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Aviation History
1930
UNTITLED0 - 0054.PDF
PLIGHT, JANUARY 3, 1930 SEAPLANES On the right is shown the Super- maxine S.5 (Napier " Lion ") on which Flight-Lieut. Webster won the Schneider Contest at Venice in 1927 at an average speed of 281-7 m.p.h. A machine of the same type, but fitted with a newer type engine, flew in the 1929 Schneider, average speed 282-1 m.p.h. ON the left is a photograph of the Short " Singapore "flying boat (two Rolls-Royce " Condor " engines) onwhich Sir Alan Cobham mad*; his flight around Africa. It may be recollected that while at moorings at Malta the machine was badly damaged by the very rough seas and the gale, and that some delay in the flight resulted. Owing to the very simple type of metal construction employed by Short Brothers, however, the repairs were carried out in a much shorter time than would have been required to repair a wooden flying boat, and Sir Alan was able to proceed on his way and complete his difficult flight. The flight served a number of purposes, apart from the immediate objects of surveying sections of Africa for the possibility of establishing regular air routes. The technical lessons learnt were many, and these are being applied in later Short machines with good results. The " Singapore " exhibited at the Olympia Show last summer indicated some of the improvements made as a result of Sir Alan Cobham's flight, and others are being incorporated in a still later machine now under construction, but about which nothing may be said at the moment beyond the fact that the number of engines is being increased and a more modern type of engine than the " Condor " installed. The next photograph shows the Gloster-Napier IV Schneider racer of 1927. This machine, it will be recollected, suffered from engine trouble in the 1927 Schneider Contest, and it thus failed to complete the course, but for all that it may be said to represent a high-water mark in racing biplane design. It will be remembered that for his 1929 machine Mr. Folland chose the monoplane type. The Gloster-Napier IV and the Supermarine S.5 were used as training machines for the 1929 race, and one S.5 competed in the contest and completed the course, piloted by Flight-Lieut. d'Arcy Greig. The D.H. type 61 was originally known as the " Canberra " from the first one, which was sold to Australia. A more recent version has been given " Giant Moth " as its class name, and it was on one of these that last summer Sir Alan Cobham did his great tour of Britain. That machine had been christened " Youth of Britain." The photograph above shows a D.H.61 sold to Canada undergoing tests on the Medway at Rochester. FLIGHT Photos. 54
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