Some say Harry was the first pilot to loop-the-loop on a seaplane. Be that as it may, on a certain spring morning in 1915 he was out testing one of the Tabloids to which floats had been fitted. He described a couple of loops as perfect as any that could be done on a land machine.
Although most of his experience had been gained on high-powered Sopwith biplanes, Harry was always equal to the occasion when it came to flying something of a different order. Thus on a certain Sunday in August, 1915, he made a successful flight on a single-seater Beatty-Wright biplane at Hendon. He was especially struck by the ease of handling and sensitiveness of the controls of this machine, which in a sense was not new to him, for it bore a striking resemblance to the old Sopwith-Burgess-Wright.
On June 6th, 1915, Harry broke the British Altitude Record for pilot alone by ascending to 18,393 feet. This height exceeded the previous record by nearly 4,000 feet.
During April, 1916, Harry had the honour of flying before the King and Queen at Brooklands, on the occasion of a Royal tour of inspection of the Sopwith Works.
The welfare of munition workers during the war when the strain was greatest was of the utmost importance, and no explanation is needed as to why the Sopwith Aviation Company held an athletic sports meeting in the summer of 1917. In the afternoon a Sopwith Camel came overhead, piloted by Harry, who performed what were described as “the most hair-raising stunts ever seen.” At a very low altitude, so that all could see in detail, he carried out loops, side-twists, apple-turnovers, spiral dives, and other evolutions for which names did not then exist. Once or twice the machine swooped down so low that people ducked their heads. Those who recall the giant German Gotha aeroplane exhibited at the Agricultural Hall may remember that it was by a Camel that that particular machine was brought down.
Of Harry’s work as test pilot to the Sopwith Aviation Company during the Great War the best record is contained in his personal log-book, or pilot’s diary, although this is by no means complete and many entries are obscure, for Harry had no love for clerical work.
To reproduce this diary would occupy many more pages than the whole of my book, but the more interesting details and a statistical summary for the period 1914-1916 are not out of place. In the particular book with which I am dealing the first entry was made on July 13th, 1914, and the last on October 20th, 1916. Entries were made relating to flights made on 199 different days during that period. The different machines flown and tested numbered 295, a remarkable record when it is realised that with no more than a dozen exceptions all the machines were brand new and put through their initial tests by Harry.
Places mentioned in his diary as visited by Harry on his testing expeditions include Brooklands, Farnborough, Southampton, Eastchurch, Hendon, Blyth, Killingholme, Yarmouth, Dover, Calshot, Montrose, Dundee, Woolston, Felixstowe, Chingford, Isle of Grain, Lincoln, Kingston, Dunkirk, Villacoublay, Coventry.
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