To use one of those legendary word problems from grade school, two trains leave cities 3,000 miles apart at the same moment, travelling 50mph. Just as they do, two flies take off from the headlight of one train and head for the other train, one travelling 75mph, the other 100mph. Which one will fly farther to meet the train? Turn the exact problem around with the trains heading AWAY from each other, and it is the opposite fly that will fly farther to reach the other train.

It’s more complicated to figure this between Earth and Mars since they aren’t truly moving toward or away from each other, they’re merely following differing eliptical orbit patterns at different speeds. Even the Moon is referred to as “Average distance” as it’s movements are in direct relation to the Earth.

So my thought is that by whatever method he figured this, the estimate was that D’Arcy would travel less than the average of 40 million miles because he could make the trip quicker and take advantage of some perceived oppotunity to travel a shorter distance than White, who would travel more than 40 million miles.

Then again, maybe not. We can’t consider the source, because there’s no author listed. Physics expert or instant expert? Honoring the boast of “Written so you can understand” on a subject like this can cause distortions that interfere with accuracy. Eienstein’s work in 1929 really hadn’t sunk in, meanwhile. There was much still to come. Did the writer know who Eienstein WAS? Just how far had Eienstein progressed on relevant material by then?

Far simplier for me to point out the Supermarine S.5 pictured with the Napier Lion engine was a part of the RAF’s ‘High Speed Flight’ unit, formed as a result of the British embarassment in the Scheider Trophy race. An old article on THAT would be fascinating, as this plane evolved into the Supermarine Spitfire, but also because The Flight succeeded at turning failure into success and winning the Scheider Trophy 3 straight times, thus keeping it outright. When the job was done in 1931 Supermarine was put to work on creating what amounted to a short range racing plane with guns to catch incoming bombers that had crossed the English Channel. Although the sturdier Hawker Hurricane chot down more planes over the course of World War II, the Spitfire probably saved more lives.

D’Arcy Greig was a minor figure, he didn’t fly the victorious S.5 in 1927 and was added to the team for 1929 to fly the then outdated plane in case the newer S.6′s encountered problems, and they did. But as Flight Officer H.R. Waghorn’s malfunctioning plane settled into the water, he was unaware that he had already managed to complete the required distance and had won the race. Greig lost his battle with the top Italian entry and finished 3rd, at least if I remember right. I can’t find confirmation online.

I’m curious just when Greig flew 319.57mph and set a record, I’d expect it to be in a race. Waghorn won the 1929 race at 328mph, and I’m unaware of prior races Greig may have competed in. November 4, 1928, 3 months before the article he made timed test runs up to 322mph, but none at exactly 319.57mph. His second run, the first of 4 kept on record, was his fastest, so the pair of 319′s after were never the fastest a human had travelled. Perhaps our writer was working from faulty memories and wasn’t qualifying it as such. (Oh gee, I’m so glad I mentioned I can’t be certain D’Arcy was actually 3rd in the race.) Would that extra 3mph take 0.53 years off his time to get to Mars?

But, indeed, they’re missing something. Such as the speed at which the Earth orbits the Sun.