December 2018 FLYPAST 63people are said to have lined the beaches near Calshot to watch the 1931 event
Spotlight on British
Schneider racersThe contests were held against the Schneider Winners and Supermarine Riders
clock; there would be no flag down,
a ‘standing’ start and a nail-biting
finish. Spectators had to be content
with a procession of individual
aircraft haring around the course.
Despite this, audience figures were
astounding; upwards of 200,000
people flocked to the turning points
around the Solent for the 1929 event.
The winning country became
the host of the next race. Courses
were triangular, although their
exact form, and the number of laps,
was dependent on the geographic
layout of the venue. That said, the
1929 event was run around a sharp-
pointed quadrilateral, while the
1931 finale over the same stretch of
water was a three-sider.
Schneider bankrolled the prize
money for the first three races and
stipulated that any nation winning
three times in five years would keep
the trophy in perpetuity, and the
contest would come to an end. He
died in May 1928, aged 48, without
seeing the conclusion of his creation.Sopwith victory
The first Schneider contest, at
Monaco in 1913, was won by
Maurice Prévost in a Deperdussin
monoplane averaging 45.72mph.
This was half the speed of land-
based racers of the period, as
flying-boats and floatplanes were
‘draggy’, although this was to be
spectacularly overcome.
Monaco was again the venue in
April 1914. French hopes were
shattered by a man with very similar
passions for fast boats and aircraft
as Jacques Schneider... 26-year-old
Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith.
His fledgling company adapted a
Tabloid biplane and, in the hands of
Howard Pixton, it took the
honours at almost twice
the speed achieved by
Maurice Prévost.
Four months later,
the Great War broke
out and flying-boats1913 Monaco Fr/USA 28 laps of 6.2 miles
1st Maurice Prévost (Fr) Deperdussin II 160hp 45.72mph1914 Monaco Fr/GB/Swiss/USA 28 laps of 6.2 miles
1st Howard Pixton (GB) Sopwith Tabloid 100 86.791919 Bournemouth, GB Fr/GB/It 10 laps of 20 miles
Guido Jannello (It) Savoia S.13 250
Basil Hobbs (GB) Supermarine Sea Lion 450
(See narrative)1920 Venice, Italy It 10 laps of 23 miles
1st Luigi Bologna (It) Savoia S.12bis 550 105.751921 Venice, Italy It 16 laps of 15.3 miles
1st Giovanni de Briganti (It) Macchi M.7bis 250 117.861922 Naples, Italy GB/It 13 laps of 17.7 miles
1st Henri Biard (GB) Supermarine Sea Lion II 450 145.721923 Cowes, GB Fr/GB/USA 5 laps of 37.2 miles
1st David Rittenhouse (USA) Curtis CR-3 465 177.27
3rd Henri Biard (GB) Supermarine Sea Lion III 550 157.171924 Baltimore, USA GB/It/USA 7 laps of 31 miles
1st James Doolittle (USA) Curtis CR-3 600 232.57
Henri Biard (GB) Supermarine S.4 700
Biard crashed during pre-race tests – see narrative1926 Hampton Roads, USA It/USA 7 laps of 31 miles
1st Mario de Bernardi (It) Macchi M.39 800 246.491927 Venice, Italy GB/It 7 laps of 31 miles
1st Sidney Webster Supermarine S.5 875 281.65
2nd Oscar Worsley Supermarine S.5 875 273.071929 Calshot, GB GB/It 7 laps of 31 miles
1st Henry Waghorn (GB) Supermarine S.6 1,900 328.63
3rd David D’Arcy Greig (GB) Supermarine S.5 875 282.11
Richard Atcherley (GB) Supermarine S.6 1,900
Atcherley averaged 325.54mph but was disqualifi ed for cutting a turning point1931 Calshot, GB GB 7 laps of 31 miles
1st John Boothman (GB) Supermarine S.6B 2,350 340.08Notes: For each contest the winner is listed here, along with the pilot’s name and nationality, the type fl own, the
engine power (hp) and the average speed (mph). The status of any other Supermarine entrants (if applicable) is also
given, with similar details.
Supermarine test pilot Basil Hobbs
at the helm of Sea Lion I G-EALP on
Southampton Water, September 1919.
SUPERMARINE AVIATION WORKS500,000