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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0998.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 18, 1931 to occur to the mind. For air correspondents the practical question became the length of time which their papers would require them to wait for the event to come oft. Everyone went to bed that night in a very disturbed frame of mind. ., : The Turn of the Weather Luck Next day, glorious to relate, the sun was shining in at my bedroom window—and presumably into all other windows which faced the east and had their blinds up. As soon as 1 was up 1 went out on to the front. There was a strong northerly wind blowing and the white horses were prancing all over the Solent. Nothing could be done for an hour or two ; but the sky was blue and the visibility was wonderful. During the morning the wind went sharply round to due east, and as the day wore on it turned again to a northerly and finally a north-westerly direction. Gradually the white vanished from the sea, and it became all blue. Before mid-day we gathered once more on the pier head. News came over that Capt. Jackson had promised a possible period soon after 12.30. When Capt. Jackson becomes positive, one may put one's shirt on its coming off. At 11.15 or so the " Atlas " seaplane took off from near Calshot and flew round the course. I was told that it held Orlebar and Squadron Leader Bailey, who were out to look at the water. It was followed by the " Firefly," I believe with Boothman in the cockpit, as he had a very special interest in the landing possibilities of the water. At the same time we observed an " Avro " towing a glider over the Isle of Wight, no doubt well south of the prohibited area. The result of the pilots' reconnaissance was favourable, and it was definitely decided to hold the contest. At noon Mr. Loader and Mr. R. Hall left the pier in a speed boat to man the St. Helen's pylon destroyer, where they were to be official observers. •'•'"'--" The Seaworthiness Trial Meanwhile binoculars had been turned in all directions to see what could be seen from the pier. As the wind moderated, so a haze began to obscure the distance. It was nothing like so thick as the heat haze which hung about during the race two years ago. Just to the left of the Ryde Middle pylon we could see three white shapes above the water. Prolonged inspection showed them to be the three seaplanes on their pontoons. Presently, as we looked again in that direction, only two were to be seen. S. 1595 had been launched with Boothman in the cockpit, and now could not be picked up at all. The starting ship, H.M.S. Medea, was also out of sight from the pier, hidden behind some other vessel. The loud speaker began to get busy, and Squadron Leader Helmore announced that he thought the gun would go soon. Shortly afterwards he said that it had gone. The report was inaudible, and I for one could not see the puff of smoke. Nor could I pick up the seaplane as it made its first take-off and the formidable feat of landing with the ONE OF THE FLOATING TURNING POINTS : Pylons erected on destroyers formed two of the turning points, the third being placed on the foreshore at West Wittering. 0 60 160 240 [•"M5LI5H MILES- Diagram showing distances from London which Schneider winners could have covered in one hour's flying at the winning speed. full load of petrol on board. So far as I am aware, Boothman had never before landed a machine with absolutely full load of petrol. The feat had been done once in practice, by Stainforth I believe. However, Boothman made no bones about it, and started his ordeal by a fine display of quality as a pilot. I do not know whether Orlebar had drawn lots in deciding the order in which Boothman, Snaith, and Long should take their places in the contest. Perhaps the fact that Long had had a bit of a cough just before may have accounted partly for putting him in the second reserve machine. He must have got over the cough, or he would not have been allowed even to consider flying a racing seaplane, for a cough in one of those machines might easily cause a crash. At any rate, no criticisms could be made about Boothman's handling of the machine in the preliminary trials. The Start I got the machine into my binoculars as it rose the second time and turned and climbed in order to dive towards the starting line, namely Ryde pier. The gun went at 13 hr. 2 min. 10 sec. The machine crossed the line at 13 hr. 10 min. 19 sec. In my opinion the greatest thrill of a Schneider is the crossing of the line at the start. Everything has been quiet just before, with an atmosphere of tense stillness. Suddenly we get movement, noise, speed, breaking in on that stillness. The resonant boom of the Rolls-Royce begins to rise in the distance, and gradually and swiftly swells until it fills the whole air. It seems to come at once from all directions at once, and to pervade one's whole being. All eyes are turned in the direction of the sound, and a triangle of dots is discerned in the air. At a speed which seems incredible the dots swell and take definite shape. The two lower dots become the amazingly large floats, the upper one the slim fuselage. The blue and white streaks come diving down for the pier to cross the line at maximum speed. Two years ago the British seaplanes flew well out to seaward of the pier head. Boothman is not doing that. He is crossing at a point behind the pier house, about a third of the distance towards the shore. That is luck for many of the spectators. Ryde pier is very full of people, though the space is so ample that there is no crowding. Many had paid for deck chairs on the very front of the pier and hail settled themselves down an hour or more ago to be sure of a good view out to sea. To their disgust, a small passenger steamer had tied up at the pier head right in front of them, and declined to move in spite of a ven broad hint from the loud speaker. The captain was distinctly unpopular with the folk on the pier. As 936
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