / Geoff Goodall collection

The two Dutch contenders in the London to Melbourne Air Race, the famous Uiver and the Pander S.4 PH-OST, seen at Schiphol before the start. Both aircraft flew to Mildenhall on 16 October 1934, with the KLM machine doing a 'normal service' to Croydon first. Photo from: KLM

The sole Viceroy was a special edition of the AS.6 Envoy built for the London to Melbourne Air Race. Here it is having its compass swung. The pilot, Neville Stack, worked for Aircraft Exchange & Mart at Hanworth, mentioned on the nose. Stack and Sidney Turner only got as far as Athens and sued the manufacturer over the aeroplane's malfunctions. G-ACMU ended up in the Spanish Civil War. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

John Livingston won 41 air races in this modified, clipped-wing aircraft which was originally a Monocoupe 110. He sold it to Jack Wright of Utica, NY and it took part in the London to Melbourne Air Race flown by Wright and John Polando. They had to abandon at Calcutta. Aircraft sponsored by the maker of the Baby Ruth candybar. (The company denied that the bar was named after famous baseball player Babe Ruth.) Interestingly, the swimmer, actress and aviatrix Ruth Wells Barron was the plane's next owner. Unfortunately she was killed in it on 3 July 1936 after it caught fire over Omaha, Nebraska. Photo from: Flight

The Courir was the first British production aircraft with a retractable undercarriage. Alan Cobham tried to fly the prototype G-ABXN to India non-stop with aerial refuelling but only made it to Malta in September 1934. A month later G-ACJL took sixth place in the London - Melbourne Air Race, flown by Sqn Ldr David Stodart and Sgt Pilot Ken Stodart. The type was also used as small airliner. 16 examples built. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The green DH.88 Comet of Owen Cathcart Jones and Ken Walter refuelling at Darwin during the London to Melbourne Air Race. Cathcart Jones is standing on the wing. G-ACSR finished fourth, over 36 hours behind the red Comet of Scott and Campbell Black. Photo from: Museums Victoria

KLM's Uiver took second place in the London to Melbourne Air Race, despite an emergency landing on the racecourse in Albury. This photo was almost certainly taken in Rome on the first day of the race. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

The wooden Postjager mailplane, renamed Panderjager for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, is seen at Allahabad, India with a bent left propeller, having suffered a left main gear collapse on landing on 21 October, the second day of the race. It was able to depart on the 26th but crashed into an unlit vehicle on take-off and was destroyed. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

This picture shows the original Douglas DC-2, PH-AJU, de "Uiver". An enormous crowd gathered at the airfield of Darmo, Surabaya. The plane made a stop over during its return flight from Australia to Holland after it participated in the Londen-Melbourne race. There are more than enough volunteers to push the DC-2 to its parking spot!

The DH.88 Comet was designed especially for the London-Melbourne air race at short notice and this was the first example to fly. Flown by Jim Mollison and Amy Johnson the aircraft, then wearing the name Black Magic, took the lead but an unscheduled landing in Jabalpur forced the couple to use fuel from the local bus company which wrecked the engines. The race was won by the red Comet, G-ACSS Grosvenor House. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

This picture shows the original Douglas DC-2, PH-AJU, de "Uiver". An enormous crowd gathered at the airfield of Darmo, Surabaya. The plane made a stop over during its return flight from Australia to Holland after it participated in the Londen-Melbourne race.

This is the genuine PH-AJU Uiver. After winning the handicap section of the Mildenhall to Melbourne air race, the aircraft made several goodwill flights before departing back to Batavia (Jakarta). In 1934, Cootamundra was a hub for air mail services from Europe, which is why it was one of the towns to receive a visit. PH-AJU crashed in poor weather near Rutbah Wells, Iraq, on December 20, 1934.