[MOC] The Schneider Trophy Series - Introduction

[Hod Carrier]

As a small plane-obsessed boy I was obviously aware of the Schneider Trophy. I knew that Britain won the Trophy three times in a row in order to retain it permanently, and that the aircraft that finally achieved this success went on to inspire the design of the Spitfire.

It was only relatively recently, when I was designing a model of the Supermarine Baby seaplane fighter, that I learned that it formed the basis of the Supermarine Sea Lion, the company’s first foray into the Schneider Trophy, something that I had previously been unaware of. Clearly there was a lot that I did not know about this important race series, and so I set out to find out more. This lead on to a desire to build a model of each of the winning aircraft designs, and in doing so to tell the story of the Schneider Trophy.

The idea for a Trophy for seaplanes came from Jacques Schneider, heir to a French arms manufacturer. He was a keen hydroplane racer and had become an avid aviation enthusiast after meeting Wilbur Wright in 1908. He had seen how air racing had helped to develop land-based aviation and was keen to generate the same benefits for marine aviation. The idea was that competition would help to improve technology and in turn to foster a global transport revolution based on marine aviation.

Any aero club affiliated to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) could challenge the trophy-holding club. Organised along national lines, each team would comprise a maximum of three entries and the club that fielded the winning entry would host the following contest.

Although the Schneider Trophy is best known today as a race, it was a little more complicated than that. Entries were tested not only for airworthiness, but also for seaworthiness. While the winning entry would be the one that completed the race distance (not less than 150 nautical miles over open sea) in the fastest time, it could not do so unless it had already passed a number of trials to prove its design. Navigability (the ability of the aircraft to make progress on the water) and seaworthiness (how well the aircraft could cope with sea conditions) were as important as speed through the air. The rules were tweaked from time to time, but the aims remained the same even if the long-terms goals were somewhat lost.

What resulted from this contest was perhaps the greatest outpouring of technical development in aviation during peacetime. Aircraft and engine design, materials science and pilot skills were all hugely advanced during the course of the Schneider Trophy, creating aircraft that could fly at speeds far in excess of the military designs of the day. Air speed records would tumble and pilots taking part in the contest would be the fastest human beings of their age.

Here, then, is the story of the Schneider Trophy and the winning designs. I will be adding further models over the coming days to illustrate the extraordinary story of the Trophy Series, so keep checking back for updates.

(Note: I will be presenting the models as a mixture of photos and decorated renders. The reason for doing this is that it is easier to show the details of each build using renders than it is by photographing the real models.)

Deperdussin Monocoque Coupe Schneider (Monaco 1913) -->

Edited April 15 by Hod Carrier

[Sven J]

What an outstanding series of MOCs!
I hope you don't mind that I won't comment on every single plane model - you have simply built too many  - but instead I'll just state that I'm absolutely blown away by your creations.
So much knowledge, creativity, imagination and commitment put into these veterans!
Thank you very, very much for sharing!

Edited April 14 by Sven J

[Shiva]

Cheers for the history lesson in LEGO form :)

I read every one of them.

[Hod Carrier]

Thank you, gentlemen. That's most kind. 

[Ardelon]

Indeed the posts are very well written, in addition to the models being very well built.

[Feuer Zug]

Great build. Interesting way of rigging the wing struts. The history lesson is a bonus. Thanks.

[Max_Lego]

Those are very beautiful hydroplane models. I appreciate your work