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The Coupe d Announced in 1912 by Jacques Schneider, a French financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, the competition offered a prize of approximately £1,000. The race was held twelve times between 1913 and 1931. It was intended to encourage technical advances in civil aviation but became a contest for pure speed with laps over a (usually) triangular course (initially 280 km, later 350 km). The contests were staged as time trials, with aircraft setting off individually at pre-agreed times, usually 15 minutes apart. The contests were very popular and some attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators. An earlier trophy, also presented by Jacques Schneider in 1910, in France, was the Schneider Cup, which is now in the possession of the RAF College Cranwell. If an aero club won three races in five years, they would retain the trophy and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 francs for each of the first three wins. Each race was hosted by the previous winning country. 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. The race was significant in advancing aeroplane design, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engine design, and would show its results in the best fighters of World War II. The streamlined shape and the low drag, liquid-cooled engine pioneered by Schneider Trophy designs are obvious in the British Supermarine Spitfire, the American North American P-51 Mustang, and the Italian Macchi C.202 ''Folgore''. The Schneider Trophy is a sculpture of silver & 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. ==History== The first competition was held on 16 April 1913, at Monaco. It was won by a French Deperdussin at an average speed of .〔Eves 2001, p. 240〕 The British won in 1914 with a Sopwith Tabloid at .〔 After World War I, the competition resumed in 1919 at Bournemouth where in foggy conditions the Italian team won. They were later disqualified and the race was voided.〔Eves 2001, p. 241〕 In 1920 and 1921 at Venice the Italians won — in 1920 no other nation entered and in 1921 the French entry did not start.〔 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.〔Eves 2001, p. 242〕 The French aircraft did not start the race, which became a competition between the Sea Lion and three Italian aircraft,〔(Schneider Victor's Welcome Home )〕 including a Macchi M.7 and a Savoia. 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. US Navy Lieutenant David Rittenhouse won the cup.〔 In 1924 there was no competition 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, the US pilot Jimmy Doolittle winning in a Curtiss R3C ahead of the British Gloster III and the Italian entry. Two British planes did not compete (R. J. Mitchell's Supermarine S.4 and the other Gloster III were damaged before the race). Two of the American planes did not finish.〔 In 1926, the Italians returned with a Macchi M.39 and won against the Americans with a run at Hampton Roads.〔Eves 2001, p. 243〕 In 1927 at Venice there was a strong British entry with government backing and RAF pilots (the High Speed Flight) for Supermarine, Gloster and Shorts. Supermarine's Mitchell-designed S.5s took first and second places. 1927 was the last annual competition, the event then moving onto a biannual schedule to allow for more development time.〔Eves 2001, p. 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 .〔 Both Britain and Italy entered two new aircraft and a backup plane from the previous race. In 1931 the British government withdrew support, but a private donation of £100,000 from Lucy, Lady Houston, allowed Supermarine to compete and win on 13 September against only British opposition, with reportedly half a million spectators lining the beachfronts. The Italian, French, and German entrants failed to ready their aircraft in time for the competition. The remaining British team set both a new world speed record () and won the trophy outright with a third straight win.〔Eves 2001, p. 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 . Development of the other entrants did not cease there. The proposed Italian entrant (the Macchi M.C.72) which pulled out of the contest due to engine problems later went on to set two new world speed records. In April 1933 (over Lake Garda, in northern Italy) it set a record with a speed of . Eighteen months later in the same venue, it broke the 700 km/h barrier with an average speed of . 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〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schneider Trophy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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