Gloster Napier GVI

Mark,

Howard Pixton is in the centre wearing the flying helmet, Victor Mahl, the Sopwith designer and engineer, is to the right with his trousers rolled up. I thnk the guy in the dark suit talking to Pixton is Schneider, the one in the light suit is too tall.

Cheers

SM

SM,

The caption on the rear of this shot reads:-

‘Schneider & Pixton at Monaco 1914’

Can you please identify them?

Here is a shot that may interest you. It is the commemorative stained glass window above the main entrance to my old school. Boothman was a former pupil.

Perhaps the inspiration for a lifetime’s fascination with the Spitfire. 🙂

Mark

Mark,

An here is one of the British and Italian teams after the contest

No shots of the Gloster, but here is one of the 1929 RAF team.

Mark

Andy,

I was a member of the trust for a short while but found they were a yad too focussed on MTBs and Deltics to keep me interested. I got some good plans of the VIId from them, probably made when they were restoring the unit from Miss Britain III, for which I was very grateful. But otherwise they were a bit short on detailed info. on the engine, which is not unusual for special projects such as this, I guess.

Cheers

SM

Yes indeed, and being a bit of Schneider-nerd I have pointed out to them that quite a number are back-to-front and many have the captions meant for other photos. A great collection of photos marred by a lack of attention when putting the website together.

Cheers

SM

Schneider
I’ve probably asked you this before, but have you seen the air race photo archive on flightglobal.com?

Hi SM, I am not that “well up” on many of the ancillaries really, I am on a very steep learning curve regarding some of the mechanical components of the Lion as I am rebuilding a series Va at the moment.
I would say the reason that Napier’s would subcontract any part that they would use would be that they thought the supplier had more expertise in that area at that time.
I am sure the Napier Heritage Trust will have the reasoning behind the decision.

Andy

Andy,

You are obviously well up on all the ‘naughty bits’ of the Napier Lion so do you have any thoughts on why Napier subcontracted Bristol and BTH to build the supercharger for the VIId? I know that Napier had made only limited use of supercharging or turbocharging on production engines, did they subcontract these too?

Cheers

SM

All,

This may be of interest to you, the 1/4 scale model of the GVI tested in the NPL Duplex windtunnel in 1928

Cheers

SM

Roger,

Thanks. Yes, I have been in contact with them and the helpful guy there is checking what they have. I thought I would cast the net a little wider and see what may be hiding in the wider aviation community.

Cheers

SM

Sorry can’t help directly but have you been in touch with the Jet Age Museum who specialise in all things Gloster?

Roger Smith.

Andy,

The racing engines of the VII series were very different from the standard series and were pretty much tailored the aircraft they powered, so the dimensions would probably not match the Va and XIa. Best not to scan the documents but thanks very much for the offer.

Cheers

SM

SM

I have installation dimensions of Va and XIa engines, I will try and get them scanned if they will help, but they are very old as you know.

Andy

Andy,

The sircraft was fitted with a Lion VIId, essentially a strengthened VIIb with a supercharger. I have sectioned drawings of this engine courtesy of the Napier Power Heritage Trust so if you have additional data that could be useful.

Cheers

SM

Hi SM,

I have some engine installation dimensions for Lion engines, which mark of engine was fitted in the G VI ? I can then check on what I have.

Andy