No Gunfire Involved As WWII Fighter Bests Modern Racing
Plane
To celebrate the return of the Red Bull Air Race World Series to
London on August 2-3 this year, this week current World Series
leader Paul Bonhomme took to the controls of a 1940s Supermarine
Spitfire to try his hand at air racing of a different kind.
Bonhomme's aim was to test the speed and agility of the Spitfire
against a modern day plane designed specifically for the Red Bull
Air Race, the MX2, piloted by his World Series opponent Nigel
Lamb.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first production
line Spitfire and the 85th anniversary of the first Schneider
Trophy race in the UK which was a speed race over 200km contested
by the Spitfire's predecessor, the Supermarine S.6b. The Schneider
Trophy, first staged in 1913, was awarded to the fastest plane over
a 200km course. The first UK race was held between Cowes and
Calshot in 1923, with Britain retaining the trophy outright in 1931
after winning three events in a row.
In a nod to the UK Schneider Trophy course, Bonhomme and Lamb
raced their planes on a timed lap around the Isle of Wight, using
the stunning Needles as a natural start/finish gate. The time trial
and agility test brought together two of the worlds most impressive
flying machines of their respective eras in a celebration of air
racing though the ages.
Going in, the Spitfire touted a
100-knot top speed advantage over the MX2... which meant it made
light work of the 40 mile lap of the island, timed at just 9m 35s.
The MX2 was slower, coming in at 11m 29s... but the MX's impressive
cornering was displayed as it turned quicker through The Needles,
showing how the development of racing machines has progressed over
the decades.
"The aircraft that I'm flying today is a real feat of
engineering given that it was built in the 1940s, its an absolute
pleasure and privilege to fly," Bonhomme said. "The planes that
were built for the original form of air racing, The Schneider
Trophy, taught engineers at the Supermarine factory a great deal
when they were developing the Spitfire and these learnings have
also contributed to the development of the planes that we race in
the Red Bull Air Race World Series. It was great fun for me to be
able to pay tribute to the air racing that took place back in the
1920s and compare it with racing of today."
Fellow pilot Nigel Lamb added, "A Spitfire will fly a lot faster
than an MX2 but the advantage the MX has is its phenomenal turning
ability, thanks to its carbon fibre wing and strength. In the Red
Bull Air Race World Series, our aircraft need to be suitable for
the precision moves required to navigate the low-level slalom
gates.
"On paper a Spitfire will clean up on the straights and the MX
will gain in the turns... so the lap of the Isle of Wight was more
suited to Paul's plane than mine," Lamb added.