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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0819.PDF
NOVEMBER 11, 1926 THE COPPA D'lTALIA Italian Light 'Plane Trophy Definitely Won by Czechoslovakia OWING to lack of space it has not been possible until now togive particulars of the competition for the Coppa d'Italia, which concluded with a high-speed test during the middle ofOctober, and which resulted in a win for Bican piloting an Avia B.H. 11 monoplane with Walter engine. This year'scompetition was the third, and the win by an Avia pilot resulted in the Coppa d'ltalia becoming the permanentproperty of the Milos Bondy firm of Prague, whose machine, piloted by the late Dr. Lhota, won the cup last year, and therules being that the winner of two out of three competitions retains the cup. For this year's competition three nations were represented :three Italian machines, two Czechoslovak machines and two German. The eliminating trials, which were held at Monte-celio, commenced on October 6 and included a low-speed test over a 3-km. course. The two Avia monoplanes went throughtheir tests on the first day, and on the following day the Udet machine completed its eliminating tests. In the afternoonDr. Lhota went for a flight in order to test his machine for climb and descent, presumably in view of a climb to 1,000 m.being a part of the high-speed test. On this flight, which was purely a test flight and not an official attempt in the competi-tion. Dr. Lhota was accompanied by his mechanic Volejnik, and then came down to an altitude of about 50 m. to cross thestarting line in flight, the other competitors following at intervals of 1 min. Sartori, on one of the Macchi machines,abandoned the race in the second lap and Canzini abandoned in the third circuit. In the meantime Bican continued lappingwith the regularity of a watch, and completed the 300-km. course an easy winner. The classification in the Coppa d'ltalia was according to thefollowing formula:— X = V, in which V,,, is the mean speed in kilometres per hour, i.e.,the distance of 301-5 km. divided by the sum of the times taken over the course and for the climb to 1,000 m. ; Vw<tv thehigh speed over the 3-km. course1; V,,,,,, the low speed over the 3-km. course; C,, useful load, which included pilot, passengerand ballast but excluded fuel and oil, and C, the total amount of fuel and oil used. In the following table particulars are given of the variousfigures obtained by the three machines which completed the high-speed course. By way of comparison, the figures WINNERS OF THE 1926 " COPPA D'lTALIA," AND PERMANENT HOLDERS OF THE CUP : On theleft the " Avia " B.H.11, with 60 h.p. Walter engine, on which Bican won this year's competition. The group on the right includes Bican, pilot of the machine, Kinsky, his passenger, and Kopexky, Secretary of the Aero Club of Czechoslovakia. •who, it will be remembered, was also with Dr. Lhota at theFrench competition at Orly. It is not quite clear what happened, but having reached a considerable altitude theAvia machine was seen to come down in an almost vertical •dive with engine running. The speed attained was, of course,very high indeed, and suddenly the wing fabric became •detached and the machine crashed into the ground at terrificspeed, Dr. Lhota and his mechanic being killed instantly. It seems incredible that a pilot of Dr. Lhota's experience•should deliberately carry out such a manoeuvre, and it has been suggested as a possible explanation that an elevatorcontrol may have broken. Whether this was actually so will probably never be known, but the particular Avia machinesused in the competition were not designed for aerobatics, and the makers of the machine, in fact, prohibited any kind ofaerobatics. It would therefore seem very unlikely that Dr. Lhota would deliberately dive the machine vertically with the•engine running at full throttle. The death of Dr. Lhota was a severe blow to Czechoslovak aviation, and cast gloom over theproceedings in Italy, further tests being deferred until October 12. On this and the following day the remainingcompetitors passed their eliminating tests, etc. The final part of the competition consisted in a high-speedtest over a triangular course of 35 • 5 km., preceded by a climb to 1,000 m. At the end of the first and second circuit of thecourse the maximum speed was measured over a 3-km. course. The first to get away for the climb and high-speed test wasBican on the " Avia," who at once made his climb to 1,000 m. obtained by the Messerschmitt monoplane with Bristol " Cherub," engine which took part hors de concours aje included in the table. Results Obtained in " Coppa d'ltalia "Machine . . . . Avia Macchi Udet Messers- B.H.ll M.20 U.12.. Walter Anzani Siemens Engine Pilot 60 55 80 chmitt* Bristol " Cherub" 35 Bican Rustici Sonning Von PlaceUseful load (lbs.) Minimum speed (m.p.h.) Time over courseClimb to 1,000 m. Total timeFormula speed (m.p.h.) Petrol Cons (lbs.)Oil cons, (lbs.) . . Total cons, (lbs.)Points scored Corrected high speed (m.p.h.) * Took part 1 528 2 407 3519 385 41-8 43 43-4 55-8 2 06 13 2 31 50 2 29 39 2 50 550 12 00 0 20 00 0 14 00 0 14 00 2 18 13 2 51 50 2 43 39 3 04 55 81-376-5 41280-62 1,968 65-274-2 4-478-6 1,010 68-6120 0 1611361 787 48-0 39-6 95-6 79-8 80-7 72-8 in competition hors de concours. 727
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