High Speed Flight RAF The RAF High Speed Flight , sometimes known as " ' The Flight ' " , was a small flight of the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) formed for the purpose of competing the Schneider Trophy contest for racing seaplane s during the 1920s . The Flight was together only until the Trophy was won outright , after which it was disbanded . Background . In the Schneider Trophy race of 1926 both competing countries , Italy and the USA , had used military pilots . There had not been time to arrange a British team to compete . The British defeat of 1925 was held to be the result of technical inferiority and lack of organisation . The Air Ministry therefore agreed to support a British team , with pilots drawn from the RAF , and so the High Speed Flight was formed at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment Felixstowe in preparation for the 1927 race . 1927 . For the 1927 competition , six aircraft , from three manufacturers , were taken to Venice : a pair of Supermarine S . 5 s , three Gloster IV s and a single Short Crusader . The Crusader was slower than the others , and was intended for training , but crashed on 11 September 1927 . The cause was later identified as a control rigging error , following re - assembly after the journey from the UK to Venice . The Supermarine S . 5s came in first and second , with neither the Gloster nor the three Italian aircraft completing the race . As the winning nation , the UK would host the following event . This was the last annual competition . Subsequently , the race was held on a biannual schedule , to allow more time for development between races . 1928 . The High Speed Flight was disbanded after the race . The Treasury agreed to fund the aircraft for the next event but the Air Ministry objected initially to the use of serving pilots . This was sorted out and the High Speed Flight reformed . In March 1928 , Samuel Kinkead made an attempt on the air speed record using a Supermarine S5 . At the approach to the start of the course , however , the aircraft plunged into the water , killing him . 1929 . The 1929 Trophy race was to be held at Cowes . With little money forthcoming from the Ministry aircraft and engine development had to be private ventures , with government money only being used to purchase the completed product . The costs of the 1927 and 1929 meetings was stated to be £196 , 000 and £220 , 000 respectively . Rolls - Royce had now developed the supercharged R engine , giving Supermarine ' s designer R . J . Mitchell far more power for his new S . 6 than the naturally aspirated Napier Lion VIIB of the S . 5 . Gloster ' s first racing monoplane , the Gloster VI , had stayed with the Lion , but was also now supercharged as the Lion VIID . S . 6 " N247 " came first , piloted by Waghorn , with Atcherley and " N248 " disqualified for cutting inside a turn . The Gloster VI had been withdrawn before the race , but Stainforth used it to set a new speed record the following day . A record which soon fell in turn to one of the S . 6s . 1931 . Under the rules of the Schneider Trophy , a third win would be an outright win in perpetuity . The official attitude after the 1929 victory was summed up by the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald , " We are going to do our level best to win again . " However official support was withdrawn because of the need for economies following the Wall Street crash of October 1929 . The vetoed RAF involvement and Government funding in a sporting event . Trenchard ' s view that there was no advantage as aircraft development would continue whether or not the UK competed . The public however had other ideas and backed the idea of a national team . A wealthy benefactor , shipping heiress Lady Lucy Houston , offered to pay £100 , 000 towards its cost . With the financial burden removed , the Government generously allowed the RAF to compete again . The delay in funding meant that there was no time to design a new aircraft to compete ; instead , the S . 6 design was modified : the output of the R engine was increased by 400 hp to 2 , 300 hp and the airframe was strengthened , producing S . 6B . Two new aircraft were built to this specification and the two existing S . 6s were upgraded and renamed S . 6A . In the event , the race itself was an anti - climax - no other countries entered a team . All that had to be done was for one of the aircraft from the flight to complete the course . The plan was thus to attempt to beat the previous race time with one of the S6 . Bs , then to either go all - out for a new record attempt , or to use the S6 . A to secure the Trophy . The first goal was met according to plan ; Flight Lieutenant Boothman , won in S . 6B " S1595 " at 340 . 08 mph , 12 mph faster than the 1929 time . Work then began on the record attempt , which suffered a setback when a minor accident led to " S1596 " sinking . As a result , both the race and the record were flown by " S1595 " ( now in the Science Museum , London ) . The engines were swapped for this attempt though , from the " reliable " race tune to the ultimate performance " sprint " engine and its special fuel . Flight Lieutenant Stainforth then achieved a record of 407 . 5 mph , the first person to travel faster than 400 mph ; " the mark that matters " , in the words of Ernest Hives . In comparison , land speed record s didn ' t achieve this for 15 years , until after the Second World War and John Cobb ' s Railton Mobil Special . The Flight was wound up within weeks of the 1931 victory , it having served its purpose . Post - war reformation . In 1946 the High - Speed Flight was re - formed , to attempt the World Air Speed Record . The course was set out over 3 - km between Littlehampton and Worthing ; over five laps Donaldson achieved 616 mph ; Waterton 614 mph .