SCHNEIDER CUP MISHAPS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18356, 29 August 1929, Page 9

SCHNEIDER CUP MISHAPS.

Air Classic Must Proceed. SILENCE OF BRITISH RIVALS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 27. There is still no definite news as to whether Italy will send a team to compete in the Schneider trophy contest. Reports from Rome, however, state that the Italian crew is working hard to get ready by the desired time, and will participate if ready. It is authoritatively stated that it is anticipated that there will be no United States challenger for the Schneider trophy. The Committee of the Royal Aero Club is proceeding with its plans, however, and the contest will be held as originally arranged, on September 11, even if Britain is the only nation to send machines to the starting line. At the conclusion of a meeting of the Schneider Cup Committee to-day, it was stated that the Royal Aero Club had not received any withdrawal from Italy. Whether or not Italian or American entries ultimately materialised, it was the intention to hold the contest in September, on the fixed date, when the British team would race as though they were competing against the other nations. (The British racing seaplanes which will defend the Schneider trophy, blue riband of air racing, against au challenges, are ready at Calshot, near Southampton, headquarters of the High Speed Flying Section, R.A.F., for the contest. Members of the High Speed Flying Section, commanded by SquadronLeader Orlebar, have been practising for months in modified Schneider-type .seaplanes, and have increased greatly their skill in handling these craft. Two-engined ’Planes. Italy, defeated in the last race for the trophy, at Venice, in 1927, sent no fewer than ten seaplanes to the contest, which will be flown off the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth in September. Two of these machines hau two 900 h.p. motors each, arranged tandem fashion, with the pilot seated between them. Others are propelled by single Isotta-Franchini motors said to give 1600 h.p., while the Fiat works secretly biuit ’nlanes believed to have Fiat engines of astonishing power. Chief of the Italian team, and uxc xastesu machine, is likely to be a non-commissioned officer, Mr dal Molin, who uas shown great skill in high speed flying. He is credited with stunting ’planes at more than 300 miles an hour. The disasters which have befallen the Italian team make it uncertain whether Italy will contest the race. France prepared two monoplanes for the race, one propelled by a 1200 h.p. Mistral air-cooled motor, the other by an inverted 1500 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine cooled by ethyl-glycol instead of water. Use of this liquid enabled the engine to be run at a far higher temperature, with consequent gain in efficiency, and reduces the necessary area of the radiators. France’s pilots, had the trials proved the ’planes to be suitable for the race, were to be chosen from four of the most famous French test fliers—Sadi Lecointe, Bonnet (both one-time holders of the world’s speed record), Lasne (holder of a world’s record in weight-carrying classes), and Bossoutrot, The crash of a French machine, which resulted in the death of Bonnet, resulted in the withdrawal of France. The United States sent one entry, a biplane—the only one entered — equipped with a Packard motor designed to develop nearly 2000 h.p. Lieut. Alford Williams, of the United States Navy, was regarded as the likely pilot, and his machine would have been the largest in the contest, but trials proved unsatisfactory, and the United States may not compete in the race).