The Schneider Trophy Contest 1913-1931

Creation

Announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911, it offered a prize of roughly £1,000. The race was held eleven times between 1913 and 1931.

Influence

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 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 pioneered by Schneider Trophy designs are obvious in the British Supermarine Spitfire, the American P-51 Mustang, and the Italian Macchi C.202 Folgore.

Since 1977 the trophy has been on display at the London science museum.

Rules

Races were supervised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the Aero Club in the hosting country. Each race was hosted by the previous winning country. Clubs could enter up to three competitors with an equal number of alternates.

If an aero club won three races in five years, they would retain the cup and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 francs.

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

Events

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 (73.62 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, the 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. It used the Curtiss D-12 engine. US Navy Lieutenant David Rittenhouse won the cup.

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 S.4) 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 (396 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 S5s 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 Supermarine S.6 with a new Rolls-Royce engine with an average speed of 328.63 mph (528.85 km/h).

The scarlet red Italian Macchi 67 retired on the second lap.                 The winning silver and blue S6 flown by Flt.Lt. Waghorn

N248  S6A at the Solent Sky Museum Southampton

In 1931 the British government withdrew support but a private donation of £100,000 from Lucy, Lady 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, 610 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 400 mph barrier on September 29 at an average speed of 407.5 mph.

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 1933 (over Garda Lake, in northern Italy) it set a record with a speed of 424 mph. Then, a year and a half later in the same venue, it broke 700 km/h with an average speed of 709.202 km/h (440.681 mph) in October 1934. Both times the plane was piloted by Francesco Agello. This speed remains until today the fastest speed ever attained by a piston-engined seaplane.

The races were very popular and some attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators.