sentences:  There were no races during World War II (1939–45), and the contest did not resume until 1949.The race was abandoned in 1951, due to bad weather.In 1953 a crowd of 10.000 watching the King's Cup Air Race meeting at Southend-on-Sea Essex, saw a mid-air collision in which John Crowther, a hotelier from the Marine Hotel, Tankerton, Kent, was killed.