Schneider Trophy Seaplanes and Flying Boats: Victors, Vanquished and Visions

This book is highly recommended for enthusiasts of aviation history and the Schneider Trophy in particular. It provides meticulous detail of one of the most innovative chapters in aviation history. The book is comprehensive in that it covers almost every design that was dreamt up for these seaplane races. It is astonishing how the planes were only just ready, or were not ready, for the races themselves. As Pegram says in his introduction, the story makes two popular adages appropriate. `You have to be in it to win it' and `to finish first, first you have to finish'. The book highlights the mix of engineering ingenuity, funding difficulties, national pride, and the pilots' boldness that are all part of this story. The Americans, who had been leading in the early 20's dropped out through lack of funding, and national pride intervened in Italy, in the form of Mussolini, which probably contributed to the deaths of several of their pilots. Ultimately, it is the (surprisingly?) methodical approach of the British that prevails, as personified by Mitchell, Supermarine's brilliant Chief Engineer.The book itself is laid out methodically in chronological order, with a chapter devoted to every year of the Trophy from 1912 to 1931, only missing the fallow Great War years. The writing is more functional than enthralling. Each chapter begins with a long introduction and then describes each of the manufacturer's planes of the year in alphabetical order under separate headings. This approach is somewhat repetitive in that material covered in the introductions is usually repeated in the subsequent sections in greater detail. Each chapter finishes with a summary of the key outcomes of each year. The text is particularly strong on the technical and engineering details of the planes.Undoubtedly, though, the highlights of the book are the 1:72 scale 3-view drawings of the seaplanes, which are distributed through every chapter. I counted 157 of these drawings(although I may have lost count!), which are the work of the author himself compiled over many years from every source that he could muster, including original blueprints if available. The drawings alone would justify the cost of the book, which given its large format and 350 pages is excellent value.All-in-all a book for every aviation buff, but essential for all those interested in the Schneider Trophy!

Reading the introduction, I gather this book stems from an attempt to recreate Schneider Trophy races in Flight Simulator. This required accurate drawings, and very few of those were around. The search for drawings morphed into a search for data in general. This book is packed with information.Everything is presented in a year-by-year acount, covering races, politics, engines and aircraft.The book presents development stories, photographs and fine 3-view drawings of all the usual suspects you would expect in a book about the Schneider Trophy - the Supermarine and Macchi racers, but also scores of other racers, some better known than others, some outright obscure. I would not be surprised if Mr Pegram covers every Schneider racer ever built, and most of the unbuilt projects as well.Well written, thoroughly researched, nicely laid out.

As suggested by its title, this book concentrates on the Schneider Trophy aircraft rather than the personalities and the politics. Years of research have resulted in a depth of detail covering all the entrants which exceeds any other published work on the subject. In addition to the historical record the author has produced scale plans of the aircraft involved which give an interesting comparison of the dimensions of the aircraft.I bought this to assist with my modelling projects and a museum project about Howard Pixton but, whilst it was helpful, from a modeller's viewpoint more photographs and details of the colour schemes of the aircraft would have been appreciated.Highly recommended.

There have been several books on this subject but this is the most completely detailed where possible, including profiles of every seaplane competing and a run down of each company and flight team involved. Highly recommended.

The text is well written,and the author is not averse to adding his opinion where necessary - and as far as I can tell opinion is always identified as such. The drawings by the author are to a common scale (1:72) and are well detailed.This is a good companion to Derek James's Putnam 'Schneider Trophy Aircraft' as it has a more logical layoutand includes more projected designs. There is a slight niggle with some typos eg Wilber instead of Wilbur Wright, duel when he means dual and reference on rhe d/j to 'the last race in 1934', but these are minor points that don't detract from an excellent book

If you want to read about the technical detail of the planes and hear about the problems they faced, then read this book. There are lots of rare photos and nearly all the planes have scale line drawings. Well worth the money.

A thoroughly researched labour of love. The very best work on this important historical subject. Pegram is supreme ,including his own design drawings.

well written ,excellent photos & drawings,filling a gap in aviation history not previously covered so comprehensively.most readable without unnecessary technical jargon