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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1226.PDF
462 FLIGHT. MAY 6, 1937. HISTORICAL HIGH-LIGHTS Some Notable Events, 1911-1937 : The Schneider Trophy Races : Outstanding British Speed and Altitude Records N O review of the development which has taken place in aircraft design since 1911 would be complete without a reference to certain aircraft which, although neither civil nor military, represented very real progress or the beginning of entirely new ideas. Among the former should be classed the seaplanes pro duced for the long series of contests for the Jacques Schnei der Seaplane Trophy, which brought seaplane design to a high pitch of refinement. The first Schneider contest was held in 1913 and was won by the Frenchman Prevost at a speed of 4575 m.p.h. In 1914 the trophy was secured for Great Britain by Mr. Howard Pixton, who flew a Sopwith seaplane with 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine at a speed of 86.8 m.p.h. During the following contests Great Britain made little effort to defend the trophy, and not until Mr. Hubert Scott Paine, of the Supermarine Aviation Works, financed the building of a chal lenger did the trophy return to this country. Mr. H. C. Biard brought back the trophy in 1922, having flown his Super- marine Sea Lion (Napier Lion) at an average of 145.7 m.p.h. After that the biplane flying boat type became entirely out classed by twin-float monoplanes, and for the 1927 contest, held at Venice, Supermarines produced the S.5 with boosted Napier Lion engine. On this machine Fit. Lt. S. N. Webster put up an average speed of 281 7 m.p.h. For the following con test, in 1929 the Supermarine Aviation Works produced the S.6, which was fitted with a Rolls-Royce racing engine of approximately 2,000 h.p. P/O. H.R.D. Waghorn piloted this machine to victory at the astounding speed of 328.6 m.p.h. A few days afterwards, on the same machine, Sqn. Ldr. Orle- bar established a world's speed record over the straight-line course in Southampton Water, his average being 355.8 m.p.h. On a subsequent attempt this figure became 357.7 m.p.h. In 1931 there were no foreign challengers for the Schneider contest. The Supermarine S.6 had been slightly improved and Rolls-Royce had " found a few more horses " in the " R " engine, which by then developed about 2,300 b.h.p. Fit. Lt. The Atlantic Race A S is so often the case with major air contests, entries for the Atlantic Race were not received in any number until the eleventh hour. Within two days of the closing date— May 1—ortly a handful had reached the Aero Club de France, among them the three British nominations: Sir Hugo Cunliffe- Lister's Clyde Clipper (to be flown by an Olley Air Service pilot); a D.H. Comet entered and to be piloted by F/O. A. E. Clouston ; and a Caudron in Miss Amy Johnson's name. At the last moment nineteen other entries poured in, as follows: — Rumania.—Two: Prince Cantacuzine and Alex Papana. Italy.—Nine: Bisea, Angelo, Cupini, Siori, Lippi, Garta, Rolandi, Ansini, and Suster. United States.—Three: Joe Thorn, Dick Merrill, and James Mattern. France.—Four: Three aeroplanes belonging to the Ministry for Air, and the fourth entered by the Societe Transoceanique. Sweden.—One: Linder. Invitation from Cardiff A SEALED-TIME arrival competition with some most handsome cash prizes—£50 first and £25 second and third—will, from the pilot's point of view, be the outstanding feature of the Cardiff Club's Coronation Air Rally, to lie held, with the co-operation of the City Council, at Cardiff Airport on Whit-Saturday, May 15. There are no entry fees, and all that the visiting pilot has to do is to land between 2.30 and 4.30 p.m. after circling the centre of the city at a height of not less than 2,000 ft. (if the ceiling is lower than 2,000 ft., the rule will not apply) and to report to the control officer immediately. There will also be a prize of £10 for the best-turned-out machine and one of £5 for the aeroplane with the greatest number of flying hours to its credit. An aerobatic display will entertain the public. Boothman flew the S.6B over the Schneider course at an aver age of 340 1 m.p h. Afterwards Fit. Lt. Stainforth established a world's speed record over the straight-line course by averag ing 379 m.p.h. Subsequently, this was improved upon by fit ting a' specially boosted Rolls-Royce racing engine, and on September, 29, 1931, Stainforth, for the first time in history, exceeded 400 miles per hour, his corrected average speed over the straight-line course being 407.5 m.p.h. K * * The years 1931, 1932 and 1933 were outstanding in British aviation history. After the world's speed record followed two more worth-while world's records; those for altitude and dis tance. In Septemoer, 1932, Capt. Cyril Uwins, Bristol's chief test pilot, reached a height of 44,000ft. in a Vickers Vespa fitted with a Bristol supercharged Pegasus engine. In Febru ary of 1933 Sqn. Ldr. Gayford and Fit. Lt. Nicholetts flew from Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, to Wajvis Bay, South Africa, a distance of 5,341 miles, in 57 hours 25 minutes. Finally, in 1936, the world's altitude record .was raised to 50,000ft. by Sqn. Ldr. Swain, who piloted a specially designed Bristol monoplane fitted with supercharged Bristol Pegasus. * * * One type of aircraft deserves a very special mention in this review as it " made history " in 1919. The Vickers Vimy, designed during the war as a bomber, was the first aircraft to make the flight across the Atlantic (crew, Alcock and Brown) ; it also made the first flight from England to Australia (Ross and Keith Smith), and the first flight from England to South Africa (Van Ryneveld and Brand). The machine was a biplane with two 360 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagles. » # * For sheer efficiency few aeroplanes ever built have equalled the De Havilland Comet designed for the England-Australia Race. On one of these machines C. W. A. Scott and the late Tom Campbell Black flew from Mildenhall to Melbourne in a lapsed time of two days twenty-three hours. The new De Havilland Albatross may be said to be a four-engined scaled- up version of the Comet. * # * History was made in England in October, 1925, when Sefior de la Cierva brought over the Autogiro and Capt Frank Court ney demonstrated it over Laffan's Plain, Farnborough, where, many years before, Cody carried out his experimental flying. That particular Autogiro was not the first, but it ivas the first to be seen in this country. It had an Avro 504 fuselage, a four-bladed rotor which was started by a long rope over a drum, and lateral control was-by ailerons carried on outriggers. The performance was not startling, but the machine quite de finitely flew and convinced many of the ultimate success of rotating-wing aircraft. Coronation Co-ordination at Leicester ALL the flying interests of the county of Leicester, through the recently formed Leicestershire Aeronautical Co-ordina tion Committee, are co-operating in the organisation of a Coronation Air Display, to take place at the airport, Leicester, on Thursday, May 13. The afternoon programme (2.30-5 p.m.) will include a parade of aircraft, demonstrations, formation flying, aerobatics, model flying (including petrol models), and humorous events. The evening programme, commencing at 6.30 p.m., will be similar, but with the help of searchlights wielded by the 44th Leicester shire Regiment Anti-Aircraft Battalion R.E. (T.A.). The organising committee has representatives of the Leicester shire Aero Club, Ltd., the County Flying Club, Desford Civil Flying Training School, Loughborough College (Aero Section), the Leicester and County Chambei of Commerce (Commercial Aviation Section), model aeroplane clubs, Mr. W. Lindsay Everard, Ratcliffe Aerodrome, and the Leicester Corporation Municipal Aerodrome Department. Publishers' Announcement CORONATION HOLIDAY Miscellaneous Advertisements intended for the \ issue of May 13 must be in our hands by j first post on Monday, May 10. FLIGHT PUBLISHING CO. LTD. |
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