AERIAL RACING

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 130, 6 June 1927, Page 3

AERIAL RACING

THE EASTER MEETING

"NECK & IfECK" FINISH

MACHINE FIRED UPON

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 23rd April.

In the Easter Bournemouth air meeting there were in all over 140 individual entries, and the high standard of flying was a satisfactory guarantee of the quality of the training given in the flying clubs. A number of students of Oxford and Cambridge who have been availing themselves of the opportunities provided by the establishment of clubs in connection with the universities flew to Bournemouth and took part in the contests. One incident at the meeting was altogether unusual. Squadron-Leader W. H. Longton was flying a Blackburn Bluebird over the course on a practice flight when one or two charges of shot from a sportine gun, were fired into the machine by some unknown person in the open country. The attempt to shoot down an aeroplane, whether a piece of illnatured foolishness or a deliberated malicious protest against flying race's on Good Friday, most fortunately failed. The pellets from the shot gun luckily pierced the machine behind and to the port side of the cockpit, but had the charge come straight through the cockpit floor Squadron-Leader W; H. Longton might have been temporarily incapacitated and in that interval the machine might have crashed to the ground. The incident happened'in the morning, before the racing, when Squadron-Leader Longtou was making a trial circuit of the course, which is over agricultural and wooded country between the racecourse, East Parley, and Kinson Manor.' He was'flying low at heights varying from 30 to 50 feet testing out the wind strengths, and with the noise of the .engine end jnacnine did not- hear any gunshot. Trelawney Dayrell Reed, a farmer, of West Parley, was subsequently" arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Squadron-Leader Longton., He asked if he might make a statement but he was advised not to do so. Mr weed is about 40 years old. He has been at Parley for'about seven years, and. is well known in the district. He is tall and has a red beard. He is a painter and poet. He painted on the wall of a local' inn a scene representing a Dorset fair, the characters being portraits of local people. BEATEN AT THE POST. In one of the most exciting races of the meeting Flight-Lieut.. H. A. Hamersley—son of Colonel A. St. G. Hamersley, a former well-known resident of Canterbury—was beaten at the post. ■ Five pilots turned out in this race, the Bournemouth Easter High Power Handicap, for machines, with engines over 100 horse-power—Mr. Dudley Watt, flying his S.E. ,SA; Flying Officer. A. H Wheeler, also with an S.E. SA; FlightLieut. Hamersley, in an Avro Lynx with 180 h.p. engine; Major F. P. Scott, in an Avro Gosport with 100 h.p. Gnome; and' Mr. E. E. Stammers, flyinoanother S.E. SA. Mr. Dudley Watt saved seconds at the start by a spectacular climbing turn within a few feet of the ground, and at once got a lead from the other. S.E.'s. He then settled down to a chase of the Avro machines gained seconds .by superb cornering every lap, and, at the finish, along the straight, slipped past Flight-Lieutenant Hamersley half a length from the winning post. This left Hamersley second with Major Scott third, a result which was a tribute to the handicapping and also to the skill of the.pilots. The "Oaks, 5' a race, for lady-pilots over a course of ten miles, was flown by Mrs. J. R. Bell, the wife of Squad-ron-Leader Bell, who is the representative at the Air Ministry of the Royal Australian Air Force, and Miss O'Brien, both of the London Aeroplane Club. Mrs. Bell, whose engine was of a later type than that of her rival, who indeed was flying the' first moth "Cirrus" ever made, had to concede a start of some seconds, but she failed to make this up and Miss O'Brien won easily. Both ladies flew confidently, but the winner undoubtedly owed her success partly to close cornering. The Bournemouth Business Houses handicap sweepstake, open to all types and pilots, was flown in two heats," the best three in each qualifying: for the final. In the second heat four passed the post almost in a bunch. The final was won by Mr. A. B. Youell on an Avro SO horse-power Renault, with Squadron-Leader W. H. Longton, on the Blackburn Bluebird Sociable, fitted with the Siddelcy "Genet" engine, a close second, and Flight-Lieut. G. I. Thomson, on a Moth, an equally close third. . A LARGE FIELD. In the biggest field there were eighteen machines, nominated by various Bournemouth and district business houses, in a handicap sweepstake. Royal Air Force officers, civil pilots,'arid some of the new amateur pilots had secured nominations, and two very sporting heats and a final were provided. Mr. A. B. H. Youell, a well-known pilot of. Imperial Airways, flying an Avro Renault, managed to keep his handicap advantage and won the first heat, Mr. Crawford, in a Moth (Cirrus, Mark 1), being second, and Flight-Lieut. Gray, in an Avro Avian, third. The second heat saw the redoubtable Mr. Dudley Watt come out again as favourite, but he could not repeat his previous success, and a popular win was made by Squadron-Leader W. H. Longton, in the Blackburn- Bluebird,' which was peppered with gunshot the day before. Squadron-Leader T. H. England, flying the Westland Widgeon HI., came second, and Flight.-Lieut. Hamersley, flying the Avro Lynx, third. This left a nicely assorted' field for the final, with Longton and YouoU" as favourites on handicap times/though England was also regarded as a possible. Youell was just able to keep the lead he had over Squadron-Leader Longton, but there might have been a ncck-and-neck finish if Longton had not been forced to make a wide sweep on one corner owing to another competitor, being at the turn at the same time. Mr. Crawford was third, with tho Widgeon, not far behind. Only one mishap occurred, other I than the shooting incident, during the ' meeting. This was to. a visiting machine of an old type—rtho Sopwith "Dove"—and it had been lying idle for some years. Just after ascending the engine cowling became detached and entangled with the propeller, and the pilot, Mr. D. H. Williams, was unable to make a good landing. The ma.chine turned over on alighting. The pilot was only slightly hurt, and the passenger escaped uninjured. So successful were the events, showing how popular air racing can be made as a sport, that the Royal Aero Club has decided to hold bigger and more rpeetacular meetings at Bournemouth at Whitsuntide and during the August bank holiday week. 85, Fleet street.