Charles Amherst Villiers and the Gloster VI racing floatplane

[fortrena]

Would anyone know when (1931? 1930? 1932?) that engineer bought the aircraft in question in the hope of transforming it into a landplane which would be used to set a new speed record?

 

[Schneiderman]

It was the Gloster IV, not VI, and he purchased it from the Air Ministry in 1930

 

[fortrena]

With apologies, Villiers acquired both a Gloster IV, in 1930, and a Gloster VI, at a later date, at least according to Paul Kenny's The Man Who Supercharged Bond: The Extraordinary Story of Charles Amherst Villiers (Yeovil: Haynes Publishing, 2009), 175-179.

https://archive.org/details/manwhosupercharg0000kenn/page/176/mode/2up?q=+"gloster+vi"

 

[Schneiderman]

There is no evidence for the story regarding the Gloster VI

 

[avion ancien]

As the hyperlinked archive.org pages seem not to provide it in, at least, its entirety, can you please tell me what is the story regarding the Gloster VI.

 

[fortrena]

Apologies for the problem with the link. The following attachment should clarify a few things

Information on the following page seems to indicate that the Gloster VI was not turned into a landplane. Villiers decided to use it as it was, in races, more specifically in one of a series of races planned by two Californian brothers, Clifford W. "Cliff" Henderson and Philip T. "Phil" Henderson, and scheduled to take place in New Orleans in February 1933.

December 1932 newspapers indicate that rather than be held at that time, in connection with the Mardi Gras festivities, the races would be held in the latter part of April 1933. By the looks of it, those races did not take place at all and Villiers' Gloster VI never went to the United States.

A better search in those same period newspapers led to an August 25, 1932 article in London's Daily Herald which stated that Villiers had acquired "one the R.A.F.'s 1929 Schneider race seaplanes and two special racing engines." Apologies for not finding that earlier, and asking for assistance.