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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0084.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 13, 1933 manner in which the competing machines were paiked for inspection on the day before the race was excellent. The aircraft were arranged in orderly rows, and in numerical order, so that by walking up one row, down the next, and so forth, the task of examining the machines was made as easy as possible. On the day of the race also the organisation was, in the main, good. The marshalling of the machines on to the starting line was carried out without a hitch, and the very greatest credit is due to the various officials who had volunteered their services. They did remarkably well, and the size and shape of Hatfield aerodrome permitted of proper arrangements being made. On the whole, the scheme of running the race in heats, which originated, we believe, with Maj. Mayo, can be counted a success. As it happened, its failure to be a complete success was not inherent in the system but was due to certain shortcomings on the part of what one may term the Intelligence Service. Mr. Alan Goodfellow was good on the loud speakers. Every word was distinct, and, in the main, the information he gave was of the right sort. But he did not give enough of it. We do not say this was his fault. He most likely was not supplied with the necessary material. For example, it was an excellent idea to announce the comparative speeds of certain competitors in the different rounds, but the manner in which one com petitor was overtaking another was not brought out. The score-boards were all but useless. They were much too small for one thing, and they merely gave the starters and finishers in the various heats. This was not enough. Speeds ought to have been added, and, probably, finish ing times to show the closeness or otherwise of the different finishes. Broadcasting is an adjunct to, but not a sub stitute for, the score-boards. Very often, just as Mr. Goodfellow was announcing the speed of a competitor, the announcement would be drowned by an excited female in the enclosure shrieking her joy at the " accidental " meeting with somebody whom she had been manoeuvring to meet all day, or by the raucous cries of newsvendors, or by the odds announced by the " bookies." When that happened, one was obliged to fall back upon the score boards, and they hardly ever gave the information one wanted. Next time there must be better score-boards. The loud-speaker installation must also be improved. The speakers that were installed were good, but their number was insufficient. One, at least, ought to have been placed where it could be heard from the terrace of the clubhouse. And one certainly ought to have been placed somewhere behind the starting line. Many of the competitors had no opportunity to get into the enclosures, and as the nearest loud speaker could not be heard from the starting line, they knew less of the progress of the race than anyone! In the actual race there was little to find fault with, but what appeared to be something of an injustice was noticed in the case of the starts of machines Nos. 3 and 6, the " Puss Moth " flown by Irwin and the " Pobjoy- Swift " flown by Henshaw. These two machines had the same handicap allowances, and started off together in Heats 3, 8 and 11. In each case Irwin was given the inside of the turn. We do not doubt for one moment that this was pure coincidence, but it imposed a slightly unfair handicap on Henshaw. With the wind direction where it was on July 8, it was somewhat unfortunate that competitors who had finished had to land across the path of the machines which were approaching the finishing line. As, however, the landing machines were by then very low, there was never any real danger, the machines nearing the finishing line flying well above those in the act of landing. It is, however, better to arrange for this crossing not to be necessary. As to the finishing line itself, this should always be so placed as to be at right angles to the enclosures, so that in crossing the line competitors fly parallel with the enclo sures. In that way the spectators can not only identify the machines, but can also see who is leading. When a machine is approaching the enclosure this is almost im possible. The system of placing the racing number on the rudder has long been in use, and it is difficult to think of a really good substitute, but it does very frequently happen that the machine banks away from the spectators, just as one wants to read the number, and then the tail- plane cuts off the view of the number on the rudder. One is then compelled to make the identification by means of the letters under the wing. This is not always easy, and anyway, by the time one has read them and found them in the programme, the next machine or two has probably passed over, and one loses track of the order of finishing. The only really exciting circuit in the 1933 King's Cup Race was the final, which was a short one and had to be flown twice. The fact that competitors have to round a turning point on the aerodrome and then go off again on the second lap adds greatly to the interest, and makes the race very much more " intimate " than it can possibly be when machines go straight out, disappear for a couple of hours, and then come back from a slightly different direc tion. But the placing of the turning point is important. At Hatfield the turning point was in quite a good place from the spectators' point of view, but it was invisible from the enclosures. The result was that one had no means of knowing just when a machine would begin its turn. The turning point should be made visible to spec tators no less than to competitors, either by means of a pylon or by a balloon. We feel very strongly that some slight modification in the planning of the courses might result in a vast im provement from the interest point of view. " Star "- shaped courses, with an intermediate turning on the aero drome, so that on the second lap the machines do not go off in the same direction as they did on the first, would, we think, add interest. Should there be any fear of machines from two heats getting " mixed up," it should be possible, at least on an aerodrome as large as Hatfield, to arrange two different turning points on the aerodrome, the courses being so arranged that the machines turned away from each other, one set doing left-hand and the other right-hand turns. When thinking about a race of this nature one is rather apt to consider only the aircraft, its engine and perhaps engine accessories, but a moment's thought will show that there are many other very vital parts of equipment and similar necessaries which are none the less important in this business of winning races. For example, the engines will not work unless the sparking plugs stand up to their work. For these the winner relied upon K.L.G., as did the second, third, winner of the Siddeley Trophy, and all the other finishers. A compass is most important where the slightest deviation from the course means a loss of many miles per hour and consequently places in the race ; Capt. de Havilland knows this only too well and therefore used a " Husun." His other dashboard instruments were perhaps no less important to him, so he relied on Smith's. The material with which the wings and covered surfaces are doped must be of a kind which will stand up to the hard work involved, and since the King's Cup Race first started in 1922, 11 out of the 12 winners have all used Titanine, so it was natural that the winner this year should do likewise. The fuel consumed by the engine must be above reproach, and Capt. de Havilland was cer tainly served well by Shell in this year's race. For lubricating his engine a thoroughly reliable oil was vital, the new Mobiloil stood him in good stead for this purpose. With so many heats the necessity of ensuring that no trouble was experienced on landing made people look care fully to their landing wheels, brakes and tyres. Dunlop's saved the winner and the third any trouble on this score. A Turn Indicator is often the means of getting a competitor out of dirty weather safely and of keeping him straight on a northerly course ; we found a Reid & Sigrist Turn Indi cator in the winner's cockpit. Fairey metal airscrews are one of the most ordinary insurances against airscrew trouble and are used in increasing numbers in racing aircraft ; out of the 35 machines which started this year 24 used them, including the winner. A magneto may be out of. date as regards motor-car practice, but it is certainly not so for aircraft engines. Nowadays trouble from this source seldom occurs, and the winner, the second, the third and the winner of the Siddeley Trophy all had perfect service from their B.T.H. magnetos. A good finish to the aircraft must be obtained if skin friction is to be reduced to a minimum. In this connec tion we were particularly impressed with that obtained with Cellon on the " Gull " entered by Sir Philip Sassoon and also on the *' Swifts " flown by Fit. Lt. Stainforth, and that which Mr. Henshaw flew to win the Siddeley Trophy. Stainforth's " Swift " was the fastest machine in the race. Mr. Henshaw, though a newcomer to racing in the air, made certain that his Pobjoy engine should give him no trouble by using National Benzole Mixture for his fuel and Wakefield's Castrol for the lubrication.
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