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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0690.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 15, 1932 sport there is no fear and no favour. The best man must win, and if a prince's entry wins any public contest, the Derby or anything else, it means that that condition has been fulfilled. The Siddeley Challenge Trophy went to the third man in, Mr. W. L. Runciman, of the Newcastle Aero Club, flying his own " Puss Moth." Mr. Runciman flew a consistently good race and deserves all congratulations. It augurs well for the future when the sons of our rulers take to the air and prove that they have mastered the art of flying. Another thing which looks well for the future is the speed round the course made by the Avro mailplane. If only all our letters could travel about the Empire at an average speed of 176 m.p.h., there would be few critics of flying left. Yet the Avro mailplane is only the first of her class. The eleventh King's Cup race will go down to history as one of the fine weather events. Far be it from us to complain when this stormy island in the Atlantic is visited by a transient gleam of sunshine. It will pass all too soon, and then we shall be left lamenting. At the same time, it was difficult last Friday and Saturday not to reflect that on a gloriously fine day an aerodrome is not really the most desirable place. There is an absence of shade, and at Brooklands, in particular, the motor track does not help the free circulation of any breeze which may be wandering about. Consequently, we could not feel very indignant with all the millions of Lon doners who decided not to come to see the King's Cup Race. If they found cooler attractions on the open road, or on the river, or at the Lansbury Lido, who could blame them? There is, however, nothing new in the refusal of Londoners to come to watch aeroplanes racing on handicap. To us who live in the atmosphere of air craft and flying, the Hendon Display and the King's Cup are the two great events of the summer. To the London public there is between those two a great gulf fixed. They go to one in vast numbers and revel in it; they resolutely stay away from the other. This fixed determination has been manifested in all the eleven years since the first King's Cup Race, whatever the weather may have been, and it seems quite time that the Royal Aero Club should recognise the fact that handcap air racing does not appeal to Londoners, and that it is waste of time to consider the London public when making arrangements for the race. It has usually been different with the great towns of the North and the Midlands. Once the Royal Aero Club made Nottingham the start and finish of the race, and the crowd there was larger than is usually seen at a London aerodrome, though it was not so large as had been hoped. Still, in a number of years very large crowds collected at the Northern and Midland towns which were made con trols; and it has seemed to us that the Royal Aero Club might have easily exploited that fact. If, however, it is now believed that the one-time enthusiasm of the great provincial cities has evapo rated—and, of course, the various clubs have seen to it that air displays are now no novelty outside London—the best policy would surely be to neglect the public altogether. The main, if not the only, reason for holding a handicap race is to produce a close finish in the hope of stirring up popular interest. That hope has been proved vain, at least so far as London is concerned; so the question arises: Why make the King's Cup a handicap race? A handicap serves no useful purpose in the way of improving the breed of aeroplanes. A formula race would not appeal to the public, but neither has the handicap made any appeal. The formula race might at least do something to improve the breed of aeroplanes. It would mean that the King's Cup was a race for designers, and as such it might prove a very useful stimulus. It is a pity that there are so few seaplanes in the country, for a seaplane race would strike a new note, and might well arouse a real public interest. The public will go to the seaside when they will not go to a torrid aerodrome. In Great Britain we ought to have more seaplanes. We have plenty of yachting enthusiasts, and one would have thought that sea planes would appeal to them. As a maritime nation we ought to be most anxious to develop the use of seaplanes, and it is deplorable that so little has been done that way. Perhaps, however, the seaplane movement will come in time, and if it does, a mari time King's Cup should be a draw. One year sea planes did compete, and the finish at Lee-on-Solent was a very pleasant experience. In this year's race there was one very regrettable feature, and that was the number of private aero planes which chose to land at Brooklands while the racing was going on. Every possible step had been taken to inform all private owners and other private pilots of what they ought to do, and ought not to do, during the race, and it is difficult to believe that any of them were really left in ignorance. Even if they were ignorant, there is such a thing as common sense, and in Great Britain there is nearly always such a thing as a sporting feeling. Certainly some of the racers were baulked by private machines landing at Brooklands during the race, and the conduct of those pilots who were responsible for baulking them, however unintentionally, was hardly sporting. When all is said and done, the King's Cup of 1932 was a fine race, and the organisation at the controls and at Brooklands was very good. In the main, the piloting was also very good. Very few pilots strayed far off the course, and large numbers kept arriving at Brooklands and Bristol close together. This shows also that, in the main, the handicapping was quite good. On Friday afternoon 35 machines arrived at Brooklands in 35 minutes. One could hardly expect anything much better than that. We must end where we began. This race was a triumph for the aero engines, once thought the most fallible part of an aeroplane, but now one of the most reliable features. 642
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