Schneider Trophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Schneider Trophy (or prize or cup) for seaplanes was announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911 with a prize of roughly £1,000. The race was held eleven times between 1913 and 1931. It was meant to encourage technical advances in civil aviation but became a contest for pure speed with laps over a triangular course (initially 280 km, later 350 km). The races were very popular and some of them attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators.

The official name of the prize, in French, was "Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider". If an aero club won three races in five years they would retain the cup and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 francs. Each race was hosted by the previous winning country. The races were supervised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the Aero Club in the hosting country. Each club could enter up to three competitors with an equal number of alternates.

After 1921, an additional requirement was added: the winning seaplane had to remain moored to a buoy for six hours without human intervention.

The trophy was first competed for on April 16, 1913, at Monaco and won by a French Deperdussin at an average speed of 45.75 mph (about 73 km/h).

The British won in 1914 with a Sopwith Tabloid at 86.6 mph (about 139 km/h).

The competition resumed in 1919 at Bournemouth where in foggy conditions the Italian team won. They were later disqualified and the race was voided.

In 1920 and 1921 at Venice the Italians won - in 1920 no other nation entered and in 1921 the only non-Italian entry did not start.

In 1922 in Naples the British and French competed with the Italians and the British private entry (Supermarine Sea Lion II) won.

The 1923 trophy, contested at Cowes, went to the Americans with a sleek, liquid-cooled engined craft designed by Glenn Curtiss.

In 1924 there was no competition as no other nation turned out to face the Americans - the Italians and the French withdrew and both British craft crashed in pre-race trials.

In 1925 at Chesapeake Bay the Americans won again, the British challenger (R.J. Mitchell's Supermarine S4) and the Italians soundly beaten by pilot Jimmy Doolittle.

In 1926 the Italians returned with a Macchi M.39 and won against the Americans with a 246 mph (about 394 km/h) run.

In 1927 for Venice there was a strong British entry with government backing and RAF pilots (the High Speed Flight) for Mitchell, Gloster and Shorts. Supermarine's Mitchell designed S.5s came first and second. 1927 was the last annual competition, the event then moving onto a biannual schedule to allow for more development time.

In 1929, at Cowes, Supermarine won again in the S.6 with a new Rolls-Royce engine with an average speed of 328.63 mph (about 526 km/h).

In 1931 the British government withdrew support but a private donation of £100,000 from Lady Lucy Houston allowed Supermarine to compete and win on September 13 against only British opposition with reportedly half a million spectators lining the beachfronts. The Italian, French, and German entrants failed to ready their aircraft in time for the competition. The remaining British team set both a new world speed record (379 mph, about 606 km/h) and won the trophy outright with a third straight win.

The following days saw the winning Supermarine S.6b further break the world speed record twice, making it the first craft to break the 400mph barrier on September 29 at an average speed of 407.5mph.

Development of the other entrants did not cease there. The proposed Italian entrant (the Macchi M.C.72) which pulled out of the contest due to engine problems later went on set two new world speed records. In April of 1933 it set a record with a speed of 424 mph. Then, a year and a half later, it broke 700 km/h with an average speed of 709 km/h (440.681 mph) in October 1934. Both times the plane was piloted by Francesco Agello. This last speed of 709 km/h remains (as of 2006) the fastest speed ever attained by a piston-engine seaplane.

Date	Location	Winning Aircraft	Nationality	Pilot	Speed (km/h, mph)
1913	Monaco	Deperdussin	France	Maurice Prevost	73.56, 45.71
1914	Monaco	Sopwith Tabloid	UK	Howard Pixton	139.74, 86.83
1920	Venice, Italy	Savoia S.12	Italy	Luigi Bologna	70.54, 43.83
1921	Venice, Italy	Macchi M.7bis	Italy	Giovanni de Briganti	189.66, 117.85
1922	Naples, Italy	Supermarine Sea Lion II	UK	Henri Biard	234.51, 145.72
1923	Cowes, UK	Curtiss CR-3	USA	David Rittenhouse	85.29, 53.00
1925	Baltimore, USA	Curtiss F3C-2	USA	James Doolittle	374.28, 232.57
1926	Hampton Roads, USA	Macchi M.39	Italy	Mario Bernardi	396.69, 246.50
1927	Venice, Italy	Supermarine S.5	UK	Sidney Webster	453.28, 281.66
1929	Calshot Spit, UK	Supermarine S.6	UK	Henry Waghorn	528.89, 328.65
1931	Calshot Spit, UK	Supermarine S.6B	UK	John Boothman	547.31, 340.09

The race was very significant in advancing aeroplane design, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engine design, and would show its results in the best fighters of WW2. The streamlined shape and the low drag, liquid-cooled engine that was pioneered by Schneider Trophy designs are obvious in the British Supermarine Spitfire, the American P-51 Mustang and the Italian Macchi C.202 Folgore.

By contrast, during the later years of actual conflict, new high power radial engines powered such aircraft as the American P-47 Thunderbolt, F6F Hellcat, and F4U Corsair, and the German Focke-Wulf 190. These aircraft, in spite of the larger frontal area required by the radial engine type could offer performance comparable or even better than some liquid cooled engines.

Thus to some extent, as the practical speed limits of propellor aircraft were reached, brute force could prove as important as streamlining.

[edit] Schneider Trophy Alumni

Reginald Mitchell, the designer of the winning Supermarine Schneider Trophy entrants also designed the Supermarine Spitfire.

Mario Castoldi, the designer of the 1926 winner, the Macchi M.39. Also designed other contestants such as the M.52, the M.52R, the M.67, and the M.C.72. After the M.C.72 Castoldi designed some of the Italian fighters which flew during World War II, such as the MC.202.

James Doolittle, winning pilot of the 1925 race was accomplished in many other areas. He was the first pilot to do an outside loop. He also was the first pilot to perform a successful instrument flight with zero visibility. Doolittle also led the famous 'Doolittle Raid', a bombing attack on several Japanese targets in April of 1942.

The trophy has been entrusted to the Royal Aero Club and can be viewed along with the winning Supermarine S.6B floatplane along side at the London Science Museum Flight exhibition hall.

[edit] Sources

• Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation (1989) has an extensive article on the Schneider Trophy, see pages 794 to 797.
• Schneider Trophy web site
• Royal Air Force official web page on the Schneider Trophy