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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0462.PDF
/•• •: • - 7Jf (• '• MuMk^.Z* JULY 7, 1921 THE SPAD "BERLINE Side view. landing speed, but in view of the fact that the wing loadingis approximately 9.5 lbs./sq. ft., the landing speed must be somewhat high. The machine is now in use by the Messageries Adriennes, alternating with the older types, and probablyit is the intention of the management to substitute it, as requirements demand, for these. ENTRIES FOR THE AERIAL DERBY UP to the time of going to press, twenty machines have beenentered for the aerial Derby, which is to take place on July 16 at the Hendon aerodrome.There is little information which may be published at the moment. The Welsh Aviation Co., Ltd., haveentered with a Sopwith Camel, 130 Clerget engine, which will be piloted by Capt. Broad. As the Camelis not exactly a projectile compared with modern machines, it may be presumed that this machine has beenentered mainly for the sealed handicap. The same applies to the B.E.2e entered by Capt. Alan Curtis. With its 90 h.p.R.A.F. lA engine this survival will probably hurtle along at somewhere around 70 m.p.h., but it should have a chance inthe sealed handicap and one greatly appreciates the sporting effort of Capt. Curtis. The same may be said regardingsome of the other entries. For instance, it is gratifying to find that Mr. A. S. Butler, who not long ago flew his privately-owned machine—a Bristol Tourer—to the Riviera and back, has entered and will pilot this same machine in the Derby.Mr. D. L. F. Walker has entered and will pilot a Sopwith Pup. Equally sporting efforts are the entries of Maj.-Gen.Sir Sefton Brancker, K.C.B., of an S.E.5a to be piloted by Flight-Lieut. Longton, and a similar machine entered andto be flown by Mr. F. J. Ortweiler. Col. C. E. C. Rabagliati and Maj. S. H. Long, D.S.O., have entered a MartinsydeF.4A with 300 h.p. Hispano engine. This machine will be flown by Maj. Long. So far the only two French entrants are a Nieuport,which will be piloted by the famous French pilot Sadi Lecointe, and a " deMonge V.a," to be piloted by de Romanet.The Nieuport, which has a 300 h.p. Hispano engine, will pro- bably be similar to that on which Sadi won the Gordon Bennettrace at Etampes. She lands very fast, naturally, and one sincerely trusts that Sadi will not have to make a forcedlanding anywhere in a small field. Concerning this aspect of the race it is comforting to remember that there are nowaround London a goodly number of aerodromes, so that in case of engine trouble pilots should have a good chance ofbeing able to carry on until within reach of one or other of these aerodromes. A certain amount of mystery surroundsthe mount of Count de Romanet. This excellent sportsman has for years been piloting Spads, and one wonders at thissudden change-over Co a " de Monge." Is this, one wonders, a bit of camouflage to keep people guessing as to the trueidentity of Bernard de Romanet's mount. The engine is the same as that of the Nieuport, i.e., a 300 Hispano, but theseries number V.a rather suggests a different design. Of the British firms appearing in the list the Avro Companymakes an excellent show with no less than four machines. Two of these will be " Babies " with 35 h.p. Green engines.One of these will be piloted by the famous Bert Hinkler, whose exploits on one of the Avro " Babies " have won world-wide admiration. The other is to be piloted by Capt. Tully. After the successes of the Avro " Babies " in previous Derbysone hopes to see them doing well again in the forthcoming one. The other two Avros entered are in the nature of " dark horses " in so far as they have not previously flown inpublic. The pilots for these two machines have not yet been announced, but one of the machines will have a Wolselev" Viper " engine of 180 h.p., and the other is fitted with the famous Napier " Lion " of 450-500 h.p. This machine isexpected to be very fast indeed, how fast it is impossible to sav at the moment, but it will, we think, give Lecointe someuneasy moments. As in last year's Derby the Bristol Company will be repre-sented by a " Bullet," fitted with an improved edition of the Bristol " Jupiter " engine of 400 h.p. This machine will bepiloted by Mr. Uwins, the Bristol test pilot. We believe that the machine has smaller wings than had last year's, andit will probably be found to be a good deal faster than was the previous one. This entry is mainly interesting on accountof the appearance of the " Jupiter " engine, of which, in its improved form, great things are expected. W'hen the BristolCompany took over the Cosmos Engineering Co., it also took over Mr. Fedden, who designed the Cosmos engines, and weunderstand that Mr. Fedden has since been busy improving the engines, and that now the " Jupiter " is a really fineengine of high power and low weight. It is, of course, of the radial type, with air cooled cylinders. In addition to the Avro-" Lion " and the Bristol " Bullet,"we have a promising British entrant in the machine entered by the Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. This machine, designedby Mr. H. P. Folland, will be flown by Mr. J. H. James. It is fitted with a 450 h.p. Napier " Lion " engine, and isexpected to be very fast indeed. No information may be published yet, but Mr. Folland is so well known as a designerof fast machines that one has great hopes for the Mars I, as the new ' bus is called. Two more machines of Mr. Fol-land's design are entered ; these are both British Nieuports, 300 " Dragonfly." One of them is a Nieuhawk, practicallyidentical with the " Nighthawk," and the other is a " Gos- hawk," similar to that which was to have taken part inthe Gordon Bennett race last year, but which, in spite of a very plucky cross-country flight by J. H. James, arrivedat Etampes too late to be allowed to enter in the race. A machine whose appearance will be watched with interestis the " Alula " monoplane, 300 Hispan*. This machine is, we believe, the Martinsyde " Semiquaver " fuselage fittedwith a wing of the " Alula " type, as designed by Mr. Holle, of the Commercial Aeroplane Wing Syndicate, whose designfor a " Pelican " 4-ton air lorry will be remembered. This machine is to be flown by Frank Courtney, who is alwaysgame to fly anything on wings or (almost) without, and who won the race last year on the Martinsyde " Semiquaver."He will thus be sitting in the same fuselage this year, although we hope his exit from it will be less spectacular at the endof the race. The Oxford and Cambridge teams started practising onMonday last at Waddon, when Maj.-Gen. Sir Sefton Brancker, Lieut.-Col. Maclean and Com. Perrin were present to receivethem. 462
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