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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 8, 4 October 1927, Page 9

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OF SCHNEIDER CUP TEAM TRIBUTE TO ITALIAN SPORTSMEN Rugby, October 2. Elight-Lieutenant Webster, winner of the Schneider Cup, and the other members of the team had a great reception when tliey reached Croydon aerodrome vesterdav. Though the crowd which had gathered to welcome them was not as great as had been expected owing to heavy rain and a gale, it made up in enthusiasm what it lacked in numbers. Immediately the airmen arrived in the Imperial Airways liner which had brought them from Paris the crowd burst its bounds and had to be restrained by the police. Sir Philip Sassoon, Under-Secretary for Air, who was surrounded by a distinguished group of air officials, had' some difficulty in approaching the machine. He shook hands warmly with the airmen and offered them formal congratulations on behalf of the Air Ministry. That was all the speech-making. Then the landing ground was cleared and the airmen drove past the public enclosures in a motor-car to the Imperial Airways office amid great cheering. What most impressed those present was that hero worship was discouraged. The reception occupied less than half, an hour, and little time was occupied in photographing or interviewing. Webster himself said to an interviewer: “I am not a civilian and can therefore say nothing,” and that was the spirit of the proceedings. Air Vice-Marshal Sarlett said in a little speech: “We sent our team and we won the cup as a team.” He added: “The generous hospitality of our Italian opponents will always be remembered by us. ' They are sportsmen and we hope on the next occasion they will experience far better luck than they did in this contest.” Asked if he thought the limit of speed had been reached, the Air Vice-Marshal replied: “I should say certainly not. It is not possible on a triangular course to make the same speed as on a straight course.”—British Official Wireless.