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At the end of 1912 Jacques Schneider announced his intention of presenting an annual trophy for an international seaplane contest. There were only twelve Schneider contests but they were major international events with the major rivals being Britain and Italy, followed by France and the US. Biplane seaplanes and flying-boats predominated the early contests and some very advanced twin-float biplanes were among the winners as late as 1925. However, it was the monoplane which was to become the symbol of Schneider Trophy, with Supermarine and Macchi designs reaching the peak of racing seaplane performance. The final winning combination of Supermarine airframe and Rolls-Royce engine was to make a vital contribution to Britain's defence in 1940 in the form of the Rolls-Royce powered Hurricane and Spitfire. This book records the contests and, in considerable detail, the design, development and achievements of the participating aircraft; those which failed to take part; and the projects, some of which embodied very advanced ideas even if they were proved to be unrealistic.
The history of the Schneider Trophy is the history of aircraft development. When Jacques Schneider devised and inaugurated the Coupe d’Aviation Maritime race for seaplanes in 1913, no-one could have predicted the profound effect the Series would have on aircraft design and aeronautical development, not to mention world history. Howard Pixton’s 1914 victory in a Sopwith Tabloid biplane surprisingly surpassed the performance of monoplanes and other manufacturers turned back to biplanes. During The Great War aerial combat was almost entirely conducted by biplanes, with their low landing speeds, rapid climb rates and maneuverability. Post-war the Races resumed in 1920. The American Curtiss racing aircraft set the pattern for the 1920s, making way for Harold Mitchell’s Supermarines in the 1930’s. Having won the 1927 race at Venice Mitchell developed his ground-breaking aircraft into the iconic Spitfire powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. This new generation of British fighter aircraft were to play a decisive role in defeating the Luftwaffe and thwarting the Nazis’ invasion plans. This is a fascinating account of the air race series that had a huge influence on the development of flight.
Attracting entries from the U.S., Great Britain, France, and Italy, the Schneider Trophy fostered a rapid advance in aviation technology. This book devotes an entire chapter to each of the 12 races, with details of pre-race planning, navigation and seaworthiness trials, the race itself, and, of course, aircraft designs and engines.
SOME OF THE 150 STORIES IN THIS BOOK: · What WWII was all about · How the German Luftwaffe began and ended · Adolph Hitler's Nazi party and the Waffen SS · 8th Air Force raids over Europe · P-51 Mustang battles with Me-109 · 1093's Cleveland Air Races · Wright Brother's flight in 1903 · WWI Bi-planes in France · P-40s in the Flying Tigers · D-Day and P-47 Thunderbolts · Winter War in Finland · Barbarossa and airplane battles · Zeros in Southeast Asia · P-39 Airacobras fight for Russia · War-Booty in WWII · Hitler robs art treasures · How P-51 Mustangs stopped the Luftwaffe · How the Nazi Gestapo operated · The author's personal observations of WWII This book is dedicated to Orville and Wilbur Wright who discovered flight in 1903 You may purchase this book ISBN 0-595-28235-0 from www.iuniverse.com
Humans have long dreamt of communing with the skies and acquiring the ability to fly. The first experiments with balloon flight through the development of the Concorde and everything in between, aviation has transformed the way humans travel, especially over vast distances. This penetrating volume examines the various technologies and aircraft that have enabled human flight and includes a comprehensive section on the design and operation of airports.
R. J. Mitchell at Supermarine is the definitive account of the life of Britain’s best-known aeronautical engineer. Shelton calls upon unpublished letters, extensive press accounts, and updated material from his previous publications, concentrating particularly on the harsh conditions of Mitchell’s apprentice years, the precarious state of the aircraft firm he joined, and moments of good fortune of which he took advantage. He was a ‘chancer’ as well as a methodical developer of, mainly, slow flying seaplanes. Mitchell’s progress from draughtsman, with no formal training in aeronautical design, to internationally known chief designer is charted through a chronological study of his designs, revealing a formidable work ethic with a complex personality that combined ‘dreams and common sense’. It will also be shown how the success of his high-speed Schneider Trophy designs propelled him reluctantly into public attention and how his anxiety for his pilots’ safety matched an equal concern that his designs should not let down an expectant nation. Later expectations on him to produce a ‘killer fighter’ were equally daunting, and the outcome was often uncertain, but details of colleagues’ accounts highlight the essential and unique contribution of R.J.’s experience and drive to the eventual appearance of the iconic Spitfire.
The piston engines that powered Second World War fighters, the men who designed them, and the secret intelligence work carried out by both Britain and Germany would determine the outcome of the first global air war. Advanced jet engines may have been in development but every militarily significant air battle was fought by piston-engined fighters. Whoever designed the most powerful piston engines would win air superiority and with it the ability to dictate the course of the war as a whole. This is the never-before-told story of a high-tech race, hidden behind the closed doors of design offices and intelligence agencies, to create the war’s best fighter engine. Using the fruits of extensive research in archives around the world together with the previously unpublished memoirs of fighter engine designers, author Calum E. Douglas tells the story of a desperate contest between the world’s best engineers – the Secret Horsepower Race.
Timed to coincide with the one hundredth anniversary of the Schneider Trophy, this book is a history of over one hundred different aircraft that contested the trophy between 1913 and 1931. The book includes amazing drawings and photographs of the aircraft that have never been seen before.
Aviation in the Literature and Culture of Interwar Britain looks at the impact of aviation in Britain and beyond through the 1920s and 1930s. This book considers how in this period flying went from a weapon of war to an extensive industry that included civilian air travel, air mail delivery, flying shows and campaigns to create ‘airmindedness’. Essays look at these developments through the work of writers, filmmakers and flyers and examines the airminded modernism that marked this radical period. Its fourteen chapters include studies of texts by Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Elizabeth Bowen, W.H. Auden, T.H. White and John Masefield; accounts of the annual RAF Display at Hendon and the Schneider Trophy; and the achievements of celebrity flyers such as Amy Johnson. This collection provides a fresh perspective on the interwar period by bringing analysis of aviation and airmindedness to the study of British literature, history, modernism, mobilities and the history of technology and transportation.
This book covers a 14-year period when the author progressed from being a boy sailor in the UK to become a chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. It offers a very interesting blend of life experiences of a growing young man through some frightening experiences and some happy times. Life as a boy sailor was exciting for him, but once the dark period of the WW2 emerged, things changed radically, and his knowledge and courage were tested in some dramatic experiences which are well described in his book. When he moved into the submarine service in late 1942, a very new experience awaited him and by then he was a married man entering fatherhood in the coming year and already wondering what to do when the war finally ended. The final chapter describes sadness and regrets as the author’s life radically changed with the pressures of finding a new profession and becoming a family member with three children and there was always a lingering regret at having taken the wrong pathway despite the emerging successes of his children.