Wakefield International Cup - A history from 1911 by Charles Dennis Rushing

The SMAE had acted, the Wakefield Cup was back in Great Britain, but a cloud of controversy surrounded the Crown of the Reigning Champion, Gordon S Light. The September 10, 1932 Wakefield Cup Event, held at Atlantic City NJ, USA, was declared null and void, "No Contest", by SMAE, and the Wakefield International Cup was ordered to be returned to the SMAE in England.

There was a 1933 Wakefield Cup Contest, it was held in June at Fairey's Aerodrome, and there was one foreign entry, a Wakefield came from America from whom else? Gordon S Light, the unofficial reigning Wakefield Cup Champion. James Pelly-Fry was selected to fly Light's aeromodel, and he made a good contest of it. Basically it was a seven person contest, the six man Team Great Britain, against the one man Team USA,and the weather was beautiful 80 degrees F, barometer at 30 inches, but it was windy at 15 to 20 mph. The SMAE decided to wait until 6pm. Meanwhile qualifications were required by each contestant, which were called a "test for directional stability".Only C S Rushbrooke failed to qualify, so CSR was ruled "Out of the Contest"! J W Kenworthy was declared the 1933 Wakefield Cup Champion. Kenworthy flew a beautiful aeromodel, which had high aspect tapered wings and tail, all balsa wood, weighing 2.8 oz. total. Kenworthy had the longest flight of 5 minutes, 21 seconds, OOS, breaking the GB record for longest flight ROG. A Willis was second, and Gordon S Light's aeromodel flown proxy by J Pelly-Fry was tied for second, with a 2 minute, 23.2 second flight. The SMAE had at the last instant "fiddled" around with the Wakefield Rules declaring "The competing aeromodels must fly at least 200 yards in a straight line without a circle upon take off" (?) ... a very curious requirement... can anybody explain how Kenworthy did 5 minutes in a thermal without a circle? With these kinds of obstacles to overcome J W Kenworthy deserved to be the 1933 Wakefield Cup Champion.

References

International Competition Handbook, Gerold Ritz
Aeromodeller, Those early days, Magpie

Music: "Stormy Weather"; Literature: "Ulysses", Cine: "King Kong"