Perhaps it would have been more extraordinary still to all those watching him had they known he was undergoing certain treatment for his back at this time that caused him great pain and sleepless nights. During the time that he was receiving this drastic treatment he was hardly fit to be walking about, and certainly not to be flying and racing, but with that indomitable courage and determination to go on as usual, he refused to give up any part of his work.
On July 12th he was present among numbers of well-known airmen at the dinner given at the Connaught Rooms to the survivors of the first hundred British aviators. Forty-eight of that number were present, including two women, Miss Bacon and Mrs. Hewlett. The Duke of York, who was present, replied to the toast of the Royal Family, in which speech he modestly referred to himself as an indifferent pilot.
The Aerial Derby for 1920 was arranged for July 24th, but Harry not having a machine which could put up a good enough “show” decided not to compete, but agreed to come over to Hendon during the afternoon on the Swallow and help to amuse the crowd during the somewhat tedious wait from the start of the last competitor to the return of the first. About a day before the race, gripped by the lure of the contest, he decided to fly the Sopwith Rainbow and take a sporting chance. Immediately his entry was received the papers announced Hawker’s mount as the “dark horse” of the race, and consequently he became favourite, with three machines faster than his as competitors.
However, they say the public backs the pilot, as though by some extraordinary prowess the popular favourite can produce an extra ten miles per hour from his mount.
The Rainbow was the Schneider Cup machine of 1919 with the floats replaced by a land chassis and the Cosmos Jupiter engine substituted by an A.B.C. Dragonfly engine.
In a field of sixteen competitors Harry was No. 13 to start, having 1½ minutes’ start on the Bristol Jupiter, eight minutes on the Martinsyde Semiquaver with 300 h.p. Hispano Suiza, and 9 minutes on the Nieuport Goshawk with 320 h.p. A.B.C. engine.
Harry made a very spectacular get-away at 3.47 and was soon out of sight in his attempt to catch up the twelve other competitors, the first of which had started just over one hour and a half before. He flew high, as he always did, and was back again at Hendon, having completed the first of the two laps of 100 miles in 41 minutes 31 seconds. The Nieuport Goshawk, the fastest machine in the race, having landed at Brooklands, and Harry having passed the Bristol Bullet during the lap, the Martinsyde Semiquaver was the only fast machine to be overtaken.
The last machine to finish the first of the two circuits to be flown was the Martinsyde F4, which arrived at 4.40, and fourteen minutes later Captain Hammersley arrived on his Baby Avro (30 h.p. Green engine), having completed his second lap, and was thus winner of the Handicap.
The winner was closely followed by Hinckler on an identical machine, and ten minutes later Harry appeared at speed, having picked up nearly 1½ hours on these two machines, when, except for finishing incorrectly, he would have taken second place in the Aerial Derby and third in the Handicap. He was unfortunately ruled out of the race, as he finished by flying straight across the centre of the aerodrome, as in previous years, instead of making a circuit of the pylons. The Semiquaver then appeared, having finished the whole of the course of 205 miles in 1 hour 18 mins. as against Harry’s 1 hour 23 mins., and so won the Aerial Derby. Unfortunately, in landing, the Semiquaver overturned, but the pilot, Mr. Courtenay, who had at the last moment taken Mr. Raynham’s place, was uninjured.
The next month was a very busy one for Harry, as during one week his presence was required in three different places each day as far apart as Cowes, Brooklands, and Martlesham Heath in Suffolk, and he was only enabled to do this by the use of his monoplane.