7 Sept. 16.
By his performance at Caizhot on Sunday, Flight-Lieut. George tain forth' has wonderful triumph for Britain, forth' has achieved Attacking the existing air speed record, he established an average speed of 379.05 mil hour, and on one of his five laps over the three kilometre course he was at first reported to have reached a speed of 404 miles an hour, but clocked by the automatic ' timing apparatus as against the stop watch his checked speed was officially set a hour, or more than six miles a minute. Such a speed is almost beyond belief and that it has been possible of. attainment is a remarkable tribute to the man who flew the machine, and the skill of the designers, engineers and builders who ce-operated producing the Supermarine Rolls-Royce S6B seaplane, which has proved to be the fastest machine in the world. This combination of men and machine is not a purely fortuitous circumstance, It is the result of long and exhaustive study of aeronautics, patient experimentation with models, the careful training of personnel to manage these powerful machines, and many trials to bring them under such control as to ensure safe but fast flying speed.
The pitch of perfection in aeroplane construction is to be seen in this marvellous machine. The rough-and-ready principle of speed used to be the greater the engine power the greater the speed, but the history of the Schneider Trophy, which is the history of fast racing planes, has demonstrated the other" important factors which ensured the success at Calshot. These machines are built practically to fit the air through the process of stream-lining, The powerful Rolls-Royce engines develop one horse power for 12 ounces of weight. 'The designer, Mr. R. J. Mitchell, who also designed the winners' of the 1929 Schneider contest, and the designer of the whole range of Supermarine racing seaplanes, was able to build a machine this year with a size and wing area not more than the old machine and yet able to carry a heavier engine, larger floats and an additional 150 Ib of fuel and oil.
A careful combination of small modifications was responsible for the additional speed, and although nearly 400 miles an hour seems incredible Mr. Mitchell, after the 1929 contest, was able to declare on an authority which his products have justified, that 500 miles an hour is within sight and even a higher speed possible provided the human factor is able to keep pace with Lieut. Stainforth has proved {chu that the human factor is capable of controlling a machine at over six miles a minute and the limit has not been reached. 'The strain—or thrill—of such so colossal a speed can be described only by the man who experienced it, but to the specta-for it may be' appreciated only by comparison. In order to check such a speed the machine must fly very low, sometimes not more than 100' feet or 150 feet above'the sea level. One error and disaster is inevitable. Flight-Lieutenant Stainforth's: feat is nothing short of super-' human, and although a speed of 400 miles an hour was not reached during his attempt on the record, it is typical of the rare courage and ambition of the young airmen composing the British high speed flight that he should announce that he will make another attempt if weather conditions are favourable and endeavour to pass this great milestone in the history of air speed. To Flight-Lieut. Booth-man, who broke the Schneider contest record, Flight-Lieut. Stainforth, the fastest man alive, and, above all to Squadra: Leader Orlebar, the commander whose leadership has been so successfully demonstrated, 1 est congratulations, will be extended.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.