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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0697.PDF
JULY 26, 1928 dropped out. The Autogiro had a forced landing nearNuneaton, and damaged its " windmill," but had otherwise made good time. The second machine was Ragg's Avianwho crashed at Atterstone. More retirements occurred on the Nottingham leg ; therewere Stammers, Le Poer Trench, Birt (down near Minworth), while Smith and Boyes collided on the ground and damagedtheir machines, and II. W. G. Jones, who crashed while taking off at Birmingham. This left 26 in the race, all of whom got safely to Leeds andNewcastle. An examination of our table will show that the arrivals at Newcastle were beginning to bunch together—there were matters of seconds only between many of the competitors, some even tied. As was expected, therefore, the finish of section 1 wasremarkably close, the first 10 arriving within half an hour of each other, and the remainder within about 1 hr. 44 mins.Miss Spooner. who had been leading up to Newcastle, was overhauled by nine other competitors, the first to arrivebeing Atcherley, on the Gloster " Grebe." The order of arrival of the others is shown in our table. Two failed toturn up at Renfrew—Soden. on the Genet-Moth, who had a forced landing near Glasgow, and Warwick, on the Anec IV. The latter caused considerable anxiety, for no news of himwas forthcoming until Monday morning, although an exten- sive search had been carried out during the two days, in whichaeroplanes took a part. His body was subsequently found, by a shepherd boy, oni the summit of Broadlaw Hill, nearPeebles, with the wrecked Anec close bv. The cause of his the only retirement was that of Cantrill, who had to make aforced landing on the last leg near Crowborough. Handicapping was again good, and as the end approachedcompetitors began to draw together and adjust their positions. As on the previous day, Miss Spooner led at each Control,except Lympne, where Hope arrived just one minute in front ! She was overtaken at the last minute, in other words !Most of the others arrived within an hour and a half, and a good finish at Brooklands was assured. Meanwhile, we were waiting at Brooklands, where otherexciting happenings were in progress. For one thing, the Junior Car Club's 200-mile race was providing entertain-ment throughout the afternoon (we can still hear Malcolm Campbell, the winner, thundering round the track). Then,also, the Royal Air Force, in the shape of No. 23 Squadron (Gloster Gamecocks) gave us a series of really beautiful exhi-bitions of formation flying and aerobatics. They were, in several respects, quite the best we have seen. Shortly before four o'clock a machine unexpectedly, to someof us, appeared over the aerodrome and after a few frolics landed. It was Hope's " Moth," and there was a rushtowards his machine ; he had not " crossed the line," how- ever, and was hurriedly sent up again to do so, which he didat 3.55-11 p.m., but only just in time, for as he was being recepted " a second machine came in. This was Uwinson the " Bristol," and 1 min 40 sees, later in came Miss Spooner in her " Moth " (fitted, incidentally, with the original" Cirrus 1 " engine) which has already about 900 thours' flyingto its credit. The King's Cup Air Race : Flying Officer Atcherley (left) and his passenger in the Gloster "Grebe" (Armstrong- Siddeley " Ja- guar ") which was the first machine in at Glasgow on Sec- tion I of the race. [" FLIGHT" Photograph crash is at present unexplained. It is highly probable,however, that the pilot encountered mist or other trouble and endeavoured to land, and in doing so over-ran the levelground on the summit of the hill, and somersaulted down the slope, for the wreckage of the machine was scattered overa distance of some 200 yards. Thus, at the end of Stage 1, 24 out of the 36 startersreached Renfrew, where they stayed the night and departed on the second stage early next morning. Miss Spooner'sflying time for the day was 7 hrs. 8 mins. 42 sees. (75J m.p.h.), while Uwins took 4 hrs. 15 mins. 32 sees. (127 m.p.h),and Hope 5 hrs. 29 mins. 38 sees. (99i m.p.h.). Summers, on the "Avenger,' averaged 138 m.p.h. over Section 1. The Finish.—All 24 of the previous day's arrivals set outfrom Renfrew on the 555J miles journey to Brookiands. Miss Spooner was the first away, and Summers was again Scratch-man. This second section was carried through more or less without incident. The speeds were higher than on theprevious day, and again the light 'planes made good progress. The first to meet with serious trouble was Atcherley whoso far had been making good progress, and looked like being a winner. On the way to Liverpool, a flying wire broke,necessitating a forced landing near Chester. Eventually, he arrived at Liverpool with a temporary repair made withstring ! However, the replacing of the wire caused con- siderable delay, and he lost his chance of winning, although hecarried on to the very bitter end. Competitors otherwise made all the Controls—Liverpool,Bristol, Hamble, and Lympne without serious mishap, and Miss Spooner was naturally accorded a very enthusiasticreception, for her performance was an exceptionally fine one —third in the King's Cup and first in the Siddeley TrophyTour One of the first to congratulate her was Hope, and they enjoyed a merry " chew " together. Uwins, it appearedmight have overhauled Hope, but for the time lost on the previous day, when his compass went on strike and put him agood bit off his course—he employed the sun for the rest of the race ! Within the next half hour seven more machines came inin the following order—Broad (" Moth G ") ; de Havilland (" Moth G ") ; Butler (" Moth X ")—a few seconds betweenthem ; Jackaman (" Moth X ") ; Bonham-Carter (Parnall " Imp ") ; Norman Jones (" Moth X ") ; and Noakes on theBlackburn " Lincock." This batch was a regular " Mother's Meeting." After this the remaining 13 came in in spasmodic bunchesuntil nearly 7 o'clock. Meanwhile, in the Paddock, Sir Charles Wakefield presented the King's Cup to the still-smiling W. Lawrence Hope, and then Mr. J. D. Siddeley handed over his trophy to Miss Winifred Spooner—who hadmeantime changed into a smart costume (sorry, lady readers, we caaaot describe it !). On being informed of the result of the race. His Majestythe King sent the following message through Lord Stamford- ham—" The King thanks you for informing His Majesty ofthe result of the King's Cup air race and asks if you will convey his congratulations to the winner, W. L.Hope." 641
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