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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0971.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 11, 1931 Schneider Teamat Calshot By MAJOR F. A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. '"A Bomb-shellC ALSHOT.—Thursday, September 3.—The course ofSchneider training seldom runs smooth, and those who followed the training at Calshot two yearsago remember well the alarums and excursions which kept us all on tenterhooks from day to day. Butfor sencation, surprise, despair and controversy, few days have ever surpassed to-day. It was a wild morning, and obviously no flying waspobsible. Correspondents did not hurry down to Calshot. They made the best of the amenities offered by the hotelsin the neighbourhood. From the dull lethargy which pervades a non-flying day they were roused by a suddenringing of telephone bells. The Fiery Cross had gone round, and in a few moments all the correspondents werestamping on self-starters and speeding over the execrable roads in this part of the New Forest, heading for Calshot.Spit. There the astonishing news was learnt that both Italyand France have practically withdrawn from the contest. That morning Lt. Col. Bitossi, the- Italian Air Attache,had called upon Com. Perrin, Secretary of the Royal Aero Club, and shortly afterwards a similar call was made byLt. Sala, the French Air Attache. The latter was accom- panied by M. Liore, Vice-President of the Aero Club ofFrance, who specially crossed over from Paris the night before. Both deputations made practically identical state-ments. They announced that unless a postponement of at least six months was granted it would be impossible forthe Royal Aero Club of Italy and the Aero Club of France to send their teams to compete in the SchneiderTrophy. The grounds given for this decision were, in each case, bad weather, bad luck, and loss of pilots and o' air-craft. The two clubs added that they hoped that Great Britain would consider the postponement on account of thegreat efforts made by Italy and France to develop high- speed flying, and because it would not be satisfactory toGreat Britain to win by a mere " walk over." I heard that the French also made an appeal to Great.Britain to act under Article 8 of the Regulations of the Contest, which reads as follows : —'' The Trophy may becompeted for every two years between April 1 and November 15. The Club holding the Trophy must fix,before January 31 of the year preceding that of the com- petition, a period of six weeks, in the course of whichthe contest must be held. The exact date shall be announced at least tlree months before the contest. " If within the prescribed period no competitor makesa start, the Official Stewards shall decide whether the con- test should be annulled or a further opportunity to startgiven." It is for lawyers to interpret this article. On the faceof it, it seems to mean that, while the Royal Aero Club has no power to grant a postponement, nevertheless apostponement migh\: be arranged if the British pilots simply did not turn up to face the starter on any day during the six weeks' period. I think, however, that, ifsuch action were taken (which is not in the least, likely to happen) it would not be in accordance with the spiritof the regulations of the contest. Such action would smack of evading the regulations by trickery—takingadvantage of the letter to break the spirit of the regula- tions.I understand also (and this may or may not be very important) that the representatives of Italy and Francewere invited to put it down in writing that if the post- ponement were not granted their entries would definitelybe cancelled, and that they both declined to do so. The following is the text of the communique issued bythe French Air Ministry on September 3: — have made it impossible to bring the machinesnave maae u niipossiuie to onug me mac nines u> int.' aesirea degree 01 perfection. In these conditions the French and Italian .\finisters of Air,after consultation, have come to the common decision that due care for the safety of the pilots and the reputation of their countries' products do notpermit them to enter machines which have been prevented by circumstances from being completely ready. General Balbo and M. Dumesnil express theirunqualified admiration for the works accomplished by their respective pilots and technical experts, but consider it their duty to beg the RoyalAero Club of Italy and the Aero Club of France to request the Koya! Aero Club of Britain to postpone this great international competition until nextsummer. Meanwhile they have both given orders that the research and experimental works now in progress should be continued without interrup-tion. In the afternoon there was a long consultation betweenthe Air Ministry and the Royal Aero Club, at the close of which the club informed the Aero Clubs of Italy andFrance that under the regulations it had no power to grant a postponement of the contest. This answer, of course, isquite correct, and in accordance with the attitude adopted in similar circumstances in 1929. The following is the text of thu, reply sent by the RoyalAero Club to the Aero Club of France: — September 3, 1931.SIR,—I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your communication of even date through Monsieur Liore with regard to the date of the SchneiderTrophy Contest and the proposed non-participation of the-British team this year.The matter has been carefully and most sympathetically considered by the Schneider Committee to-day, and enclosed I beg to hand you copy of aletter, which has been addressed to the Royal Aero Club of Italy, in which it is pointed out that the International Rules, which govern the Contest,do not permit of any alteration in the date, other than such day-to-day postponements as may be considered necessary by the Stewards on accountof adverse weather conditions. to agree to <i cancellation 01 mis cumt-si anu me iioumig 01 a new contestin 1932 (and there is no guarantee that the Federation would agree to this procedure) would be equivalent to the Royal Aero Club proclaiming itselfas not being ready to compete on September 12, which, in fact, is not the case.Further, the Royal Aero Club gave its undertaking to hold the Contest between the dates August 4-September 19, 1931, and this undertaking Wasgiven at the request of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and at the instance of one of the challenging nations. 909
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