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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0732.PDF
NOVEMBER 5, 1925 A MOTOR-BOAT TRIP ON THE MAGOTHY RIVER :Through running out of petrol the trip nearly resulted in shipwreck. On board the boat may be recognisedBiard, Jones, Folland and Mitchell prove as fast. Owing to the accidents there has been nopossibility of ascertaining whether this is so or not. The pilots of the two Gloster-Napier Ill's were Capt. H. Broadand Mr. Bert Hinkler, but as the latter crashed his machine in the navigability tests, only Broad's machine was left inthe Race. Both the British challengers were fitted with the specialNapier racing engine, which is a development of the famous Napier " Lion." As ourphotographs show, the racing engine has been considerably t" cleaned up," and directdrive is employed, the speed being such that the tip speedof the propeller actually somewhat exceeds the speedof sound. The Napier racing engine is exceedingly light forits power, and is reported to develop round about 700 h.p.During the visit to the States the Napier engines do notappear to have given any trouble whatever. The two Italian challengersare Macchi flying-boats, type M.33, fitted with Curtiss D.I 2engines. The machines are of the normal flying-boat type,• but have cantilever mono- plane wings. The Curtissengine is mounted high above the flying-boat hull, anddrives a tractor airscrew. It had been expected that this type of machine would not handlevery nicely on corners, but actually in the race it was found that de Briganti took his corners very nearly, if not quite,as well as did Doolittle. The Macchi is, however, a much larger machine than the British and American, and in therace it was hopelessly outclassed. The Race Originally the 1925 Schneider trophy race had been plannedfor Saturday, October 24, but in the afternoon of that day a strong gale was blowing, and it was decided to postponethe race until Monday, October 26. Although the gale continued throughout Sunday, it moderated to such anextent that by Monday afternoon conditions were almost ideal. The machines which had passed the navigabilitytests on Friday, October 23, were the three American defenders, the two Italian challengers, and Capt. Broad'sNapier-Gloster III British challenger. According to the original programme, Capt. Biard was to have started first,but as his machine was out of the running, the first man to cross the starting line was Lieut. " Jimmie " Doolittle onhis Curtiss-Army racer, who crossed the starting line at 2.38 p.m. The remaining competitors started at five-minute AT BAY SHORE PARK :Doolittle, Mrs. Doolittle, and Mr. AT BAY SHORE PARK : The group in front of the Supermarine-Napier S.4 includes Lieut. Guy Townsend (U.S. Navy), Bert Hinkler, R. J. Mitchell, T. Hilde- brandt (of the Baltimore Flying Club), Capt. Biard, and Major W. D. Tipton, Secretary of the Baltimore Flying Club intervals in the following order : Capt. Broad, Lieut. Cuddihy,Lieut. Ofstie, and Lieut, de Briganti. The second Italian pilot, Lieut. Morselli, was scratched at the last moment,as his machine had developed engine trouble. Almost from the very beginning it became obvious thatDoolittle's machine was very much faster than any of the others, and he added to thisadvantage by taking his corners at full speed, andso close that he was said literally not to have wasteda yard at the turning points. Capt. Broad took histurns very wide, as did also the American pilotsCuddihy and Ofstie, while de Briganti took his com-paratively large Macchi around the turning points inexcellent style. Doolittle's speeds for thefirst six laps were as follows ; 223-157, 228-25, 230-239,231-28, 231-705 and 232-168 m.p.h. Cuddihy's speedsover the first four laps were: 211-590, 216-254,This group includes Lieut. Capt. Broad, Capt. BiardMitchell 219-404 and 219-404 m.p.h.In the last lap Cuddihy, who up to the end of the sixthlap had averaged 220-452 m.p.h., had to make a forced descent about a mile from thefinishing line, having run out of petrol. Lieut. Ofstie's speeds for the first five laps were: 207-959,213-453, 215-264, 217-155 and 218-307 m.p.h. respectively, but in the sixth lap he also was forced to alight, his enginehaving run dry and seized. As regards Capt. Broad, figures are available for the firstfour laps only. These were made at the following speeds : 194-275, 196-432, 198-104 and 198-921 m.p.h. Lieut. Doolittle's speed for the whole course was 232-573m.p.h. Capt. Broad's average was 199-169 m.p.h., and Lieut, de Briganti's average was 168-444 m.p.h., so that theplacing was: Doolittle first. Broad second, and de Briganti third. The Americans, having won the Schneider Cup twice insuccession, will become the permanent holders of the cup should they win it again next year, ajid if Great Britainreally intends' to make a bid for the trophy, work should be commenced at once on the design of our 1926 challengers.Not only so, but if possible this year's machines should be repaired so that pilots may have an opportunity of practisingon them, not only for straightforward flying, but also for practising cornering. ........ . ... 732
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