Schneider Trophy

File:Schneider Trophy side1 Science Museum London.jpg

Aircraft taking part had to be seaworthy, having to float for six hours and travel about 550 yards (503m) on water. Twice during the flight they had to land on or "come in contact" with the water (which allowed contestants to carry out a fast bouncing manoeuvre). If the pontoons took on water, the flight had to continue with the added weight. Each competition was to be held in and managed by the country currently holding the trophy.{{cite web |title=Schneider Trophy air race |website=Century of Flight |year=2003 |url=http://www.century-of-flight.freeola.com/Aviation%20history/daredevils/Schneider.htm |access-date=23 August 2023}} If a country won three consecutive races, as the British finally did, they would retain the trophy permanently and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 French francs75,000 French francs in 2012 were equivalent in purchasing power to about €430,000 in 2023 for each of the first three wins. The races were supervised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the aero club in the hosting country. Each club could enter up to three competitors with an equal number of alternatives.{{citation needed|date = August 2023}}

The Schneider Trophy is a sculpture of silver and bronze set on a marble base. It depicts a zephyr skimming the waves, and a nude winged figure is seen kissing a zephyr recumbent on a breaking wave. The heads of two other zephyrs and of Neptune, the god of the Sea, can be seen surrounded by octopus and crabs. The symbolism represents speed conquering the elements of sea and air. The cost of the trophy was 25,000 francs.

File:Supermarine S.6A N248 (6924281005).jpg N248 displayed at Solent Sky (2011). It was disqualified from the 1929 competition due to turning inside a marker.]]

After the British finally won permanent possession of the trophy in 1931, the sculpture was displayed for many years at the end of the corridor outside the ballroom of the Lansdowne Club. It has since been entrusted to the Royal Aero Club and can be viewed along with the winning Supermarine S.6B floatplane at the London Science Museum Flight exhibition hall. Supermarine S.6, N248, which competed in the 1929 contest but was disqualified, is preserved at Solent Sky maritime museum in Southampton.[http://www.spitfireonline.co.uk/ Solent Sky aviation museum]

Schneider was a hydroplane racer who came from a wealthy family; his interest in aircraft began after he met Wilbur Wright in 1908, but a boating accident in 1910 crippled him and prematurely ended his racing and flying career. Schneider served as a race referee at the Monaco Hydroplane Meet in 1912, where he noted that seaplane development was lagging land-based aircraft; seeking to spur amphibious aircraft development,{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/cup.php |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Origins |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} capable of reliable operation, extended range, and reasonable payload capacity, he announced the annual Schneider Trophy competition at a race banquet on 5 December, to cover a distance of at least {{convert|150|nmi}}.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-schneider-trophy-22580584/ |title=The Schneider Trophy |last=Dick |first=Ron |date=31 May 1988 |magazine=Air & Space Magazine |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=20 May 2020}}

File:Jacques Schneider debout à l'avant d'un petit voilier donnant le départ d'une course.jpg (1913)]]

The first competition was held on 16 April 1913, at Monaco, consisting of six laps, {{convert|300|km}} distance in total.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200430.html |title=The Monaco Meeting |date=19 April 1913 |magazine=Flight |page=450 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007043939/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200430.html |archive-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead}} It was won by Maurice Prévost, piloting a French Deperdussin Monocoque (Coupe Schneider) at an average speed of {{convert|73.56|km/h|abbr=on}}.{{cite book |last=Eves |first=Edward |title=The Schneider Trophy Story |location=Shrewsbury, UK |publisher=Airlife Publishing Ltd. |date=2001 |isbn=1-84037-257-5}}{{rp|240}} Although Prévost had averaged a faster flying speed, he lost 50 minutes when he landed prematurely after losing count of the laps completed. All four entrants were flying French-made aircraft; two withdrew before completing the race.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1913 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Monaco - April 16th, 1913 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} The British won in 1914 with a Sopwith Tabloid flown by Howard Pixton at {{convert|139.74|km/h|abbr=on}};{{rp|240}} the 1914 race was contested by three nations: France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The United States and Germany failed to qualify.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1914 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Monaco - April 20th, 1914 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} From 1915 to 1918, competition was suspended for the duration of World War I.

After the war, the competition resumed in 1919 at Bournemouth where in foggy conditions the Italian team won. They were later disqualified and the race was voided,{{rp|241}} as the referees ruled they had incorrectly flown around a marker buoy. In 1920 and 1921 at Venice the Italians won again; in 1920 no other nation entered{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1920 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Venezia - September 20th and 21st, 1920 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} and in 1921 the French entry did not start.{{rp|241}} {{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1921 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Venezia - August 11th, 1921 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} Had it not been for the 1919 disqualification, Italy would have been awarded the trophy permanently. After 1921, an additional requirement was added: the winning seaplane had to remain moored to a buoy for six hours without human intervention.

In 1922 in Naples the British and French competed with the Italians. The British private entry, a Supermarine Sea Lion II, was the victor, flown by Henry Biard.{{rp|242}} The French aircraft did not start the race, which became a competition between the Sea Lion and three Italian aircraft,{{cite magazine |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1922/1922%20-%200495.html |title=Schneider Victor's Welcome Home |date=31 August 1922 |magazine=Flight |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130214124753/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1922/1922%20-%200495.html |archive-date=14 February 2013 |url-status=dead}} two Macchi M.17s and a Savoia S.51.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1922 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Napoli - August, 10th and 12th, 1922 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}}

File:Schneider Cup RMG PW1140.jpg ({{circa|1920s}})]]

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. U.S. Navy Lieutenant David Rittenhouse won the cup,{{rp|242}} and his teammate Rutledge Irvine was second in an identical aircraft. The British Sea Lion III (flown by 1922 winner Henry Biard), and the French entry withdrew from the race.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1923 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Cowes - September 28th, 1923 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} The preparation of the United States team, backed by government support and using Curtiss racing biplanes derived from inter-military competitions, increased the speed and the investment of a winning entry significantly. In 1924 the competition was cancelled 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, with U.S. pilot Jimmy Doolittle winning in a Curtiss R3C ahead of the British Gloster III and the Italian Macchi M.33.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1925 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Baltimore, Shore Park Bay - October 26th, 1925 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} R. J. Mitchell's Supermarine S.4 and the other Gloster III were damaged before the race and did not compete. Two of the American planes did not finish.{{rp|242}}

Benito Mussolini instructed the Italian aircraft industry to "win the Schneider Trophy at all costs" and so demonstrate the effectiveness of his Fascist government. In 1926, the Italians returned with a Macchi M.39 and won against the Americans with a {{convert|396.69|km/h|abbr=on}} run at Hampton Roads.{{rp|243}} The United States, short of funds, did not develop new aircraft for the 1926 title defence; the M.39, designed by Mario Castoldi, used a Fiat AS2 engine and was streamlined in the manner of the 1925 Supermarine and Curtiss entrants. The American teams withdrew from further competition after the 1926 race, as the military was unwilling to fund entrants.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1926 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Hampton Roads - November 13th, 1926 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} In 1927 at Venice the British responded by enlisting government backing and RAF pilots (the High Speed Flight) for the Supermarine, Gloster, and Shorts entries. Supermarine's Mitchell-designed S.5s took first and second places; no other entrants finished. The race was witnessed by an estimated 250,000 spectators.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1927 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Venezia, Lio beach - September 26th, 1927 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} 1927 was the last annual competition, the event was then mutually agreed to be held biennially to allow more development time.{{rp|244}}

In 1929, at Calshot, Supermarine won again in the Supermarine S.6 with the new Rolls-Royce R engine with an average speed of {{convert|528.89|km/h|abbr=on}}.{{rp|244}} Both Britain and Italy entered two new aircraft and a backup plane from the previous race. Three of the four new aircraft were disqualified (Supermarine S.6 N.248) or failed to finish the course (both Macchi M.67s), with the older Macchi M.52R taking second and Supermarine S.5 taking third.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1929 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Calshot - September 6th and 7th, 1929 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} Although France had ordered racing seaplanes from Bernard and Nieuport-Delage in 1928, they were unable to complete them in time for the 1929 race.

File:British team for Schneider Trophy race 1931.JPG

In 1931 the British government withdrew support, but a private donation of £100,000 from the wealthy and ultra-patriotic Lucy, Lady Houston,{{Cite book |last=Crompton |first=Teresa |title=Adventuress: The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston |publisher=The History Press |year=2020}} allowed Supermarine to compete. When the French and Italian teams dropped out, leaving no other competitors, the British team flew the course alone on 13 September and won the coveted Schneider Trophy outright, having beaten the time record from the 1929 competition. Reportedly half a million spectators lined the beachfronts. The Italian, French, and German entrants failed to ready their aircraft in time for the competition.{{cite web |url=https://www.hydroretro.net/race1931 |last=Pecastaingts |first=Pierre |translator-last=Dickerhoof |translator-first=Gib |date=1996 |title=Calshot - September 13th, 1931 |website=Hydro Retro |access-date=20 May 2020}} The remaining British team set both a new world speed record of {{convert|610|km/h|abbr=on}} and won the trophy outright with a third straight win.{{rp|245}} 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 29 September at an average speed of {{convert|655.8|km/h|abbr=on}}.

File:Macchi MC.72 MM181 (6414164503).jpg at Museo Vigna di Valle (2011)]]

Although the British team had secured the trophy for the UK permanently with the 1931 uncontested win, the development of the other 1931 entrants continued. The proposed Italian entrant (the Macchi M.C.72), which had pulled out of the contest due to engine problems, later went on to set two new world speed records with the help of British fuel expert Rod Banks, who had worked on the Rolls Royce R engine of the S6B. In April 1933 it set a record over Lake Garda in northern Italy with a speed of {{convert|682.36|km/h|abbr=on}}. Eighteen months later in the same venue, it broke the 700 km/h barrier with an average speed of {{convert|709.202|km/h|abbr=on}}. Both times the plane was piloted by Francesco Agello. This speed remains the fastest speed ever attained by a piston-engined seaplane.Gunston 1989, p. 58

For a complete list of the aircraft which competed in the competitions, see List of Schneider Trophy aircraft.

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• Reginald J. Mitchell, designer of the winning Supermarine Schneider Trophy entrants, also designed the Supermarine Spitfire fighter.
• Mario Castoldi, designer of the 1926 winner, the Macchi M.39, also designed other contestants such as the M.52, the M.52R, the M.67, and the M.C.72. After the M.C.72 Castoldi designed some of the Italian fighters which flew during World War II, such as the MC.202.
• James Doolittle, winning pilot of the 1925 race, was accomplished in many other areas. He led the famous "Doolittle Raid", an American bombing attack on several Japanese homeland targets in April 1942.

In 1981 the race was revived, no longer for seaplanes and under different rules, by the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Britain's ultimate retention of the Schneider Trophy. The original trophy remained in the Science Museum, a full-size replica was cast, and the race opened on a handicapped basis to any propeller–driven landplane capable of maintaining {{convert|100|mph|km/hour kn}} in straight and level flight, and weighing up to {{convert|12500|lb|abbr=on}}. Pilots had to have a minimum of 100 hours as pilot-in-command, and a valid air racing licence.

Following that event, the UK subsidiary of U.S. computer company Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) independently decided to sponsor a long-term revival of the Schneider Trophy, with the first race held in 1984, and races held annually, with a few omissions, since then. The idea was submitted by DEC's then UK PR consultancy Infopress as part of a broader commercial sponsorship programme designed to increase DEC's presence in the UK market at that time. DEC sponsored this revived race series from 1984 until 1991, which also marked the diamond jubilee of the final race in the original series. DEC and Infopress turned to the expertise of the Royal Aero Club's Records, Racing & Rally Association which again administered and ran the actual races. The 1981 Solent course, itself a close approximation of the original 1929 and 1931 Schneider Trophy courses over the Solent, was also used and adapted from year to year.

This sponsorship had a profound effect on the awareness and popularity of handicapped air racing in the UK and further afield, as well as markedly increasing DEC's commercial profile in the UK. The appeal of the race, its historic connections, and the fact that prize money was now on offer, meant that the entry list for the race was large enough to warrant the introduction of heats from 1985 onwards. (There were 62 entrants to the 1984 race, believed at the time to be the largest-ever in all forms of air racing.)

The event received further boosts in 1986, when it was started by Prince Andrew, Duke of York and his fiancée Sarah Ferguson; in 1987, when the event was featured as one episode in a BBC television documentary series; and in 1988, when it was a central part of that year's ITV Telethon Appeal.

DEC invited customers and partners to each year's event as guests, and the general public watched in increasing numbers as the series grew in size and popularity.

For the pilots taking part, the event became, along with the King's Cup air race, the highlight of the UK's air racing season, and regularly attracted entrants from continental Europe.

DEC continued to sponsor the races until 1991. Since that time, the race has been run by the Royal Aero Club Records Racing and Rally Association along with the King's Cup and the British air racing championship. The venue has varied but is still flown on most occasions around a Solent-based course, usually around September of each year.

• The Schneider Cup is frequently referred to in the 1992 animated film Porco Rosso, even to the extent of director Hayao Miyazaki's naming the film's antagonist Donald Curtiss, a reference to American aircraft designers Glenn Curtiss and Donald Douglas.
• In the song "Bill Hosie" by Archie Fisher, the protagonist rebuilds a Supermarine S.5 seaplane that survived the 1927 Schneider Trophy Race. The plane, race, and trophy are referred to throughout the song. (Bill Hosie and the replica were both real. Hosie competed in the 1985 and 1986 DEC Schneider Trophy Races, and DEC partly financed his rebuild of the S.5 replica. He crashed during a test-flight of this replica on 23 May 1987, near Mylor, Cornwall in the UK,{{cite web |url=http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP673.PDF |title=Aviatrion safety review |date=May 1997 |publisher=Civil Aviation Authority |page=17 |access-date=19 August 2011}} just one month before that year's DEC Schneider Trophy Race. Hosie was killed. Details of the crash and its cause are in AIB Bulletin 9/87 published by the Accidents Investigation Branch of the UK's Department of Transport, 1987.)
• The film The First of the Few (1942) starring Leslie Howard as R. J. Mitchell centres on Mitchell's life as the designer of multiple Schneider Trophy–winning seaplanes and then the Spitfire fighter plane.

• List of aviation awards
• Gordon Bennett Trophy (aeroplanes)
• National Air Races

{{Reflist}}

• Barker, Ralph. The Schneider Trophy Races. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1981. {{ISBN|0-906393-15-9}}
• Eves, Edward. [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760311189/page/n5/mode/2up?q= The Schneider Trophy Story]. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2001. {{ISBN|1-84037-257-5}} {{registration required}}
• Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopaedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. {{ISBN|1-85260-163-9}}
• {{Cite book |title=The Schneider Trophy Contests (1913-1931) |last=Hawks |first=Ellison |year=1945 |publisher=Real Photographs |location=Southport}}
• Lewis, Julian. [http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=2864 Racing Ace - The Fights and Flights of 'Kink' Kinkead DSO DSC* DFC*.] Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-84884-216-8}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Mondey |first=David |title=Britain Captures the Schneider Trophy |magazine=Air Enthusiast |date=December 1981 – March 1982 |issue=17 |pages=36–50 |issn=0143-5450}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Meurillon |first1=Louis |title=La Coupe Schneider et la Société des Avions Bernard (1) |journal=Le Fana de l'Aviation |date=July 1976 |issue=80 |pages=6–87 |issn=0757-4169 |language=fr |trans-title=The Schneider Cup and the Bernard Company, Part 1}}
• Mondey, David. The Schneider Trophy. London, UK: Robert Hale, 1975. {{ISBN|0-7091-5011-3}}
• Shelton, John. [http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=45655&langId=-1 Schneider Trophy to Spitfire - The Design Career of R.J. Mitchell.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003034527/http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=45655&langId=-1 |date=3 October 2011 }} Yeovil, UK: Haynes Publishing, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-84425-530-6}}
• Schofield, H. M. High Speed and Other Flights. London, UK. John Hamilton Limited. (Schofield was a member of the 1927 British Schneider Trophy team.)
• Orlebar, A. H. Schneider Trophy. London, UK. Seeley Service & Co. Limited. (Orlebar was the commanding office of the 1929 and 1931 British Schneider Trophy teams.)
• Smith, Alan. Schneider Trophy Diamond Jubilee, Looking Back 60 Years. Poole, UK. Waterfront Publications, 1991. {{ISBN|0-946184-72-0}}.
• James, Derek N. Schneider Trophy Aircraft 1913-1931. London, UK. Putnam & Company Limited, 1991. {{ISBN|0-370-30328-8}}

• Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation (1989) has an extensive article on the Schneider Trophy (pp. 794–797).
• Baldrey, Dennis & Jerram, Mike. The DEC Schneider Trophy Race. London, UK. Osprey Publishing Limited, 1988. {{ISBN|0-85045-829-3}}

{{Commons category|Schneider Trophy}}

• [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1931/1931%20-%200863.html "Schneider Contest 1931" (Course layout and general regulations)]Flight the Aircraft Engineer and Airships, No. 1181, Vol. XXIII, No. 33, 14 August 1931
• [http://www.hydroretro.net/indexen.html Schneider Trophy web site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090223134831/http://www.raf.mod.uk/history_old/schneider1.html Royal Air Force official web page on the Schneider Trophy] (archive)
• [http://speedbirds.blogspot.com/ SPEEDBIRDS Graphics study on the Schneider Trophy planes]
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=14985 Newsreel footage of Macchi M.39 and Major Mario de Bernardi after winning the 1926 Schneider Trophy race] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611044431/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=14985 |date=11 June 2011 }}
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=48755 Newsreel footage of 1929 Schneider Trophy racing teams, British Supermarine S.6A aircraft (#2 and #8), and Italian Macchi M.67 (#10) and Macchi M.52R (#4) aircraft at 1929 Schneider Trophy race] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611044602/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=48755 |date=11 June 2011 }}
• [http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2008/06/14/the-schneider-cup-racers/ The Schneider Cup racers]

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