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Aviation History
1927
1927 - 0776.PDF
^OCTOBER 6,11927 and his engine exhibited a hearty crackle as he entered the starting straight. The note of his exhaust appeared to be considerably louder than that of the other Supermarine- Kapier S.5, and he swept past the line at a speed that was obviously faster than either of the Macchi-Fiats. About this time the Macchi-Fiat No. 2, piloted by Magg. de Bernardi, was found to be missing, and some anxiety was felt as to what had happened. Soon it was learned that he had been compelled to make a forced landing near Malamocco, owing, it is now understood, to the failure of his lubrication system, and a consequent engine seizure. This early set-back to the Italian "hopes" was sufficiently bad in itself, but it was followed shortly afterwards by even greater misfortune. Capt. Ferrarin. who was piloting the Macchi-Fiat Xo. 7. crossed the timing line at 3 o'clock, four minutes after receiving his getaway signal at Canale Tre Porti ; and it appeared, both from his speed and the note of his exhaust, that his machine was not behaving in a manner that was entirely satisfactory. He passed the tribune fairly high, and appeared to take the obtuse turn at Malamocco satisfactorily. Then to the astonishment of all present, it was seen that he had turned, and was making his way down the inside of the course at slow speed towards Canale Tre Porti. He had retired ! topic of much discussion during the past few weeks—the cornering question. As was expected, the two teams exhibited sharply-contrasted methods in taking the two acute turns of the course. All the British pilots took these turns rather wide, and extremely fast, using a simple " bank " the whole way through. The Italians, on the other hand, approached the corner somewhat closer, and employed a climbing turn, which, though pretty to watch, appeared to cost them a deal of actual speed. They finished the turn well past the vertical, and, after straightening out, commenced a long dive in order to pick up their speed again. In the second lap the recorded times were as follows :— Flight-Lieut. Kinkead, fi mins. 43 sees. ; Flight-Lieut. Webster, 6 mins. 37 sees. : Capt. Guazzctti, 7 mins. 5 sees. ; Flight-Lieut. Worsley, 6 mins. 50 sees. A particularly exciting incident occurred when it was observed that the Supermarine-Napier S.5 N.219 (Flight-Lieut. W'orsley) and the GI>>ster-Napier IV (Flight-Lieut. Kinkead) were flying close together round the Porto di Lido turn. After they had straightened out, a terrific race ensued along the straight past the Tribune, and it came somewhat as a surprise to see the Gloster-Napier biplane actually pass the monoplane opposite the " F.xcelsior." At this point the Gloster-Napier IV appeared to be running in great fortn, m & m £ m m m m m m m m m s m m m £ S The Italian De- fenders: The Fiat engine in- stalled in one of the Macchi M.52 monoplanes. With the cowling removed a good idea of the in- stallation is obtained. ffi m m m m m m He managed to make a successful landing after crossing the mole, and it was later learned that again engine trouble was the cause of his early collapse. This disaster left only Capt. Guazzetti, on Macchi-Fiat No. 5, to fight out the Italian cause, but from that time onward the result of the race, barring accidents, was a foregone conclusion. The British machines were already proving themselves vastly superior, both for speed and in cornering, and the lap times which were by- then appearing on the indicator board, told their own tale. In the first lap Flight-Lieut. Kinkead, on the Gloster- Napier IV, had clocked 6 mins. 59 sees. Magg. de Bernardi, on Macchi-Fiat No. 2, registered 7 mins. dead. Then Flight- Lieut. Webster, Supermarine-Napier S.5 N.220, came along with the splendid time of 6 mins. 38 sees., an average speed of 452 kms. per hour. Capt. Guazzetti accomplished his first lap in 7 mins. 13 sees, and Flight-Lieut. Worsleyin 6 mins. 59 sees. It appeared obvious that Fhght-Licut. Worsley, on the ungeared Supermarine-Napier S.5 N.219, was flying some- what throttled down, in accordance with the excellent " team " spirit that has actuated the British pilots throughout the whole contest, " nursing " his engine in case of any- possible mishap to the other Supermarine-Napier S.5. By the time all competitors (excepting, of course, Capt. Ferrarin) had completed their first lap, it was possible to record some definite data on a problem that has been the and. as was expected, put up a remarkably fast time on the third lap. This time was officially announced as 6 mins 26 sees., but later it was refuted, and Kinkeads time for the lap given as 6 mins. 45 sees. The lap times for the third circuit were as follows :— Flight-Lieut. Kinkead, 6 mins. 45 sees, (corrected; ; Flight- Lieut. Webster, 6 mins. 39 sees. ; Capt. Guazzetti, 7 mins. 3 sees. ; Flight-Lieut. Worsley, 6 mins. 48 sees. Capt. Guazzetti still continued to lap consistently, but his speed and cornering were obviously no match for either of the three British machines. He continued to employ the climbing turn. At the half-way mark the prospect appeared to be that of a British 1, 2, 3 victory, but during the Gloster-Napier's fourth lap it was noticed that Fit.-Lieut. Kinkead's speed had fallen off somewhat. This was confirmed when the board announced the times for the fourth lap, which were as follows : — Fit.-Lieut. Kinkead, « min. 46 sees. ; Fit.-Lieut. Webster, 6 mins. 33 sees. ; Capt. Guazzetti, 7 mins. 19 sees. ; Fit-Lieut Worsley, 6 mins. 50 sees Both the Supermanne-Napierr- were running very consistently throughout. In the fifth lap the speed of'the Gloster-Napier IV appeared to drop still further, and the machine was watched very anxiously by the British section of the crowd at the Tribune. At this period of the race, also, the cowling of Fit.-Lieut. Webster's Supermarine S.5 had worked loose, but the t 693
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