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Aviation History
1911
1911 - 0659.PDF
JOLY 29, 1911. deviation was to the west. He descended at Eccleston Golf Course for petrol, and made Manchester about 5.20. The crowd at Man chester had been waiting from early morning, and when " Beaumont" did arrive enthusiasm knew no bounds. "Beaumont" stayed about an hour before restarting on the concluding stage of the section, but Vedrines, in his anxiety to cut down the lead of his rival, only rested for three-quarters of an hour. His desire, however, to once more secure the leading position was doomed to disappointment, for on getting to Bristol he again mistook the aerodrome, and thereby lost over an hour. In view of the fact that Bristol is a centre of the aviation industry, it is not surprising that the inhabitants are keen enthusiasts, and from the early hours of the morning a great procession was seen making its way to the ground which had been selected for the control station. They had waited patiently all day, their interest between whiles being sustained by a series of exhibition nights by Gordon-England on a Bristol biplane. At 5 o'clock came the news that " Beaumont" had reached and left Manchester, and this was the signal for cheering. It was not till half-past eight that a speck in the sky told of the rapid approach of " Beaumont" to Bristol. Almost as soon as he landed the people spread all over the aerodrome, and this proved to be the undoing of Vedrines. He sighted an open piece of ground at the back of the British and Colonial Aeroplane Co.'s Works, and concluded that must be the station. It was just on 9 o'clock when this happened, and over an hour elapsed before he was able to reach his official destination, the proper aerodrome then being lit up by acetylene lamps and flares to guide him in making a safe descent. Thus the third day finished up with "Beaumont" leading by ih. 15m. 9s. With regard to the other competitors, Valentine went over from Edinburgh to Stirling in good style, but in the next stage had to come down at Castle Cary, about 6| miles south-west of Falkirk, owing to losing his way in a rain-storm. In landing he damaged his propeller and rudder, but was able to get these repaired, and reached Glasgow at a quarter past eight in the evening. Hamel also progressed, but only as far as Edinburgh, his ill-luck per sistently pursuing him. He made an early start from Newcastle, but the force of the wind brought him down at Innerwick, on the Firth of Forth coast, and on getting away again he had to descend at East Linton, Haddingtonshire, through engine trouble. He, how ever, reached Edinburgh just before eight in the evening. Cody left Harrogate, and after flying for just over two hours landed at Langley Moor, near Durham, as he was not sure of his position. Unfortunately in landing he damaged the chassis of his machine, and so could not go on. Astley continued from his overnight stopping place near Kettering, and reached Harrogate, while Lieut. Reynolds also arrived there. The latter, while making a trial flight preparatory to starting again, so much damaged his machine as to compel him to remain for the night. Pizey, having repaired his machine, attempted to get on from Melton Mowbray in the evening, but the biplane fell and was damaged once again, while Blanchet, who had patched up his Breguet at Streatley, had only proceeded a few hundred yards on a fresh start, when the machine dashed into a tree and was completely wrecked. [/DGJIE] THE FINISH OF THE RACE ON WEDNESDAY. The concluding stages of the race lay across more or less easy country, while the distances between the controls were comparatively short. Both Vedrines and " Beaumont" had borrowed part of their 12 hours' compulsory resting time in the Brighton stage, and so deter mined to try and reach Brooklands in the one day. They were astir in the small hours of Wednesday morning looking over their machines, and at ten minutes to five " Beaumont" was given the signal to start, and getting away sharply was followed two minutes later by Vedrines. The latter again proved that the Morane was the faster machine, and arrived at Exeter 2 minutes before " Beaumont," at ten minutes past six. He was away again at a quarter to seven, while " Beaumont " did not start again till twenty minutes after, his engine requiring a little attention. A straight course was set for Salisbury Plain, where Vedrines arrived at ten minutes past eight to be followed about twenty minutes later by'' Beaumont." No sooner was '' Beaumont's " machine reported to be in sight then Vedrines was anxious to be away, and as a matter of fact he started for Brighton after resting only thirty- three minutes, just about ten minutes after his rival landed. About nine o'clock there was a sharp shower of rain at Brighton, and this probably kept the general public away, so that when Vedrines arrived at three minutes to ten the ciowd to welcome him was not very large. " Beaumont " did not leave Salisbury Plain until 9.47 and so was practically an hour after Vedrines in arriving at the Shoreham Aerodrome, which formed the control station at Brighton. He, however, had used up a good deal of his rest time and so was due to start before Vedrines on the last stage to Brook lands. He had 3 hours and 40 minutes to rest, and took advantage of this to have a little sleep and a rub down. Punctually at 1.28.15 he was in the air and winging his way to the Brooklands Motor Course, *here he landed after a flight of practically forty minutes. Vedrines was not due to start from Shnreham until 2.41, when punctually to time he was away, reaching Brooklands at nine teen minutes past three. On his arrival at Bmoklands, " Btaumont" was carried shoulder high, and after the officials had examined the seals, &c, on his machine and found them all in order he was declared to be the winner of the race and the ,£10,000 prize. " Beaumont's" net time for the full course of 1,010 miles was officially given as 22h. 2qm. 6s., and Vedrines' as 23I1. 38m. 5s., so that the plucky and clever French naval lieutenant won by ih. 8m. 59s. The news that the aviators were on their way to Brooklands soon caused a large number of people to make their way there, and among the first to greet " Beaumont " was Lord NorthclifTe, who also when Vedrines arrived presented him with a solatium of £200. The only other competitors to progress during the day were Hamel and Valentine. Hamel got away from Edinburgh at 3.38 a.m., and reached Srirling at a quarter past four, but on restarting for Glasgow he broke down at Clarkston, but was able to resume, and got to Glasgow just before noon, in time to see Valentine leave at one minute past twelve. He himself re-started on the journey south at a quarter to one. Valentine reached Carlisle at 4.12, but Hamel had to come down about 14 miles from Dumfries. TABLE OF COMPETITORS' TIMES, DISTANCES, &c. (UNOFFICIAL). F&inS| Pilot. No. | I 2 7 9 11 12 13 14 •7 19 20 23 24 25 27 28 30 "Beaumont" H. J. D. Astley C. Compton Paterson Jules Vedrines G. Blanchet Lieut. R. A. Cammell M. Audemars Jarms Valettin* ... ... C. P. Pieey..' C. H. Pixton S.F.Cody Olivier de Montalent Gustav Hamel Lieut. H. R. P. Reynolds B. C. Hucks C. T. Weymann ... Lieut. H. Bier and Lieut. C. Banfield Machine. Bleriot monoplane Birdling monoplane Grahame-White biplane ... Morane-Borel monoplane... Breguet biplane Bleriot monoplane... BleViot monoplane Deperdussin monoplane ... Bristol biplane Bristol biplane Cody biplane Breguet biplane Bleriot monoplane... Howard Wright biplane ... Blackburn monoplane Nieuport monoplane Etrich monoplane Motor. h.p. 50 Gnome 50 Gnome 50 Gnome 70 Gnome :... 80 Canton-.Unne 70 Gnome 50 Gnome ... 50 Gnome f.. 50 Gnome A 60 Renault .1; 60 Green 8oCanton-Unnd 50 Gnome 60E.N.V. ... 60 Isaacson ... 100 Gnome 120 Austrian- Daimler Hendon. Miles (28) n. m.$>. 0 2°r|J« 0 24 16 • y-*? O 2jr 52 O 19 48 O 26< 9 3 3i 5 0 25 13 0 22 41 , 0 48 0 0 27 9 0 25 18 0 29 24 0 21 45 1 41 56 2 15 4 0 58 17 2 6 27 Harrogate. Newcastle. Edinburgh. Stilling. (182) (68) (93) 1 (3D h. m. s. | h. m. s. 1 h. m. s. 1 h. m. s. 3 7 54 1 8 50 1 1 53 38 | 0 46 32 Delayed by fog. Reached Harrogate on Tues day evening. Retired at Hendon. 3 3 4 1 1 8 22 j 1 47 35 1 0 39 36 Retired Streatley, wrecked on trees. Retired through machine capsizing at Wakefield. Retired at Hendon through fog. 1 3 16 57 I 1 22 0 , 2 2 0 0 38 48 Damaged machine at Melton Mowbray. Retired at Spoffoith, damaged machine. 4 56 30 Langley Moor, Durham, damaged 1 chassis. Wetherby. 7 40 43 i 2 32 8 | 15 9 0 | 0 32 9 Machine damaged at Harrogate. Barton, engine trouble. Retired Leeds, damaged chassis. Retired Codicote, near Hatfield, damaged chassis. Flying No. Pilot. Glasgow. Miles (22) i Carlisle. (86) Manchester. (103) Bristol. (141) Exeter. (65) Salisbury. (83) Brighton. (76) Brooklands. L. (4°> h. m. s. 1 h. m. s. 1 12 32 o 39 51 1 14 1 o 36 45 1 9 14 "Beaumont" Jules Vedrines James Valentine h. m. s. 0 45 3 1 34 14 II O O h. m. s. 2 13 30 1 57 4 4 17 o h. m. s. 4 3° 55 4 35 49 h. m. s. 2 55 7 4 1 33 h. m. s. I 21 28 1 17 45 h. m. s. 1 26 55 I 22 29 66l
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