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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0592.PDF
OCTOBER 4, 1923 THE SCHNEIDER CUP INTERNATIONAL SEAPLANE RACE America Scores a Well-Deserved Win LIEUT. RITTENHOUSE, of the United States Navy, has won theSchneider Cup Seaplane Race on a Curtiss-Navy twin-float seaplane, with 465 h.p. Custiss D-12 engine, at the astonishingaverage speed of 177-38m.p.h. (land miles). His fastest lap— the last—was covered at a speed of 181-17 m.p.h. The per-formance is one of which America may be justly proud, and, The Schneider Cup Race Win- ners : On the right, Lieut. Rit- tenhouse being congratulated by his friend and compatriot Lieut. Irvine, who was second. The in- sets show the two Curtiss- Navy machines used. Irvine's corner- ing was, if any- thing, better than Rittenhouse's, but No. 3 was the slower machine. let it be said at once, America well deserved the win whichshe scored. The American machines were extraordinarily fine pieces of design and construction, the organisation wasexcellent, and the pilots handled their mounts with con- summate skill. Add to this the fact that the weatherfavoured the America^ representatives, and it will be seen that the conditions generally favoured the American team.This is not to say that the American representatives were entirely free from trouble. As a matter of fact they were not,having lost one of their racing machines in a test flight a few days before the race, while the spare machine suffered fromengine trouble and was unable to start in the race. But even so the two machines which did compete in the race were somuch faster than any of the other entrants that there was never any doubt, after the first lap, as to who would winapart from accidents. Thursday at CowesThe morning of Thursday, September 27, was fine, with practically no wind and a calm sea. Everything was favour-able for the navigability and seaworthiness tests—in fact too favourable from the British point of view, as it was generallythought that if the day of the tests was windy, with a fair amount of sea running, the British Supermarine " Sea LionIII " would be at an advantage as compared with the American twin-float seaplanes and, to a smaller extent, withthe French boats. However, the conditions were extremely m •m Lieut. Irvine (in shirt sleeves in middle of boat) going ashore after securing second place in Schneider Cup. 592
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