Schneider Sport 320 (oz14331)

About this Plan

Schneider Sport 320. Radio control sport floatplane model.

Quote: "A super sportplane with a classic look, that's at home on land or water. Schneider Sport 320, by Tom Strom Sr.

Recently in our hobby there has been a reawakening of interest in seaplanes, and a growing interest in the sleek and beautiful Schneider Cup Racers. Modelers are always looking for new and exciting things to do in their hobby, and it seems that periodically, all forms of aircraft are given a 'new' try. The Lake Havasu City Schneider Re-enactment event being promoted hy Bob Martin, with the 1/3 scale models of the Schneider racers, is one of the more ambitious of these 'new' interests.

A great deal has been published regarding the Schneider Cup events of the 1920's but not much has been revealed about why the Americans did not continue to be a major contender. The Americans seemed to have things going their way between 1923 and 1925, then the British and Italians took over. As everyone knows, the British eventually retired the trophy in 1930 with the Supermarine S-6B. What happened?

To review just a little, the first Schneider Cup event was held in 1913, and was won by a French Deperdussin Monoplane at 45.7 mph. The following year, 1914, it was won by a British Sopwith Tabloid Biplane at 86.5. mph. After WWI, the next race was held in 1920, and was won by an Italian Savoia S-12, a biplane flying boat, at 107.2 mph.

At this point in the history of the Schneider races, people were thinking that the flying boat was the best solution to the many problems surrounding seaplane racing, and for the next two years flying boats did seem to be the answer. In 1921 the winner was the Italian Macchi M-7 at 117.9 mph, and in 1922 the winner was the British Sea Lion III at 145.7 mph.

Then in 1923, the sleek little Curtiss CR-3 biplane on floats, won at a speed of 177 mph. In 1925 Jimmy Doolittle in the Curtiss R3C-2 pushed the winning speed up to 232.6 mph. This was the end of the game, however, for the Americans, and the British and Italians went on from there.

The American race scene was given a boost in 1920 by a wealthy newspaperman, Ralph Pulitzer, who established a strictly American series of closed circuit air races. These races attracted the interest of the foremost military commanders of the period, in particular Gen Billy Mitchell of the Army Air Service, and Adm William Moffett of the Navy Air Wing who were interested in air racing. They were convinced that air racing would assist in developing combat planes with high speed and maneuverability. They were successful in obtaining limited budget support, but still had to trade funds and loan airplanes to keep the momentum going.

In the six years, 1920 through 1925, the winning average speed rose from 156.5 mph to 248.9 mph. Of particular interest was that, during this period, the horsepower of these craft remained around 600-6511 hp. The improvements came through streamlining and drag reduction.

It was the technology developed in the Pulitzer races that put the Americans out in front at the 1923 and 1925 Schneider Cup races. Taking the extremely clean Curtiss land plane racer, the wheel gear was removed, twin floats were added, and presto! a Schneider Cup racer with technology far in advance of anything else competing at that time..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Scan by MarkD, cleanup by Circlip.

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