TEST FOR SCHNEIDER CUP

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1929, Page 11

TEST FOR SCHNEIDER CUP

SPEED OF MYSTERY PLANE GREAT STRAIN IN “CORNERING.” SPEED OF 300-M.P.H. ATTAINED. British Official Wireless. Rugby, August 14. Air Chief Marshal Sir John Salmon spent to-day at Calshot amongst the members of the high speed ’flight who are concerned with the race for the Schneider Cup. He embarked in a Southampton flying boat and went round the course over which the Schneider Cup race is to be flown. Squadron-Leader Orlebar took up the new S 6 machine built by Great Britain for the Schneider Cup race and, flying at great speed, completed its tests.- The SO has been flown only twice before, and on each occasion it was handled very gently. To-day the full power of its engine was tested, and the results aie believed to have been satisfactory in every way* In taxiing across the water the SO evidently struck a small piece of driftwood or some other obstacle. One of the floats was dented and the machine was taken to Woolston for repair. The damage is in no way serious. There is a very distinct medical problem involved in high speed “cornering,” which is a feature of such a race as that for the Schneider Cup, which will be flown over a quadrangular course. Group-Captain Flack, of the medical research section of the Air Ministry, who has specialised on the forces imposed on the human frame in flying, discussed the subject at Calshot to-day. He said that more than is realised may depend on the pilot’s rounding the corners with the least loss of speed. If a turn is taken too wide full speed can be maintained but many more miles will be flown. On tho other hand, too sharp a tuin will slow down tho machine and, what is equally important, impose terrific acceleration loads on pilot and aircraft. These loads as the pilot swings round the corner tend to arrest the normal flow oi blood to the brain and eyes, so that if the turn is over-sharp everything tends to "0 black before the pilot’s eyes and, in extreme cases, momentary unconsciousness ensues. How sharply these turns can be made with safety depends, therefore, on the strength both of the aircraft and the human physique, and the object of much of this present piactice is to establish limiting factors. Piloting the mystery plane 86 over the Schneider Cup course, s q u , a< J ro "l Ijea Orlebar several times exceeded 300 miles per hour, says a later message.