Let Let Let – Warplanes

The British racers

Specially designed by Avro for the 1919 Schneider Cup races, the Avro 539 was in fact the smallest possible airframe that could be designed round the 240 hp Siddeley Puma engine. With its wooden structure and very short fuselage this small biplane was finished well in time for the race of 10 September. It carried the civil registration G- EALG. Although officially entered, it was not flown in the race. It only served as a back-up for the Supermarine Sea Lion I racer. After the Schneider Cup race, it was converted into a landplane to participate in the famous aerial derbies of that time. However, it was damaged in a landing accident. It was repaired and fitted with a much more powerful Napier Lion engine of 450 hp. Re-registered as G-EAXM it was again not very lucky since it was totally wrecked on its first flight. On the photo we see G-EALG in the landplane version.

Supermarine designers F.J. Hargreaves and R.J. Mitchell designed based on the N1B Baby fighter flying boat a Schneider Cup racer for the 1919 event at Bornemouth. Although the N1B Baby was never taken in production, its design was largely taken over for the new racer, which was named the Sea Lion. It was fitted with the most powerful British liquid-cooled engine of that time, the Napier Lion. It was a biplane flying boat with the engine driving a pusher propeller mounted on a fuselage pylon between the wings. It carried the civil registration G-EALP. During the race it was flown by Basil D. Hobs, but he only flew one lap because of the thick fog. When he retired from the race, the Sea Lion sank because its hull was punctured on an earlier landing. For the 1920 event at Venice, the Supermarine team headed by R.J. Mitchell constructed a second improved racer as the Sea Lion II, but it would not be ready until the next race in 1922. Fitted with a similar powered Napier Lion engine, but with a smaller upper wing and an aerodynamically more refined fuselage, the pilot Henry Biard managed to beat the Italian competition. The Sea Lion II also carried a civil registration: G-EBAH. In fact the Sea Lion II was based on the airframe of the Supermarine Sea King II amphibian scout fighter.

This was, however, not the final end of the Sea Lion racer. Mitchell’s team developed it further into the Sea Lion III. This was the original Sea Lion II with a much more aerodynamically refined airframe, although it had the same type of engine; the Napier Lion, but now rated at 550 hp. In the 1923 race at Cowes it was flown with the same civil markings (G-EBAH) as the Sea Lion II. In spite it was far inferior in speed when compared with the winning Curtiss racers (who finished first and second) Henry Biard managed to finish the race at a very credible third place. With the arrival of the fast American floatplanes it was evident the days of the flying boat as a competitive racer were over for future Schneider Cup contests! G-EBAH was after the race taken over by the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe as a high speed test plane, carrying the serial number N170. It already crashed on its second flight here, killing Fl. Off. E. Paul-Smith.

With Great Britain being the host of the Schneider Cop races of 1923, Blackburn decided to design and build a special single-seat/single engine flying boat racer. Fitted with the usual Napier Lion of 450 hp and named Pellet, the Blackburn design was a small biplane flying boat with exceptional clean lines. Capable of reaching a speed of more than 250 km/h it was a very competitive plane. It was entered in the 1923 race at Cowes carrying the civil registration G-EBHF, but it already failed during the preliminary tests where in was found to be so nose-heavy that it ended twice upside-down on the water! Pilot Kenworthy only got a wet suit the first time when he was thrown out of the plane, but the second time he barely escaped drowning. The damaged Pellet was never repaired. On the photo we see the Pellet on the Hamble River after being launched into the water from the Fairey slipway.

Gloucester Aircraft Corporation, later abbreviated as Gloster, had developed in the early twenties a remarkable racing plane for the famous aerial derbies. Designed by Henry Folland, it became known as the Gloster Bamel, although its official name was Gloster Mars I. The Bamel was so successful that after its racing career as a land plane it was acquired by the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe. Fitted with floats the small biplane was used as a trainer for the High Speed Flight division pilots. Based on the Gloster I as it was known by that time, Henry Folland’s team built in 1924 a more refined and faster version as the Gloster II floatplane as a racer for the Schneider Cup contest of that year. Unluckily it already crashed during early testing. In spite of this unhappy event, Folland received funds for a new Schneider Cup racer for the next year. Designated the Gloster III it was a biplane on floats fitted with a 700 hp Napier Lion VII engine resembling more or less the U.S. Curtiss racers that dominated the 1924 race.

Two were built, carrying the RAF serial numbers N194 and N195. N194 was flown for the first time on 3 June 1925 by the American pilot Bert Hinkler and both racers showed enough potential to be entered for the Schneider Cup event in the U.S.A. However, during the initial trials N194 was damaged and only N195 was able to start. It entered the race together with the new Supermarine S.4 monoplane racer, but only the Gloster III would finish the race on a credible second place behind the Curtiss R3C-2 racer flown by Jimmy Doolittle. Pilot of the Gloster III at Baltimore was Hubert Broad. After the Baltimore race, N195 was further improved, but it was never used again at the next racing event. Instead, it served as a trainer for the High Speed Flight pilots. On the photo we see the still unpainted first Gloster III no. N194 shortly after it was completed. The vertical tail was later increased in size for the final racing version.

After the relative success of the Gloster III, Folland’s team received funds for the design and construction of an even faster successor. It was known as the Gloster IV and followed in large lines the preceding Gloster III. However, extreme care was taken for good streamlining. For the RAF Hig Speed Flight three Gloster IV’s were built receiving the serial numbers N222, N223 and N224. All three Gloster IV’s were fitted with an up-rated Napier Lion of 900 hp. All three racers were slightly different. N222 and N224 were fitted with direct drive engines to the two-bladed aluminium propeller. N223 was fitted with a transmission that produced some 15 hp less on the propeller. All three Gloster IV’s were supplied to the High Speed Flight at Calshot over the period July-August 1927 and all were shortly flown before they were shipped to Venice for the Schneider Cup event of that year. For the race, N223 was selected to enter while the other two racers were kept as stand-by. It was flown by Fl. Lt. S.M. Kinkead, but his speed was some 100 km/h lower as that for the winning Supermarine S.5 monoplane and he had no chance at all to win. Kinkead had to retire on the fourth place at the 6th lap because of severe engine vibration. After he landed, it was discovered that one of the propeller blades was almost sheared off! All three Gloster IV’s were after the race returned to the Gloster factory for modification as trainers for the next race. The N224 was experimentally fitted with a broad chord propeller for testing purposes. Later it was sold to a private pilot, mr Amhurst Villiers, who wanted to convert it to a wheel-based plane to beat the world speed record, but this idea never materialized. N223 was lost when Ft. Lt. Boothman crashed it during a landing incident on 19 December 1930. N222 was used for training until 1931 and made an additional 147 flights before it was broken up. The days of the biplane racers were definitely over……

Related posts:

1. Tangmere Military Aviation Museum
2. Caudron C.460 Rafale replica presented at Le Bourget
3. Vickers Supermarine Type 381 Seagull ASR-1
4. Dutch flying boats and amphibians

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