The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1928. LESSONS FROM SPEED CONTESTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20104, 24 March 1928, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1928. LESSONS FROM SPEED CONTESTS

JF the experience of the past counts for anything, the Air Ministry should have no trouble in finding a pilot to carry on the work that Flight-Lieutenant Kinkead began before the grim hand of death smote him down. The Force is a wonderfully efficient one, and among its members are pilots whose equal could not. be found, and who, in a machine so near to perfection mechanically as that which won the Schneider Cup for Britain at Venice last year, should be able to equal at least the high figure recently set by the Italians. Bound up with the matter of the records this year’s race for the Cup, and the machine and the pilot that can set a new record must have excellent chances of retaining the trophy for Britain, which is a matter of importance. A speaker in the House of Commons, after Lieut. Kinkead’s death, questioned the value of attaining new speeds, discounting such attempts on the score of danger to life.

While the death of such a distinguished aviator is a matter for regret, it should be borne in mind that the Schneider 1 Cup competition is not only a sporting event. The trophy was given for the very practical purpose of encouraging and accelerating the development of the flying machine and the aero-engine. This it has done, with marked success. The Air Ministry decided to take part officially in the competition this year because it had become convinced of the value of the competition. Major Oliver Stewart, commenting upon the recent Air Manoeuvres in the current Army Quarterly, observes that a period of intensive high-speed and climb research is required, so that the fighting aircraft used by the Royal Air Force may be made more efficient. He thinks that the Air Ministry was wise in entering its experimental types for the Cup race, because it provided a much-needed incentive to designers to provide faster machines. He predicts that in a year or two Ihe good effects of that decision will be seen in standard machines. Just as the designers of fast racing-ears brought about great improvements in the ordinary touring car, so the designers of racing seaplanes will find out how to make similar improvements in the standard fighting ’plane. The Royal Air Force will thus profit directly from the care and labour expended on the preparations for the Schneider Cup race. It is further to be expected that the British aeroplane industry will gain in prestige by the unquestioned success of the machines and their engines at Venice. Firms which can build aircraft to withstand the searching tests of the Schneider Cup competition may fairly be trusted to produce trustworthy passenger liners.

As the nations gradually realise the value of the aeroplane for civil purposes, the aeroplane industry must increase in importance : and it is well that the superiority of British machines and engines should have been placed so definitely on record in a race on which the attention of the world was centred. Equally important is it that Britain should set the new record and retain the Cup at this year’s contest.