“‘I occupied most of my time in keeping one eye on the clock and one on Raynham, who was flying below me, and on several occasions he quite appeared to be “taxi-ing” along the ground. I always noticed that he never came to rest, however, and concluded that he must be flying low. Once he shot across my path about some 150 feet under me, giving me quite a start for the second. On several occasions I lost sight of him for half an hour at a time, and was sometimes worried by wondering whether I was going to give him my backwash or whether I was getting into his.
“‘I had a Thermos flask of cocoa on board, some chocolate, and some sandwiches, all of which I found useful in either passing the time away or relieving the monotony by giving me something to do. I did not look at the exact time that I started, but I knew that I had about an hour and three quarters to do after Raynham had finished. Everything was plain sailing with regard to the petrol supply and oil. The petrol was gravity-fed and the oil pressure-fed. I had a twenty-gallon petrol tank just behind my back, which was coupled directly to the carburetter, and above that I had a twelve-gallon tank, both being full. The twelve-gallon tank was connected by a pipe to the larger tank, and after I had been flying for four hours I turned on the tap in the twelve-gallon tank and allowed the contents of this tank to flow down to the larger one. I discovered afterwards that the pipe from the twelve-gallon to the twenty-gallon tank was not large enough, because when I came down in the evening I could hear the petrol still slowly trickling into the large tank. For the oil, I had a glass gauge in the sump of the motor and a five-gallon tank also behind my back, I started off with two gallons in the sump, and occasionally pumped up a little pressure in the oil tank, opening the tap between the tank and the sump to keep the oil level in the sump somewhere within sight. As the petrol was used and the weight lessened I closed the throttle slightly, the engine running equally well at all speeds.
“‘Later on I saw a shutter being carried out with the words “Fly higher” painted on it. I could read it quite distinctly from 400 feet, but as I felt quite comfortable where I was I did not pay any heed to it. It was not until after I came down that I discovered that this sign was meant for Raynham. It was a great relief to me to see Raynham come down, and I knew this time that he was going to land, because I could see all the people running across the ground towards him.
“‘From then onwards I kept my eyes glued to the face of the clock, the last half hour that would make my flight equal Raynham’s being the most anxious and worrying of the whole day. Every minute seemed an hour, and as I was afraid that the petrol in the top tank might not be flowing properly into the main tank, I closed the throttle for the last twenty minutes down to the very limit the machine would fly with. I must have been flying then at only about thirty-five miles per hour. Then I saw the 70 h.p. Gnome Tractor ’bus come out, and watched Mr. Sopwith with interest. I guessed what he was coming out for, and when I saw him make straight for me, broadside on, I kept on a perfectly straight course, knowing well that he would be careful not to hinder me in any way. He came quite close alongside, and I distinctly heard them both shout (my A.B.C engine had a silencer fitted), but I could not tell what they said.
“‘Painfully slowly the minutes rolled away, but at last I realised that I was the holder of the British Duration Record. When I was quite sure of this I opened up the throttle again, as I had not much to fear now, but I was still determined to keep up in order to give anyone else a good run in order to beat it. When it was getting nearly dark I pulled open the last notch of the throttle and climbed up to 1,400 feet on the meter, and I did this very rapidly. Darkness came on, and I could see very little but the red-hot exhaust pipe and the reflection from the burnt gases. The dim lights of the Blue Bird served as a little guide to the position of the ground, and when I felt sure it must be quite 5.50 I decided to come down immediately and make a guess at where the ground was, as I felt sure they had forgotten all about the fires, and I did not want to get lost and smash the machine up. Just as I was landing the fires flared up, and I came to rest and found everyone as pleased as I was.’”
Note.—The foregoing verbatim report of Hawker’s experiences in making the British Duration Record is reprinted from the Aero of November, 1912.
In attempting, with characteristic pluck, to beat Harry’s record on the last day of the competition, Cody unfortunately collided with a post on landing after a trial flight, and a wing was buckled in consequence.
The performance whereby Harry not only won the British Empire Michelin Cup No. 1, but also captured the British Duration Record, brought him into the front rank of British pilots and marked an important point in the annals of British aviation. Public attention was attracted to a type of machine of which little was known in this country, although it bore the pioneer hall-mark of the Wrights. For the Sopwith Aviation Company the flight was a great business asset and a sure foundation for the goodwill of the concern.
Harry took part in an Altitude Competition on Saturday, November 9th, 1912, at Brooklands, in which event Barnwell was the only other competitor. Unfortunately the race had to be given to Barnwell, as Harry had omitted to set his barograph at zero before starting, so that the exact height he reached was not recorded. Nevertheless, the immediate excitement of the contest did not suffer through this inadvertence.