FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1937
1937 - 2011.PDF
JULY 15. *937- FLIGHT. 83 HURRYING to ^ WALES The Seventh London-Cardiff Race Won by the T.K.2 for the Second Year in Succession : A Head Wind Reduces Averages T HOSE more obstinate souls who will never see that fast machines (because they are suffering for a shorter period) are proportionately less affected by a strong wind over any racing course which is not of the one down-wind leg variety may obtain some unconvincing proof from the results of this year's London-Cardiff race. With minor exceptions the finishing order of the nine starters was in terms of plain speed. Actually, the fastest machine, Henshaw's Mew Gull, came in six seconds after G. de Havilland's T.K.2 ; the Western Airways D.H. Rapide, entered by R. Cadman, and flown by D. R. Cubitt, was two places lower than it should have been on this reckoning; and the slowest machine, Col. Strange's Spartan Arrow, was not quite last. However, the proof in this case is unconvincing because Messrs. Dancy and Rowarth naturally allowed for the fact that the Arrow, for instance, would be doing battle for an hour and a half at a ground speed of less than 80 m.p.h., while the Mew would be doing its reduced ground speed for a matter pf forty minutes or less. If rumour is to be believed, the RECIPROCITY : Mr. Henshaw, the second man home, swings Mr. G. de Havilland's T.K. airscrew before the start at Heston, and Mr. G. de Haviiland, the winner, does the handshaking act with Mr. Henshaw (in ths Mew Gull) for the newspaper photographers' benefit at Cardiff. (Flight photographs.) deg, out of wind, while the competitors, who were flying from Ileston to the Beachley Point turn, were flying almost, if not quite, directly into wind. It would probably be fair, there fore, allowing also for ground bumps, to add 20 m.p.h. to all the speeds given in the table in order to obtain the true cruising speeds of the machines in the race. In one or two cases a little more can be added with fairness; Godfrey's Swallow, for instance, was so badly bucked about that the pilot, Bay, could not hold an accurate compass course and he went rather far north of his track. From the point of spectacularity alone it was a pity that Gardner's Mew Gull, which, with its Series II Six and v.p. airscrew, appears to be quite a lot faster than Henshaw's, elected to suffer from minor undercarriage trouble and had to be scratched. Otherwise we might, with the handicappsr's help, have seen the two Mews and the T.K. screaming over the line in a solid phalanx. Wet Sunday in Wales After icappers expected the Swallow and the Spartan to win if hand their perennial hopes for a line-abreas.t finish did i*ot materialise; in fact, there was an interval of seven minutes Mwten the first and last men—which cannot be considered as bad going over a 120-mile course. The real reasons for the particular winning order were probably multiple. The wind speed may have been a little higher than was actually forecast, and one or two pilots went rather off their course. Most important of all, the bumps at rac ing (or tree-top) level were shattering enough to reduce the speed of all the machines to some extent, and that of the swwer machines particularly. In fact, it would probably jjave paid the pilots of these machines to have flown a little l gher, though it was necessary to go up to 2,000 feet to be completely free from violent disturbances. bruising gently to Cardiff at this height in a D.H. Hornet at a corrected air speed of 105 m.p.h., our ground speed worked out at 80 m.p.h. The track in this case was ,ome .fo a morning of intermittent thunder showers things cleared up for the race, and from our 2,000 ft. eyrie the country could be seen for about thirty miles in all directions. By way of showing us all what summer can be, Sunday turned up at Cardiff as a real horror, with fine rain and a cloud base at 500 ft. or less—conditions which spread eastwards as the Jay wore on. Those competitors who hurried back in the morning were the lucky ones; leaving Cardiff at about 2 p.m., we just managed to scrape back with the Hornet in reasonable safety, knowing that we were flying towards better weather. Apparently the portcullis slammed on the Cotswolds less +han an hour later. The prizes were duly presented on Saturday afternoon by Mrs. Charles Keen, the wife of the Cardiff Club's chairman, and the evening's party terminated (judging from noises off) at 4 a.m. or thereabouts. LONDON-CARDIFF AIR RACE RESULTS. Machine. 1. T.K.2 2. Mew Gull 3. Miles Falcon 4. B.A. Eagle 5. B.A. Eagle 6. D.H. Rapide 7. D.H. Hornet 8. Spartan Arro 9. B.A. Swallow Pi!ot. G. deHavilland. A. Henshaw . J. C. V.K.Watson R. P. G. Williams . H. F. Broadbent D. R. Cubitt . C. W. Wrightson w L. A. Strange . D. M. Bay Starting Time. hr. min. sec. 2 45 48 2 55 19 2 44 05 2 35 39 2 31 09 2 38 47 2 24 02 2 02 00 2 04 08 Finishing Time. hr. min. sec. 3 30 24 3 30 30 3 32 38 3 33 43 3 34 03 3 35 28 3 36 05 3 37 43 3 37 58 Speed. m.p.h. 161.4 201.6 148.3 124.4 114.5 127.0 99.9 75.2 76.7 Prites: Silver Cup, presented by N. W. Nash, Esq., and £50 to G. de Haviiland. Silver Cup presented by R. K. WeUsteed, Esq., and £20 to A. Henshaw. Cash priie of 00 to Germ Lubricants (J. C. V. K. Watson). Silver Cup and £15 for fastest time to A. Henshaw.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
