Houston House - Calshot, Hampshire, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The plaque reads:

'Houston House

Lady Houston funded the
RAF flight which won the
Schneider Trophy at
Calshot in 1931.

Calshot Activities Centre'

The website below includes the following information:

'It was Lady Fanny Lucy Houston, formerly Lady Byron, who joined with two associates, to provide a £100,000 sponsorship which allowed Mitchell to develop the S6B racing seaplane from his successful S6 of 1929. This design allowed a new Rolls Royce 'R' engine, which was capable of giving 2,350bhp.

The engine, a V12, was developed by Rolls Royce in just seven months, and Mitchell nicknamed it the 'Flying Radiator', as it's large and floats; all available space was used to cool the powerful engine.

The race was won by Flight Lieutenant Boothman who attained a speed of 340mph and he is remembered by the Boothman Conference Room at Calshot. A fortnight later Flight Lieutenant Stainforth achieved 407.5mph in an S6B which again smashed the air speed record, this was not beaten until a further two years had passed.

The combined generosity of Lady Houston and the courage of the Schneider Cup pilots along with R J Mitchell's designs brought an era of aviation history to a fitting end. In five years Mitchell went on to design the one aircraft that made him most famous: The Supermarine Spitfire with its Rolls Royce Merlin engine. Mitchell died on 11 June 1937 at the age of 42 and did not see the success of his plane.'

Type of Historic Marker: Red Plaque Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Calshot Activities Centre Age/Event Date: 01/01/1931 Related Website: [Web Link] Give your Rating:

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