FlyPast 12.2018

December 2018 FLYPAST 61

SPOT FACT The 1929 course was

roughly diamond-shaped, with four sides

Spotlight on British

Schneider racers

was the approximate value of the  rst contest’s top prize

£1,000£1,000

Supermarine’s Schneider

to be awarded. Unlike the Gordon

Bennett race, this event reflected

the interests of its benefactor; it

was exclusively for hydravions –

floatplanes or flying-boats.

As well as the trophy, a more

practical 25,000 Francs awaited the

winner. At the time, this equated

to around £1,000, which would

be £110,000 in present-day values.

That might not sound much, but

in 1912 it was more than enough

to develop and build a new aircraft.

Jacques did not wish the contest to

carry his name, but from the earliest

days it was inevitably known as the

Schneider Trophy.

As the French industrial magnate

was revealing his plan, across the

English Channel in Fenton, Stoke-

on-Trent, 17-year-old Reginald

Joseph Mitchell was well into his

second year of apprenticeship to

locomotive builders Kerr, Stuart

and Co. When Mitchell was not

working at a bench or in the

drawing office, he was lapping up

courses at technical colleges studying

engineering, mechanics and

advanced mathematics.

, R J Mitchell was designing sleek monoplanes to win the Schneider Trophy. Ken Ellis describes a golden era

“As well as the trophy, a more practical

25,000 Francs awaited the winner. That

might not sound much, but in 1912 it was

more than enough to develop and build a

new aircraft.”

Above

Offi cials at Monaco in

1914; Jacques Schneider

is third from the left.

PAUL D’APPUI

Left

Line-up on the ramp at

Calshot in 1931, with

the castle behind. Left

to right: S.6B S1596,

S.6 N249 and S.6B

S1595. ROLLS-ROYCE