Evening star., 1927-09-26

N(otttiAiuCi AioiiA 1 A. - ! e'~Ntf
shattered all existing official records
for speed, no matter with what types
of plane they had been made, was
greeted with enthusiasm by Naval
ayiators in Washington today.
Comdr. Eugene f. Wilson, chief Of
the design section of the Bureau Of
Aeronautics and aircraft engine
authority of the Navy, characterized
the flight of Flight Lieut.. :. \. Web
ster, at an average speed of eS1 80
miles per hour for the closed course
tseven times around track" measur-
ing 26.9S nautical miles, as "a very
splendid performance, particularly so
from the standpoint that the speed
was better than that established over
straight-away course of three kilo-
meters by a land plane"
Capt. II. c. Richardson, chief of the
material division of the bureau, and
seaplane export for many years in the
Navy, also described the flight as
striking" and added that in his
opinion. Webster's plane should make
from 10 to II miles an hour faster
when flown over 3-kilometer straight
away course tor the maximum speed
record Of the world
The flying skill of both Flight
Iieuts. Webster and o. E. Worsley,
who finished second at an average
speed of 273 miles per hour, was lauded
by naval aviators. They had in mind
the sharp turns at each. end of the
course, turns of about 115 degrees,
which granting the engine functions
perfectly. usually are the deciding fea-
lures in a, victory where there is close
competition.
Previous Record es8 Miles.
The worlds record for maximum
speed of an .airplane was held by
France at 27S.490 miles per hour, made
by Warrant Officer Florentin Bonnet
In Ferbois monoplane with a His
pano SuZa engine of $50 horse
power, December IL, 1924. The world :
seaplane maximum speed record, also
made over a three -kilometer course
is held by Mai. Mario de Bernardo
of Italy, at 25S.S13 miles per hour
The tremendous speed made by the
two Supermarine- Napier S-5 mono
planes, was brought about by en-
ploying a Napier Lion 12-cylinder
engine Of 450 horsepower, stepped up
to about $50 or 1000 horsepower by
pverboring the cylinders, employing
a higher crank shaft speed, a high
compression ratio and special fuels.
The plane. a monoplane, was void of
all objects that would produce drag
and as one airman remarked. the
British must have selected little pi-
lots and built the planes around
them"
Whether Lieut.. A. j. Williams. jr
the only American entrant, and his
privately built racing plane would
have surpassed the speed of the Brit
ish had he been able to reach Venice,
no one here would attempt to predict
y4 las ha+ Z bn
speed of the Williams racer, from the
standpoint of official timing, never
had been recorded. as the plane in its
tests. did not reach the point where
the pilot felt he could open up his
1,250-horsepower engine of "a cylind-
ers to the maximum.
Competed at Baltimore.
Great Britain, by its Schneider tro-
phy victory, steps up to a position of
prominence in the aeronautica world
with respect TO high and spectacular
performances of its planes. That
country's last appearance in the
Schneider trophy was at Baltimore, at
which it's plane made 1919 miles an
hour. A supermarine S-4, an earlier
edition of today's winners, was en-
tered, but crashed in preliminary
trials. notwithstanding. the British
team was frank in saying that it
could not have beaten the American
Curtiss racer which made 232 miles
an hour for the course.
Great Britain, according to reports
received here by the Navy, entered
into this years contest with a deter
nination to win. Time and money
were not spared in the preparations,
and they turned out six racers, only
three of which could be used under
the rules Two of the remaining
three were biplanes and the third was
an air-cooled engine monoplane which
was washed out" in q crash several
DAYS ago. After series of trials
over the course it was decided TO
"beach" the biplanes and use the
gupermarin for the contest.
Italy's entrants, according to Navy
reports, were virtually the same as
they had last year-Macchi mono
planes Several refnements were
made in this design and the $50 horse
bower Fiatt engines were stepped
no" another peg in an effort to
squeeze several more miles out Of
them.