D’ARCY GREY ACCOMPLISHES WONDER FLIGHT IN SEAPLANE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6809, 12 January 1929, Page 5

D’ARCY GREY ACCOMPLISHES WONDER FLIGHT IN SEAPLANE

NEARLY 323 MILES PER HOUR. Plight-Lieutenant D ’Arcy Greig’s Wonder flight over the Solent one afternoon in November was faster than any human being ever travelled on this planet for a measured journey, being almost a mile faster than -Major de Bernhardi’s record of 315.62 miles an hour, established in Italy some months ago (states the London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus). Greig made six flights over the measured© distance of one mile and three-quarters, and during the second flight achieved a speed of 322.63 miles an hour, which was very near to tho 323 miles an hour required if the exploit was to rank as a world’s record. However, the rules of the Federation Aeronatiquc Intornatipnale are quite definite, so Greig could only accept failure with sportsman-like pluck and say, “Never

f{ mind; I don't mind, having another h whack at it." Ho had been awaiting ' a favourable opportunity since SeptemI ber 17, so it was hard that he. should | be so near to a world's record yet fail, gj A would-be record breaker may cover 3 the mile and three-quarters' course as 1 often as he pleases, but his mean speed g wity be calculated from four consecuhj tive runs, two in each direction. MoreI over, during the attempt he must not | rise above 1300 feet, and this is what p makes the record so difficult to achieve. $ The normal speed of an aeroplane is ? greatly increased by a preliminary dive I as it enteres on the course, so at the ■ s end of each flight Greig, in turning [ ascended 1300 feet and made the | steepest dive possible before entering the course again. During these dives Greig has attained a speed of 350 miles an hour, but they have nothing to do with the record. The dive is only a preparation for the real test. The height, by the I wav, is checked by the barograph attached to the machine, so there is no chance of diving too far. The speed was cheeked by camera guns, another i camera gun being placed midway on the course to measure the acceleration due to diving. The Oalshot Aerodrome and its vicinity was crowded when Greig made his effort, and hundreds of thousands more saw the preliminary dives from the streets of Southhampton. During the morning there was a heavy mist over the Solent, but by noon the conditions were ideal. At 1 o'clock the silver and blue super-marine Napier was brought from its hangar, the scene of the record breakinng being the place where Kinkead died earlier in the year attempting this very record. Poor Kinkead had not even reached the course when the super-marine S 5 struck the water during the preliminary divo and the pilot was killed. A memorial has now been unveiled at Oalshot in memory of Kinkead's brave end. Greig's machine was the very one iu which Webster won the Schneider

trophy at Venice last year with the then amazing speed of 285 miles an hour, though Bernhardi quickly lowered the British Record, first by doing 296 miles an hour and then by achieving 318 miles. This was done b ty reducing tho wings of the Italian seaplane used in tho Schneider race by four square metres, thus increasing its landing speed to about 110 miles an hour. The Schneider trophy, however, was contested over a 31.8 mile course, a very different test from tho short Japs ove the Solent or those over which Bernhardi made his Tecord.