- Miss England II
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Model of Miss England II (with Miss England III behind) at the Science Museum, LondonCareer (UK) Name: Miss England II Builder: Saunders-Roe
Cowes
Designer: Fred CooperLaunched: 1930 General characteristics Type: Racing monohull hydroplane Displacement: 5 tons Length: 36 ft (11 m) Beam: 10 ft (3.0 m) Installed power: 2 × 1,800 hp (1,300 kW) @ 2,800 rpm Propulsion: Twin Rolls-Royce R-type V-12 aero engines
Geared drive to twin-bladed 16 in (410 mm) single screw of 11.75 in (298 mm) pitch, running @ 11,000 rpmSpeed: 98.76 mph (85.82 kn; 158.94 km/h), Sir Henry Segrave, 13 June 1930, Windermere
110.28 mph (95.83 kn; 177.48 km/h), Kaye Don, 9 July 1931, Lake GardaCrew: 3 Miss England II was the name of the second of a series of speedboats used by Henry Segrave and Kaye Don to contest world water speed records in the 1920s and 1930s.
Contents
Design and construction
Miss England II was built for Lord Wakefield in 1930, who had obtained a pair of the powerful new Rolls-Royce type R V-12 engines. The engines were mounted aft of the cockpit and were geared to turn a single propeller shaft via a gearbox placed near the bow, the shaft running below the hull to a rear mounted propeller, the first of which was 11.75 inches in diameter; later trials were undertaken with a 9 inch propeller.
The design was similar in that of the previous Miss England in that a ‘stepped’ hull form was chosen; in order to develop the boat, the step was made separate from the hull. With the boat withdrawn from the water the step could be unbolted and moved backwards or forwards in order to balance the boat for speed.
The cockpit layout was for a crew of three; the engineer and mechanic were placed in the left and right seats, with the pilot amidships.
Racing career
In 1931, Kaye Don began her career by setting a new record on Lake Garda.
Death of Segrave
On Friday 13 June 1930, Segrave drove Miss England II to a new record of 98.76 mph (85.82 kn; 158.94 km/h) average over two runs on Windermere. On a third run the boat is presumed to have hit a floating branch and capsized at speed, killing his chief engineer Victor Halliwell (he was at the low side of the boat as it turned over on top of him). His mechanic, Michael "Jack" Willcocks, had been injured but survived having been thrown clear from the 'high' side of the boat as it overturned, breaking his arm. Segrave's unconscious body was recovered as the boat sank. He regained consciousness for a moment and, always true to his spirit of leadership, asked about the fate of "his men". He was informed that he had indeed broken the record, but died from lung injuries a short time later.[1] Again, concerns were raised that the Miss England's hulls were too light in design and construction, particularly around the hydroplane's step, which was found to have partially detached.
The early theory that the step had failed as Miss England passed over its own wake from a previous run was discounted after a waterlogged branch showing recent impact damage drifted ashore some thirty minutes after the accident.
Final record
Following Segrave’s death, Miss England II was salvaged and repaired. Kaye Don, was again chosen as the new driver for 1931. In early 1931 after Miss England II was rebuilt, Kaye took it for a test run on LOch Neagh, near Belfast, Northern Ireland and reached an unofficial speed of 107mph, the first time a water craft had broken the 100mph speed barrier.[2] However, during this time Gar Wood took the record to over 100 mph (87 kn; 160 km/h). A month later on Lake Garda, Don fought back with 110.28 mph (95.83 kn; 177.48 km/h). In February 1932, Wood responded, nudging the mark up by just 1 mph (0.87 kn; 1.6 km/h).
Controversy over the 1931 race
In 1931, a race on the Detroit River was billed as a match between the Wood brothers, Gar (in the new Miss America IX) and George (in the previous year's Miss America VIII), and the Englishman Kaye Don, driving Miss England II. In front of an estimated crowd of over a million spectators, Don won the first heat of the race. Miss America IX had suffered hull damage from pounding through Miss England's wake. Despite working overnight, she was barely ready the next day and Wood requested a delay to allow repairs to be completed, something he'd previously been known to concede to. Don stuck to the rules though, a matter which still rankles with some today.[3] Miss America IX made it to the second heat, but only by Wood racing flat-out to the start line, a mistake that cost him dearly later on. During another close race, Wood was leading Don when Miss England II suddenly flipped over rounding one of the turns, fortunately without injury to Don and his co-driver. Gar Wood finished the race first, but both he and Don were disqualified because they had jumped the starter's gun by seven seconds. George Wood completed the final race to win the trophy.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "Boat Speeds More Than a Hundred Miles An Hour" Popular Mechanics, April 1931, p. 534
- ^ "Boat Speed More Than 100mph" Popular Mechanics, April 1931
- ^ James P. Barry (2003). American Powerboats: The Great Lakes Golden Years. MBI Publishing. pp. 38. ISBN 0760314667. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m0hOchN05zIC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=%22miss+england%22+segrave&source=web&ots=0BpOIv8Lno&sig=EnRCfnwR8teATYSiqEGqum_LUbI&hl=en.
- ^ Kevin Desmond (2004). Race Against The Odds: The Tragic Success Story of Miss England II. ISBN 1 85058 806 6. http://www.sigmapress.co.uk/desmo806.html.
External Links
Categories:- Racing motorboats
- Water speed records
- 1930 ships
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