TRIAL OF ENDURANCE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 75, 26 September 1927, Page 9

TRIAL OF ENDURANCE

PILOTS LIKE ATHLETES-

FLY IN SHIRTS AND SHORTS

VENICE, 25th September. The Britishers will take their places ' in the Schneider Cup contest in the ! pink of condition, clad only in shirts and shorts, yet it is certain they will ybe so exhausted at the end of .the race , that they will have~ to be carried ashore., The course is a triangular left-handed one, full of dangers. One turn has an angle of about seventeen degrees. Here only seconds may separate the machines when turning, and death' may bo the penalty of an error of judgment. Another danger to the pilots lies in blood pressure caused by banking at steep angles. Experience has shown that pilots easily lose consciousness under such .pressure. " - ' ■ TERRIFIC SPEEDS. ' * A most exciting race is expected. It is certain, the winning machine must

be capable of approaching 300 miles an flour, or five miles a minute. ' It is difficult'to believe the Italians have anything up their sleeves. Any loss of speed owing to weather conditions will possibly mean running out of petrol. • Everyone agrees that tho six-sea-, planes are the fastest in the world, and their navigation represents the limit of human endurance. It has been officially decided that the British machine credited with 1 the fastest time in the Schneider Cup trials must repeat the navigability test today, as.it left the wafer yesterday prematurely after taxi-ing. THE BRITISH TEAM. Of the members of the Britisli team, flight-Lieut. .Kilmead. was born in feouth Africa in 1897; he had a wonderful war record. v ■ ... Alight-Lieut. -' Webster, of Walsall. was a private in an infantry re"giment before ho joined the Air Force; it is understood his machine is the speediest J, ■ threo Britil?n machines. ■blight-Lieut. "Worsley was born at Kensington, in 1898, and joined the' -Koyai .Navy as' a mechanic.