The following extract from the official notices to members of the Royal Aero Club, issued under date June 7th, 1913, tells its own story:
“British Height Record.—The report of the flight made by Mr. H. G. Hawker at Brooklands on May 31st, 1913, together with barograph charts, were considered, and it was decided to accept the height accomplished—viz., 11,450 feet—as a British height record. The aircraft used on the occasion was a Sopwith Tractor biplane, fitted with an 80 h.p. Gnome.”
It is interesting to note that de Havilland’s record flight had been made with a passenger, and that it still stood as the record flight for pilot and one passenger.
Earlier in the day, before essaying to break the height record, Harry made the initial tests of another Sopwith Tractor biplane, which proved equal to the prototype. Lieut. Spencer Gray also tested the machine for the Admiralty. When Harry set out on his record-breaking flight the wind had dropped and the sky was clear. Weather conditions were ideal, and the prevailing question was not “Will he break the record?” but “By how much will he break it?” The machine used was the one which had made the memorable ascent of 7,500 feet in 15 minutes, at Hendon, on the Saturday before Whitsun, and was in view of the onlookers throughout the whole flight.
The climb to 11,450 feet, which beat the existing record by 950 feet, occupied 45 minutes, and the gliding descent was accomplished in a fifth of that time. Harry would have been able to go higher had he not experienced difficulty in maintaining a good mixture, a circumstance which culminated in the carburetter freezing and rendered a descent imperative. On landing he was received with hearty acclamation and congratulations. With the winning of the previous altitude contest at Hendon and the Whit-Monday handicap at Brooklands, this flight constituted the third important success of the particular machine used, and Mr. Sopwith was congratulated on having such a first-class pilot as Harry Hawker to demonstrate the wonderful and surprising capabilities of the new Sopwith products.
Harry’s height record of May 31st inspired “The Dreamer” to contribute to Flight the following, published on June 14th:
“Bravo, Hawker!
“I wish I could have been at Brooklands to have seen your smiling face when you came down from your lofty position. Your face always does me good when I gaze upon it. I suppose you sometimes feel a bit glum, like the rest of us, but I have never happened to be there to see it; and this time I am sure it would have acted as a tonic, as I am just a bit run down at the moment.
“That you have got a machine that can climb, and that you know how to handle it, I know. I only wish Brooklands were more get-at-able so that I could see more of you and the others there....”
At the week-end aviation meetings at Brooklands free passenger flights were generally balloted for by the spectators, and Harry frequently carried the successful participants.