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Aviation History
1930
UNTITLED0 - 0066.PDF
PLIGHT, JANUARY 3, 1930 '->', -t THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY CONTEST THE photographs on this page are mementoes of variousSchneider contests, No. 1 shows M. Prevost, who•won the first race for France. The meeting was held at Monaco in 1913, and the countries which entered were France and America. Prevost, in his Deperdussin monoplane "with 100 h.p. Gnome engine, was the only competitor to finish the course. His official speed over the 150 sea miles was 45 • 75 m.p.h. Pictures Nos. 2 and 3 belong to the contest 0^1919 at Bournemouth, which, owing to the sea mist and a series of mishaps, ended in a fiasco and had to be declared null. The flying boat in No. 2 was flown for Great Britain by Capt. Biard. The rules of that contest called for so many landings during the race, and this Supermarine struck some flotsam on the water and had to retire. The Italian Savoia boat (No. 3), piloted by Signor Janello, alone com- pleted the course, but in the mist it was not observed at one of the turning points, and could not therefore be declared winner. The pictures Nos. 4, 5, and 6 were taken at Cowes in 1923, but we prefer to think of the Supermarine Sea Lion (shown in No. 5) as the winner of the 1922 contest at Venice. On each occasion it was piloted by Capt. Biard. Nos. 4 and 6 show the American navy's Curtiss racer, which, piloted by Lieut. Rittenhouse, carried off the cup in 1923 at Cowes. This was not only the first American win, but it was also the first entry by a Government department for the Schneider contest. Since that time the contest has been waged entirely between the Governments of the competing countries. In 1925 the American army successfully defended the trophy, and the winner, Lieut. J. Doolittle, is shown on the floats of his winning Curtiss in picture No. 7. This was the first year in which the speed surpassed 200 miles an hour, for Doolittle won easily at 232-57 m.p.h. This, however, was America's last win to date. Next year the Italian air force entered, and in the Macchi 39 the low-wing monoplane made its first appearance in Schneider contests. Photograph No. 8 shows the Macchi in which Maj. Mario de Bernardi won, at a speed of 246-496 m.p.h., at Hampton Roads in 1926. Since then the Schneider has been twice won by low-wing monoplanes, both belonging to the Royal Air Force, at Venice in 1927 and on the Solent in 1929. (FLIGHT Photos.)
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