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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0503.PDF
AUGUST 6, 1925 he had landed with plug trouble, but had put matters rightand had started again. As he was disqualified for a wrong start, it was rather a pity there was no way of letting himknow that he might as well give up. By the end of the third lap Douglas had gained the lead, with Hinkler somedistance behind, James arriving in between on his second lap, and Boyes and Kingwill in their original places. Itwas fairly evident that, barring accidents, Douglas would secure first place, but it seemed to be a toss-up whetherHinkler or Boyes would be second. At the finish Douglas came in as first, well in the lead,and by diving under Hinkler, Boyes gained second place, Hinkler being third. The rest of the machines, including the" Cygnet," completed the race. Thus the Royal Aero Club's special prize of /25 went to Douglas in this heat. The second heat started at 12.15, and during the start thewind freshened considerably. This heat also had drawn seven entries, and it further followed the example of thefirst heat in that one of the seven was a non-starter. This was Col. The Master of Sempill, who had taken the Pandermonoplane for a flight along the course in the morning, and who had forced landed in a field, an oil pipe having broken.The Pander was brought back by road, but it was found neces- sary to replace a cylinder, as well as replace the fractured " Brownie," made an excellent start, and lost no time ingetting under way to the first turning point, doing a steeply- banked left-hand turn around the tent with the left wingbut a couple of feet from the ground. Chick, on the Farn- borough " Hurricane," made a good start, as did also Courtneyon the " Pixie II," but Comper, on the Cranwell C.1..A.3, made a wide circle over the sheds before finally setting off,it appearing as if he did not quite feel at home in his machine, as might well be the case, considering the short time hehad been able to fly it previously. During the first lap Courtney passed Chick, Haig and Uwinsmaintaining their relative position. Uwins was flying low, and his turns were a joy to behold. Coniper returned, but insteadof starting on his second lap he came in and landed. It was ascertained later that his engine had shown signs ofoverheating. Courtney was going very strong, and in the second lap he passed ahead of I'wins. Chick took his turnsrather wide on t.he " Hurricane," certainly much more so than did Courtney on the " Pixie 11." The third time roundCourtney flew much lower and made a splendid turn. In the finish Haig crossed the line first, flying rather high, withCourtney second, almost under him. and Chick third, also flying low. Thus, the £'25 prize in this heat went to Squadron-Leader Haig. o o o o o o o o o o H o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O1O O O O O O O Prominent Visi- tors at Lympne : Air Commodore Brooke- Popham, Col. Moore- Brabazon, S i r Samuel Hoare, and Sir Geoffrey Salmond. oil pipe, and the work could not be finished in time for the second heat. This was naturally a keen disappointment to Mr. Pander, as it also robbed his machine of an opportunity to fly in the final, which was reserved for the machines gaining first, second and third place in the heats. The entrants in the second heat and their handicap allow- ances were Pilot Machine and Engine Handicaprn. 13 1<>9 1218 0813 5829 Scratch Haig . . Pixie III, Bristol " Cherub "Parker .. Satellite, Bristol " Cherub" Uwins .. Bristol " Brownie," " Cherub "__Chick . . " Hurricane," Bristol " Cherub " Sempill . . Pander, AnzaniCourtney. . Pixie II, Blackburne . . Comper .. C.L.A.3, Bristol " Cherub "..Haig on the Pixie III, made a good start, although the wind had veered around to west and the machines had tohead for the hangars and take-off up hill. Parker, on the Short " Satellite " had difficulty in " unsticking, and wasstill on the ground when he approached the south-west corner. Seeing that he could not get off, Parker swung around to thenorth! parallel with the sheds, and took off down hill, finally returning and rounding the tent. Uwins, on the Bristol The six machines which had qualified for the final of thisevent were, therefore, the D.H. 53 (G-ElfflX), the D.H.53 (G-EBHZ) and the Avro " Avis " from the first heat, and" Pixie III," " Pixie II " and the " Hurricane " from the second heat. The handicaps were not changed for the final,and they need not, therefore, be repeated. By the time the final was about to start, the weather becamethreatening, and during the start and later there were some very heavy showers, which rendered the visibility very poor,apart from the damage they did to propellers. There was some little difficulty in getting the engine of the " Pixie III "to start, but finally it was got going just before the flag fell. Hinkler, as usual, made a beautiful start, and the two D.H.53'salso got away well, especially G-EBHZ. This machine,' incidentally, broke an oil pipe, which was put right actually onthe starting line, and fortunately the engine started on the very first swing of the propeller, just as the flag dropped.Both Chick on the " Hurricane " and Courtney on the " Pixie II " went a bit wide at the start, but in view of their relativelyhigh wing loading this was scarcely to be wondered at. At the end of the first lap the first three machines retainedtheir position, but the " Hurricane " overtook the second D.H.53 (G-EBHZ) just before crossing the line, and " PixieII "• was very close behind. By a splendid bit of cornering 503
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