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Aviation History
1924
1924 - 0654.PDF
OCTOBER 9, 1924 Cranwell biplane. First place in the race for the Grosvenor Challenge Cup and £100 Prize offered by Lord Edward Grosvenor, was secured by Bert Hinkler on the Avro " Avis," Bristol " Cherub " engine, and Sir Charles Wakefield's £50 Prize went to the second man home in this race, Mr. S. H. Gaskell, who was flying the Westland " Wood Pigeon" biplane with Bristol " Chenib " engine. The table given on p. 650 shows the number of marks awarded the various competitors at the closing of the Air Ministry Competitions, and is a copy of the scoring board as it appeared at 2.30 p.m. (the official closing time) on Saturday, October 4, except that the sequence has been altered. In the table the number of marks gained in speed-range, take-off and pulling up are given, but probably a better idea of the performance can be gained by quoting the actual dis tances, etc. The shortest distance required in order to clear the 25 ft. barrier was established by Uwins on No. 1 Bristol, who by skilful piloting succeeded in clearing the barrier after a run (from standing start) of only 215 yards. The marks were awarded at the rate of 1 for every yard by which the required distance was less than 450 yards, so that in this test Uwins scored 235 marks. Next best in this particular test was Piercey on the Beardmore " Wee Bee I," whose distance was 235 yards, while third was Raynham with a distance of 250 yards. The other Hawker biplane, piloted by Longton, took 269 yards, and the Parnall " Pixie," piloted by Douglas, required 301 yards to clear the barrier. In the alighting tests, in which the machines were required to clear a barrier 6 ft. high, and pull up in the shortest possible distance, the best performance was that of the Hawker biplane flown b ' Longton, which came to rest only 66-7 yards from the barrier. In this test 1 mark was awarded for every yard by which the distance required to come to a standstill was less than 150 yards. The second best pull-up was made by Douglas on the Parnall " Pixie " (No. 19) with a distance of 70 yards. Third was Raynham on the second Hawker biplane, with a distance of 72 • 67 yards. The Cranwell biplane took 99-4 yards, and the Bristol " Brownie " 102-6 yards. The winner of the main competition, the Beardmore " Wee Bee I," took the longest distance to pull-up, as might be expected from its design, requiring 124 yards before coming to a stand-still. In the low-speed test the slowest machine proved to be the Parnall " Pixie " flown by Douglas, whose minimum flying speed was as low as 37-22 m.p.h; In connection with the low-speed tests it should be pointed out that these were flown in sets of four, two up-wind and two down-wind laps, and that this fact, although theoretically not affecting the results, actually did have the effect of increasing the low speed some what, tie course being rather a difficult one, the ground being so sloped that the up-wind laps had to be slightly climbed, while in the down-wind laps the pilots were going down hill. The next best figure for slow flying was obtained by Raynham on the Hawker biplane (No. 15) whose speed was only 37-42 m.p.h. Uwins on No. 1 Bristol " Brownie " was third with 38.73 m.p.h. Piercey got his low-speed down to 39.66 m.p.h. on the Beardmore "Wee Bee," and Longton or No. 14 Hawker " Cygnet " was highest with 43.95 m.p.h. With regard to the high-speed test, it is significant that but two machines were able to pass this, the rest having failed to score any marks owing to the fact that their engines would not stand the strain of doing two sets of five laps each. Several machines succeeded in doing their first set of five, The " Office " of the Beardmore " Wee Bee I " is reached by hinging back the central portion of the leading edge, as shown in this photograph. but had to abandon the attempt during the second set. Thus only Piercey and Uwins got through the complete high speed test, and consequently theirs are the only performances to be officially " logged." Piercey's top speed average was 70-11 m.p.h., but it should be pointed out that this was established early in the week, and that at the time a strong wind was blowing, while the fact that Piercey was not going " all out " should also be taken into consideration. Some what similar remarks also apply to Uwins, whose top speed was logged at 65 • 19 m.p.h. The week's best officially recognised performances may be briefly summarised as follow.^: Greatest top speed : " Wee *3 -.E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E m H 13 E E m H m Discussing the prospects at Lympne : Mr. A. V. Roe, General Brancker, and Mr. Hubert Scott- Paine in charac teristic attitudes. H E E E E E E 654
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