There had been 64 entries from 13 countries posted for the race, though in the event only 20 of these were at the start line in front of 60,000 spectators who, despite the early hour - it was a 6am start - had made the journey to see them off.

Along the way to the finish line at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne there were five compulsory control points where they had to land - Baghdad in Iraq, Allahabad in India, Singapore, Darwin on the north coast of Australia, and Charleville midway across the continent.

There were several intermediate checkpoints where the pilots could put down if they needed to, at Marseilles, Rome, Athens, Aleppo, Bushire, Alor Star, Batavia, Rambang (in Sumatra), Koepang (in Timor), Newcastle Waters, Cloncurry and Narrowmine.

Having been first away the Mollisons were first to Baghdad in 12 hours 40 minutes, followed by the other two Comets, the KLM DC-2 and the Boeing 247D.

The Mollisons left the race at Karachi with mechanical problems, leaving Black and Scott in Grosvenor House to take the honours in Melbourne in 70 hours and 54 minutes.