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Aviation History
1925
1925 - 0751.PDF
NOVEMBER 12, 1925 Messrs. Ide, Orville Wright, Griffith Brewer, and Hon. GCunJitfe. P-S.—The Valerian under Commander Usher has been vervgood. He immediately placed at our disposal a dozen of the crew, who have been at the hangars all day from the timethey arrived and have been of great assistance. He has also placed signallers, etc., at our disposal whenever required. The Race Baltimore, October 27.—As I anticipated, the race waspostponed on Saturday owing to the wretched weather. It rained all day with heavy sea and wind, and any idea of arace was soon abandoned. At 10.30 a.m. the contest com- mittee called the race off, and as the weather reports were hopeful, however, that enthusiastic optimist Hinkier wasout at the hangars before it was light, and waited all day hoping against hope that a brief lull would enable him tocomplete his tests. Unfortunately, his wait was in vain, as, instead of improving, the weather got steadily worse.The rain ceased about midday, but the wind increased in force, and by the evening was blowing a hurricane. Thecrews at the hangars had to stand by all day and night to keep a watch on them, as every moment it was expected thatthey might be blown down and the machines wrecked. It was Sunday evening that at Baltimore the U.S. Navy expe-rienced the disaster when 17 of their machines were dashed from their moorings and broken up in the sea. On the Monday morning the weather had improved. PERSONALITIES AT BAY SHORE PARK : In 1, the American and British team captains, Commander Wick and Captain Wilson, are seen discussing the chances. 2, shows Lieut. Ofstie having his parachute strapped on. 3, Lieuts. Cuddihy, Doolirtle and Bettis (the winner of the Pulitzer race) talking things over. 4, is a group of Schneider Trophy pilots, including, from left to right, Lieut. Bettis (not in the Schneider), Lieut. Conant, Lieut. Cuddihy, Lieut. Morselli, Lieut. Ofstie, Capt. Broad, and Lieut, de Briganti. none too good for the Sunday, it was decided to postponethe race until 2.30 on Monday, October 26. Hinkler, who, as I stated, had not been able to completehis tests the previous day, was up at daybreak on Saturday and down at the hangars, ready to get his machine through.The waves were very high and the wind high, but this did not daunt him, and he actually taxied the machine about half amile before he finally decided that the risks of breaking up the machine were too great. The weather got worse as theday wore on, and no attempt was made by anyone to take the air. In the evening the dinner which had been arranged by theFlying Club of Baltimore for the presentation of the cup was altered to an informal supper. It was well attended,but, beyond a few words by the Governor of Maryland, during which he expressed the regret of all at the accidentto the Supermarine-Napier S.4, there were no speeches. Sunday opened even worse than the Saturday. Ever 751 Hinkler—with whom daybreak rising had become a habit—was again at the hangars as soon as it was light. He found the sea still very heavy. However, owing to the shortnessof time available, he had to make his tests immediately. The water near the shore appeared to be all right. When makinghis first landing Hinkler found the water very rough indeed, and on landing the machine got one or two bad shocks whichbent one of the struts, making the undercarriage structure collapse. The machine slowly sank on to the floats. Noserious damage was done. Hinkler did not even get a wetting, and the machine was towed to the slipway, leavingBritain with one solitary competitor. By 10 a.m. the weather had improved so that the contestcommittee decided to hold the race. Owing to the disaster to the Navy 'planes the previous evening, the demonstrationswhich were to have taken place at 12.30 had to be curtailed considerably. We were, however, entertained to someformation flying by D.H. machines, some parachute dropping
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