"Speed Was Terrific”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 162, 29 September 1927, Page 11

"Speed Was Terrific”

SCHNEIDER CUP RACE WINNER’S DESCRIPTION British Wireless—Press Assn Copyright Reed. 11.7 a.m. RUGBY, Wed. Flight-Lieutenant Webster, winner of the Schneider Cup race, in a “Daily Mail’’ interview says:— “So terrific was the speed that to turn round the pylons I had to select landmarks some distance before them as a signal to me to be ready to turn. I was so concentrated on the flight that I did not see any of the signal flags which were hoisted at the Excelsior Hotel during the race to tell us what was happening. “I calculated that I should complete the course in about 50 minutes. When X had done the seventli lap, I looked at my watch, and as I saw I had been up only about three-quarters of an hour, X feared I had made a mistake, and decided to do another lap to make sure. “The cockpit was like a furnace. I was mighty glad to get out of it. When the flight was over, I was absolutely deaf, although I had not noticed a noise while in the air.” He added that although the race involved great nervous tension, the actual speed did not affect him physically and he felt in as good a condition at the end of the race as at the beginning. “The exhaust fumes obscured the wind-screen of my machine, but I dared not put more than one corner of my goggles round it to see where I was going. If l had put out my head the wind would have broken my neck. If I had put out one hand it would have been snapped at the wrist.” —A. and N.Z.