Henry Segrave
Sir Henry Segrave | |
---|---|
Baltimore, Maryland, United States | |
Died | 13 June 1930 Windermere, Westmorland, England | (aged 33)
Cause of death | crash during water speed record attempt |
Education | Bilton Grange then Eton College |
Occupation | Speed record holder |
Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneously and the first person to travel at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) in a land vehicle. He died in an accident in 1930 shortly after setting a new world water speed record on Windermere in the Lake District, England. The Segrave Trophy was established to commemorate his life.
Early life
Segrave, who was a British national, was born on 22 September 1896 in
First World War
At the outbreak of war the
Segrave became the ‘pilot’ in command on the ground of the first unmanned powered aircraft,
Motor sports
After the war, British motor manufacturers were starting to build more reliable and faster vehicles, although motor racing was in its infancy. Segrave would soon become a championship winning driver.
In 1921 Segrave won the first long-distance car race to be run in
When he won the 1923
Speed career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
Land
On 16 March 1926, Segrave set his first land speed record of 152.33 miles per hour (245.15 km/h) using Ladybird, a 4-litre Sunbeam Tiger on Ainsdale beach at Southport, England. This record was broken a month later by J. G. Parry-Thomas driving Babs, a custom-built car with a 27-litre 450 hp (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine.
A year later he became the first person to travel over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) when he regained the land speed record at the
On 11 March 1929, Segrave set his final land speed record again at
On the 90th anniversary of Segrave setting his first historic record, his original Sunbeam racing car returned to Southport where it was driven down Ainsdale beach in March 2016.[15]
Water
Segrave had
After his 1929 land speed record, Segrave immediately went to Miami for his speedboat race with Wood which he won. It was the American's first defeat in nine years. After Segrave returned to Britain, he was knighted for his many accomplishments.
Death
On Friday 13 June 1930, a few months after receiving his knighthood, 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. However, on the third run the boat capsized at full speed. Chief engineer Victor Halliwell was killed by the boat rolling over on him as it crashed. Mechanic Michael "Jack" Willcocks survived with a broken arm after being thrown from the craft. Segrave, who was rescued unconscious as the boat sank, regained consciousness for a moment and asked about the fate of "the lads". Shortly after being told that he had broken the record he died from acute lung haemorrhages.[16][17] Although a large floating branch was discovered near the crash, there has been no definitive cause for the accident. Other theories include the boat's construction. Concerns were raised that its hull was too light in design and construction, particularly around the craft hydroplane which was found partially detached after the crash.[citation needed]
Kaye Don subsequently broke two more world water speed records in Miss England II.[citation needed]
Aircraft designer
When Segrave's interest in flying returned in the late 1920s he designed an aircraft for luxury touring. The prototype, known as the Saro Segrave Meteor was a wooden twin-engined monoplane. It first flew on 28 May 1930. However, development was delayed due to Segrave's death a month later. Only three metal versions of the Blackburn Segrave were subsequently built.[18]
Legacy
In 1930 the Segrave Trophy was established to recognise any British national who demonstrated the most outstanding accomplishments in the possibilities of transport by land, sea, air, or water. The trophy is awarded by the Royal Automobile Club. Recipients include Malcolm Campbell (1932), Stirling Moss (1957), Richard Noble (1983), Lewis Hamilton (2007) and John Surtees (2013).
References
- Citations
- ^ Letter from M.V. McKeon
- OCLC 930480798.
- ^ http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html / On 3 June 1916 on a patrol near Saint-Omer in a DH2 he hit trees on a forced landing following an engine failure. A month later on 6 July on a practice flight he was injured in a forced landing near the airfield.
- ^ Ursula Bloom 1958 "He Lit The Lamp" A Biography Of Professor A. M. Low page 129 "having crashed many machines while ferrying them from England to France."
- ^ "Henry Segrave | Speed Record Holder | Blue Plaques".
- ^ "A Brief History of Drones".
- ^ "The Dawn of the Drone" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. P 140 onwards
- ^ https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinbritish00newy/page/n33/mode/2up?view=theater%7Ctitle=Who's Who in the British War Mission in the United States of America, 1918 |publisher=Edward J. Clode |location=New York |edition=2nd. |year=1918 |accessdate=8 December 2014
- ^ https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2019/02/14/penguins-dont-fly-the-senate-military-affairs-committee-secretary-of-war-baker-and-aircraft-production-1918/ |"Penguins Don’t Fly": The Senate Military Affairs Committee, Secretary of War Baker, and Aircraft Production, 1918
- ^ "No. 31251". The London Gazette. 25 March 1919. p. 3890.
- Manchester Guardian. 24 October 1921. p. 3.
- ^ "Brooklands 200-mile Race Result". The Times of India. 16 November 1921. p. 4.
- ^ Segrave, H. O. D. (1928) The Lure of Speed, pp. 88–89, and Nickols, Ian; Karslake, Kent (1956). Motoring Entente (1956), p. 186.
- ^ Segrave, H. O. D. (1928) The Lure of Speed, pp. 121–122.
- ^ "Sunbeam car driven by Sir Henry Segrave returns to Southport". BBC News. 16 March 2016.
- ^ "Boat Speeds More Than a Hundred Miles An Hour" Popular Mechanics, April 1931, p. 534.
- ^ "Sir Henry Segrave". Bluebird Marine Systems Limited. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ISBN 0-370-10014-X.
- Bibliography
- Henry Segrave (1928). The Lure of Speed. Hutchinson.
- J. Wentworth Day; Malcolm Campbell (1930). The Boys' Life of Sir Henry Segrave. Hutchinson.
External links
- Biography
- Biography at the Brooklands Society
- Speed machines at Channel4.com (down a little) Archived 27 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- Reprinted from Speedboat Kings: 25 Years of International Speedboating by J. Lee Barrett (Detroit: Arnold-Powers, Inc., 1939), Ch.11
- Encyclopædia Britannica article
- Movie No. 7: Windermere 1930: Henry Segrave: Opening of Constantine College by Prince of Wales: The Visit Of HRH The Prince of Wales July 1930