Cars In Books, January 1986
Having read about Osbert Sitwell 's motoring in this feature, a reader in Seaford has drawn my attention to "Great Morning" (Macmillan and the Book Society, 1948) in which there…
Sir,
Knowing your interest in flying between the wars, especially in light aeroplanes, I thought you would like to have the enclosed photostat copies of two price lists of aircraft offered for sale by Brian Lewis & Company. I cannot date them exactly but would think the first was issued in late 1934 or early 1935 —the clue is that a DH Gipsy Major Moth is included, with the information that it was built for but not used in the England-Australia air race which was in October 1934. The second list was probably 1936—the last page (hard to read) refers to a demonstration DH Hornet Moth “now available”, which would be about that year (fully equipped, ex works £875).
In your feature “Cars in Books” in April you wrote that the Duchess of Bedford had one of the last of the open-cockpit DH Gipsy III Moths. I seem to remember that she bought the air race Gipsy Major Moth mentioned above – registration letters G-ACUR – and had it converted back to a more normal specification. I wonder if this was the aeroplane in which she was lost in 1937?
P.E. Gordon-Marshall – London, SW7.
[The lists are most mteresting. £200 for a Hermes II Spartan to £1,000 for a new racing Gipsy Major Moth. Ed.]