The Leeds Association of Engineers salutes John Kelsall – Winner of the 2014 Schneider Trophy !
.
John has only recently joined the association having attended some of our annual dinners. In the past he has lectured to us about the Schneider Trophy as well as his passion for flight and building his own light aircraft. He is the only person in the history of the competition to have won the Trophy twice, with the earlier win being ten years ago in 2004.
The Schneider Trophy competition took place at the end of September in Alderney in the Channel Islands. John flew in his Van’s Aircraft RV-7 home built light aircraft. You can read more about the aircraft type using this link to Wikipedia:- Vans RV-7
The Trophy was first competed for on 16 April 1913, at Monaco and won by a French Deperdussin at an average speed of 73.56 km/h (45.71 mph). The British won in 1914 with a Sopwith Tabloid at 139.74 km/h (86.83 mph). The competition resumed in 1919 at Bournemouth where in foggy conditions the Italian team won. They were later disqualified and the race was voided. The last of the early races was held in 1931 before a lapse of fifty years.
In 1981 the race was revived by the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Britain’s ultimate retention of the Trophy. The original Trophy remained in the Science Museum, and a full-size replica was cast and the race opened on a handicapped basis to any propeller driven land plane capable of maintaining 100 miles per hour in straight and level flight, and weighing up to 12,500 lbs. Pilots also had to have a minimum of 100 hours as pilot-in-command, and a valid air racing licence. The venue has varied but is still flown on most occasions around a Solent-based course, usually around September of each year.
I am sure you will all join the President and Council of the association and congratulate John Kelsall on this historic achievement.
Use this link to the official Schneider Trophy website.
You can read more about the Schneider Trophy on Wikipedia using this link:- Wiki Schneider Trophy
(Aircraft Photo, text and links courtesy of Wikipedia … Ed.)