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Schlesinger Race
The Schlesinger Race, also known as the ''"Rand Race"'', the ''"Portsmouth – Johannesburg Race"'' or more commonly the 'African Air Race', took place in September 1936. The Royal Aero Club announced the race on behalf of Isidore William Schlesinger who wanted to promote the Empire Exhibition, South Africa and so offered a total of £10,000 in prize money to be divided into two sections, a speed race and a handicap race. The two sections were to be flown concurrently, but no competitor could win both first prizes. The race was wholly inspired by the very successful 1934 MacRobertson Air Race to celebrate the centenary of the Australian state of Victoria. However, whilst that race was open to all-comers, Schlesinger made the fundamental error of restricting the entry of the Schlesinger Race to British Empire crews and machines only. This led directly to a much smaller entry and only one machine successfully completed the course after many aircraft either failed, crashed or giv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connop Guthrie
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Sir Connop Thirlwall Robert Guthrie, 1st Baronet, KBE (6 July 1882 – 28 September 1945) was a British businessman and public servant. Guthrie served as an officer during the early stages of World War I but following injury, managed the American operations of the Ministry of Shipping. He took up business roles after the war, directing City General Trust before purchasing North Central Wagon Company in a joint venture with Prudential Assurance in 1928. He served as North Central Wagon Company's chairman from 1928 to 1939. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ... for his war service with the Ministry of Shipping, and was created a baronet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles E
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its depr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Hawk Major
The Miles Hawk Major was a 1930s British two-seat light monoplane, developed by Miles Aircraft from the Miles Hawk in order to take advantage of the new inverted de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. When fitted with the longer Gipsy Six in place of the forward crew member, it was known as the Miles Hawk Speed Six. Design and development The Hawk Major was a variant of the Miles M.2 Hawk, developed by F.G. Miles to take advantage of the new inverted de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. Other changes included metal (instead of wood) engine mounts and streamlined undercarriage. The production Hawk Major had the 130 hp de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. The aircraft sold well to private owners, including two that were fitted with smoke generators to allow them to be used as skywriters. An improved version (the M.2H) with a trailing edge flap replaced the M.2F on the production line. A number of special one-off racing versions were also built. Operational history The prototype M.2F Haw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Findlay
Captain Maxwell Hutcheon Findlay (17 February 1898 – 1 October 1936) was a Scottish World War I flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories. He remained in the RAF postwar for several years before going on to a civilian aviation career that ended with his death in the Johannesburg Air Race of 1936.Shores, et al, p. 155. Early life Maxwell Hutcheon Findlay was born on Aberdeen, Scotland on 17 February 1898. World War I Findlay was a Scotsman living in Canada when World War I began. He returned to the British Isles to enlist in the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). He later transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service, being promoted from probationary temporary flight officer to temporary flight sub-lieutenant on 16 April 1917. His first duty assignment, to No. 6 Naval Squadron, brought him two "out of control" victories over Albatros D.Vs in July and August 1917. He transferred to No. 1 Naval Squadron, and used a Sopwith Camel to score three more "out of control" wins on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airspeed Envoy
The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a twin-engined light transport aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Ltd. The Envoy originated as a heavier twin-engine derivative of Airspeed's Courier light transport aircraft. Sharing much of its design with this earlier aircraft, it was relatively easy to develop; confidence in the project was so high that within a week of the prototype's maiden flight, it was performing as a display aircraft to the public. Quantity production of the Envoy had been initiated even before this first flight. Early on, Airspeed worked closely with the British engine manufacturer Wolseley Motors as both a key supplier and early custom of the Envoy; development subsequently branched out to a wide variety of engines and configurations. The majority of Envoys were produced by Airspeed at their facility at Portsmouth Aerodrome, Hampshire. The type was also produced overseas in Japan by Mitsubishi following the acquisition of a lic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Tanganika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. The lake is shared among four countries—Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Zambia, with Tanzania (46%) and DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean. Etymology "Tanganika" was the name of the lake that Henry Morton Stanley encountered when he was at Ujiji in 1876. The name first originated from the Bembe language when they arrived in South Kivu around the 7th century, they discovered the lake and started calling it “êtanga ‘ya’ni’â” which means “a big river” in their Bantu language. Stanley found also other names for the lake among different ethnic groups, like the Kimana, the Yemba and the Msaga. An alterna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mbala, Zambia
Mbala is Zambia’s most northerly large town and seat of Mbala District in Northern Province, occupying a strategic location close to the border with Tanzania and controlling the southern approaches to Lake Tanganyika, 40 km by road to the north-west, where the port of Mpulungu is located. It had a population of about 20,000 in 2006. Under the name Abercorn, Mbala was a key outpost in British colonial control of this part of south-central Africa.''The Northern Rhodesia Journal''Vol 4 No 6(1961) pp. 515–527. Hope and Marion Gamwell: ”The History of Abercorn”. Accessed 7 March 2007. History A number of archaeological sites in the area (such as at Kalambo Falls) provides a record of human activity in the Mbala area over the past 300,000 years. Before colonial times, Mbala was the village of Chief Zombe on thLucheche River It became the focus of British interest as a result of travels by the explorer David Livingstone, the first European to visit the area, in the 1860s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan area in 2019. Situated in north-eastern Zimbabwe in the country's Mashonaland region, Harare is a metropolitan province, which also incorporates the municipalities of Chitungwiza and Epworth. The city sits on a plateau at an elevation of above sea level and its climate falls into the subtropical highland category. The city was founded in 1890 by the Pioneer Column, a small military force of the British South Africa Company, and named Fort Salisbury after the UK Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. Company administrators demarcated the city and ran it until Southern Rhodesia achieved responsible government in 1923. Salisbury was thereafter the seat of the Southern Rhodesian (later Rhodesian) government and, between 1953 and 1963, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles Sparrowhawk
The Miles M.5 Sparrowhawk was a 1930s British single-seat racing and touring monoplane designed by Miles Aircraft Limited. Design and development The prototype M.5 Sparrowhawk was developed from standard Miles Hawk components as an entry into the King's Cup Race of 1935 piloted by F.G. Miles. The standard Hawk fuselage was shortened and accommodation was for only one pilot, sitting as low as possible. The top decking was reduced in height, a special high-compression version of the de Havilland Gipsy Six engine was fitted, and the undercarriage track was widened. Although the Sparrowhawk won the 1935 speed prize at an average of over , because of heavy handicapping, it only came ninth overall in the race. A further five Sparrowhawks (designated M.5A) were also built as King's Cup Racers and three were delivered to customers but they did not perform spectacularly. In 1936 Victor Smith entered Sparrowhawk G-AELT into the Schlesinger Race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg but had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Aircraft Double Eagle
The British Aircraft B.A.IV Double Eagle was a British twin-engined six-seater monoplane designed and built by the British Aircraft Manufacturing Company of London Air Park, Hanworth, England. Design and development The Double Eagle was a twin-engined high-wing monoplane with a retractable landing gear, the main gear retracting backwards into the engine nacelles.Jackson 1973, page 295 The first aircraft (Y-1) was powered by two 130 hp (97 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major engines, and it first flew from Hanworth on 3 July 1936, later registered G-ADVV. The second aircraft (G-AEIN) was fitted with two de Havilland Gipsy VIs. Three aircraft were built, although one citation is claimed to say that only two Double Eagles were produced, and that both were impressed by the RAF. Operational history In 1940, the first aircraft (G-ADVV) was impressed into the Royal Air Force as ES949, and was finally used as an instructional airframe by Armstrong-Whitworth, and later Parnall. O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vega Gull 2
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood. It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun". Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE and will be so again around the year 13,727, when its declination will be . Vega was the first star other than the Sun to have its image and spectrum photographed. It was one of the first stars whose distance was estimated through parallax measurements. Vega has functioned as the baseline for calibrating the photometric brightness scale and was one of the stars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
