FlyPast 12.2018

60 FLYPAST December 2018

Spotlight

Schneider

Trophy

Supermarine’s

C

alling the revellers to

attention, the dapper and

well-respected Jacques

Schneider addressed his

fellow countrymen at the Aéro-

Club de France. It was December

12, 1912 and the gathering was

honouring Jules Védrines, who

had won the prestigious Gordon

Bennett Aviation Cup in Chicago,

USA, in a Deperdussin monoplane

at 105mph (169km/h).

To rapturous applause, Schneider

announced the founding of another

race that could bring glory to

France. Heir to the Le Creusot-

based Schneider steel and armament

empire, he had acquired a taste for

powerboats and aircraft. A high-

speed boating accident in 1911 left

him with a shattered arm, but it did

not diminish his passion for speed

on and over the sea.

Schneider declared that in 1913 the

annual motor boat extravaganza at

Monaco would host the first Coupe

d’Aviation Maritime. An impressive

trophy depicting a scantily clad

winged girl kissing the waves – she

was nicknamed the Flying Flirt – was

Long before the Spit re, R J M