HIGH SPEED IN THE AIR

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1931, Page 5

HIGH SPEED IN THE AIR

SCHNEIDER CUP PRACTICE MAGNIFICENT TRIAL FLIGHTS. THE DEATH OF LIEUT. BRINTON. 1 ’ London, Aug. 27. Two magnificent' flights squeezed in durinw brief fair weather intervals in one o°f the new British “wonderplanes’' —the high-speed pilots’ nickname for the 1931 S6B racers—have eased 'at once anxiety over lack of practice because of the appalling weather and th® inevitable tension following the tragic death of " Lieutenant Brinton., Squad-ron-Leader Orlebar, captain of the team’, is finding his chief cause of worry iff the seemingly endless recurrence ®f air and water conditions which are entirely unsuitable for high-speed flying. Including trips in the older training seaplane's, his pilots made between them only four ascents in twelve days, spending altogether about one"hour in the air° and there was undoubtedly a risk that they might not reach the highest pitch of training-iff time for the race unless the weather improved. Fortunately, three of the team —Stainforth, Boothman and Long—have had much experience in high-speed flying, though constant ..practice is necessary if they are to conserve their skill. Flying-Officer Snaith, now the youngest member-of the teain> took off in the 51595 on his first-flight in one of the new Vickers Superniarine Rolls Royce racers. . Rising into the air■: after . a take-off of,: normal . duration, Snaith, whom many believe to be the most artistic pilot .among the racing members of the team, flew for 23 minutes, making numerous left and right-handed turns, °some of .them with the wing-tips pointing vertically to the ground. His handling of the .craft was masterly, proving once again that a pilot who has gone through the established routine, progressing from' one high-speed type to another, will graduate naturally in pilotage of British latest racing seaplanes, which are "somewhat easier to control than their 1929 predecessors. Flight-Lieutenant Long has been up in the same machine. Sureness and swift sense of control gained ih nearly two years of high-speed research were at once apparent in his handling of the craft, and the take-off, smooth, certain, and without “palpitating” moments, was perhaps the best yet accomplished in the new racers. His flight lasted only nine minutes, ending in a superb landing right opposite the. slipway after gliding ‘in over the shipping in Southampton Water, but it was definitely a little masterpiece? :It was learned on examination of the body of Lieutenant. Brinton that he must have been killed instantaneously by breaking his neck." The secret of the tragedy is most likely to reside in the fact that this was. Lieutenant Brinton’s first flight in an S 6 craft. These machines, far. superior.,in speed to all earlier racers, demand the most delicate handling skill .on . the <water, arid it is no disparagement of Brinton to suggest tjiat he may hays failed, at his first attempt, to master their idiosyneracies. One successful take-off would almost certainly have given him complete subsequent mastery, but a six-. miles-a-minute seaplane does not forgive the smallest error during those tense take-off seconds, and he could have no second chance. I