On 2 October 1913 Blackburn and Dr. Christie won the Wars of the Roses air race, a competition between the Yorkshire-built Type I monoplane and the Lancashire-built Avro 504 biplane, piloted by F. P. Raynham with Humphrey Verdon Roe as passenger.
"[15] Christie had a house on the German-Dutch border, knew Hermann Göring and his deputy Erhard Milch personally, and traveled easily in Berlin society.
There was also X, a senior minister in the German Air Ministry who provided information on the Luftwaffe, Dr. Y, "Fish," and "Johnnie," who may have been Hans van Herwarth.
"X" provided projected Luftwaffe force numbers for 1936 and 1937, info on aircraft production rates, and technical information such as "engine modifications to the Dornier 17 bomber.
[15] In 1935, Christie arranged for Konrad Henlein, the leader of the pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party, to visit London and meet with Vansittart.
Henlein successfully used the visit to play the part of the reasonable statesman and to convince the British to put pressure on Czechoslovak officials to accede to the demands of the Sudeten Germans.