Schneider Trophy Races
AMERICA ENTERED the Schneider Trophy Race for real in 1923 and completely transformed the well-established series of international seaplane speed competitions. Modified factory-built aircraft went out, and true racers came in. Private enterprise went out, and full government sponsorship came in. Improving old designs became passe, and the emphasis was on testing very advanced ideas in aerodynamics and engines. The site of the seventh Schneider Race was Cowes, England, on September 27-28. The 42.8-mi. triangular course between the Isle of Wight and the coast near Portsmouth had to be flown five times for a total of 214 mi.
Schneider Trophy Races
THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY was originally offered to the winner of an international speed competition for seaplanes. Before the long series had ended, it had created an entirely new class of aircraft and had stimulated the development of airframes and engines to a greater extent than any other competition in aviation history. Strangely, it never led to any important advances in seaplanes. The first race, in 1913, was won at the staggering speed of 43 mph! The final race, in 1931, was won at 340 mph-more than seven times as fast. The U.S., Britain and Italy poured enormous amounts of money into the creation of some of the most glamorous aircraft ever seen.
Percival Mew Gull
The Mew Gull is one of the most historic airplanes still flying. Its solo speed record to Cape Town, South Africa stands after 42 years. Can you imagine any racing vehicle - air, land, or water - with a successful career in excess of 40 years? That's the enviable record of the Mew Gull, designed by Edgar W. Percival, first flown in 1934. The one remaining example, which has been restored, is still raced in England to this day. The Mew Gull waits, its stark white wings and fuselage gleaming in the clear English sun. Minutes go by, and then more minutes, and still more. One by one, the other airplanes are flagged off. Around the long pylon-marked course they rush, piling up the laps while the Mew Gull waits. Finally, after an impossibly long time, the starter faces the Mew Gull's pilot, raises his little green flag, and then snaps is smartly down. The Mew Gull accelerates briskly along the neatly clipped grass runway, skips a couple of times, and eases into the air to begin its chase of all the slower airplanes in this typical English handicap race. The latest long wait has ended. With its throttle in the familiar position of all-the-way-forward, the sleek wooden airplane with its 210-hp deHavilland Gipsy Queen straight-six charges over the gentle countryside, as low as the air traffic rules and common sense will allow. One at a time, it passes the Austers and Chipmunks and Cessnas and Tiger Moths that had taken off so many minutes before. Little by little, it makes up the time lost when the slower airplanes got their carefully calculated starting advantages.
