Читать книгу H. G. Hawker, airman: his life and work онлайн

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[Facing p. 56.

On May 10th, 1913, the Saturday before Whitsun, with Harry in charge, the new 80 h.p. Gnome Sopwith Tractor biplane fully justified the big things that were expected of it, at Hendon, whither its reputation had travelled in advance. Harry flew over from Brooklands to take part in an Altitude Contest in competition with Verrier on a Maurice Farman, Robert Slack on a 50 h.p. Gnome Blériot, Brock on a 35 h.p. Deperdussin, and Hamel on an 80 h.p. Blériot. The machines left the ground at short intervals and were all soon out of sight, hidden by clouds. In making a single circuit of the aerodrome, the Sopwith machine climbed 2,000 feet. Hamel was first down after about 20 minutes, quickly followed at short intervals by Slack, Verrier, and Brock, in the order named. Harry, however, was nowhere in sight, and did not appear again until about forty minutes after he had started. As there was a time limit in the contest, the judges, having concluded that Harry had made a forced landing elsewhere, announced the following result: