Britannia Trophy
# Britannia Trophy

The Britannia Trophy is a British award presented by the Royal Aero Club for aviators accomplishing the most meritorious performance in aviation during the previous year.

In 1911 Horatio Barber, who was a founder member of the Royal Aero Club, was given £100 for a commercial flight. Not wanting to tarnish his amateur status, he presented the money to the club for the trophy.

The first award was presented in 1913 to Captain C.A.H Longcroft of the Royal Flying Corps for a non-stop flight from Montrose to Farnborough in a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2a. The trophy has not been awarded every year, particularly during the first and second world wars, and has been awarded jointly and to teams, as well as individuals.

In 1952 the Royal Aero Club presented plaques to all the surviving holders who previously only held the trophy for one year and were not given a permanent memento.

## Recipients

| Year | Recipient | Accomplishment | Aircraft |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1913 | Cptn C. A. H. Longcroft, Royal Flying Corps | Non-stop 445 miles, Montrose and Farnborough | RAE B.E.2a |
| 1914 | Sqn Cdr J. W. Sedden, Royal Naval Air Service | Non-stop flight of 325 miles, Isle of Grain to Plymouth | Maurice Farman Seaplane |
| 1915–1918 | Not Awarded | | |
| Cptn Sir |John Alcock | First trans-atlantic flight, (awarded posthumously) | Vickers Vimy |
| 1920 | Lt H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler | Non-stop flight of 650 miles, Croydon - Turin in 9 hr 35 minutes | Avro Baby |
| 1921 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1922 | F. P. Raynham | A soaring flight of 1hr 53 minutes from Firle | |
| 1923 | Alan Cobham | A flying tour of the Middle East and North Africa covering 12,000 miles in 130 hours | Airco DH.9C |
| 1924 | Wg Cdr Stanley Goble and Flt Lt Ivor McIntyre | Circumnavigation of Australia | Fairey III |
| 1925 | Alan Cobham | London to Rangoon and return, 17,000 miles in 210 hours flight time | de Havilland DH.50 |
| 1926 | Sir Alan Cobham | Empire route survey flight Rochester to Melbourne | de Havilland DH.50J |
| 1927 | Lt R. R. Bentley | London to Cape Town - 7,250 miles | de Havilland DH.60 Moth |
| 1928 | Lt H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler | First flight to Australia in a light aircraft. London to Darwin - 11,005 miles in 15 days | Avro 581E Avian |
| 1929 | Hon. Dame Mary Bailey | Return flight from Croydon to Cape Town, including a tour of South Africa - 18,000 miles | de Havilland DH.60 Moth |
| 1930 | Sqn Ldr Charles Kingsford Smith | For two flights; a West bound trans-atlantic flight Dublin to Harbour Grace (Fokker) and Heston to Darwin (Avro) | Fokker F.VIIb/3m and Avro 616 Avian IVA |
| 1931 | Lt H. J. L. (Bert) Hinkler | New York City to London via South America and the South Atlantic, 10,560 miles | de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth |
| 1932 | Capt. C. F. Uwins | Setting the Class C world altitude record height for aeroplanes of 43,976 ft | Vickers Vespa |
| 1933 | J. A. Mollison | A flight from Lympne to Port Natal, Brazil of 4,600 miles | de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth |
| 1934 | C. W. A. Scott and T. Campbell Black | For winning the speed section of the MacRobertson Air Race from Mildenhall to Melbourne | de Havilland DH.88 Comet |
| 1935 | Jean Batten | A flight from England to South America including the fastest solo South Atlantic crossing and, the first by a woman | Percival Gull |
| 1936 | Jean Batten | A flight from England to New Zealand, 14,000 miles | Percival Gull |
| 1937 | Fg OffA.E. Clouston | For two flights; the Istres (Marseilles) - Damascus - Paris race where he came fourth, and for a London - Cape Town flight of 45 hours with a return of 57+1⁄2 hours | de Havilland DH.88 Comet |
| 1938 | Sqn Ldr R. Kellett | Record long distance flight from Ismailia to Darwin | Vickers Wellesley |
| 1939 | Alex Henshaw | Record return flight - London to Cape Town | Percival Mew Gull |
| 1940–1944 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1945 | Grp Cpt H. J. Wilson | World Speed Record of 606 mph (975 km/h) at Herne Bay | Gloster Meteor IV |
| 1946 | Grp Cpt E. M. Donaldson | World Speed Record of 606 mph (975 km/h) at Littlehampton | Gloster Meteor IV |
| 1947 | Sqn Ldr H. B. Martin and Sqn Ldr E. B. Sismore | London to Cape Town record in 21 hr 32 min at 279 mph (449 km/h) | de Havilland Mosquito PR34 (a modified Mosquito with 1710 hp RR Merlin 113A engines for "dedicated photo-reconnaissance") |
| 1948 | Grp Cpt John Cunningham | Class C Aeroplane height record at 59,445 ft (18,119 m) | de Havilland Vampire (modified) |
| 1949 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1950 | P. A. Wills | On the occasion of his fourth victory in the British National Gliding Championships | |
| 1951 | Captain Oscar Philip Jones | Senior British Overseas Airways Corporation pilot with 30 years as an airline Captain flying nearly 20,000 hours and covering over 3,000,000 mi (4,800,000 km) | |
| 1952 | Wg Cdr R. P. Beaumont, Flt Lt P. Hillwood and Sqn Ldr D. A. Watson | First double crossing of the Atlantic within 24 hours | English Electric Canberra B5 |
| 1953 | R. L. E. Burton]] and Flt Lt D. H. Gannon | The winning of the speed section of the London to Christchurch, NZ race (approx 11,781 mi (18,960 km)) | English Electric Canberra PR3 |
| 1954 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1955 | Cpt J. W. Hackett and P. J. Moneypenny | Records set for a return London - New York flight with a total time of 14 hr 22 mins | English Electric Canberra PR7 |
| 1956 | L. P. Twiss | The world speed record of 1,132 mph (1,822 km/h). First flight officially timed at over 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h) | Fairey Delta 2 |
| 1957 | M. Randrup and W. Shirley | Setting a height record (for Class C aircraft) of 70,300 ft (21,400 m) | English Electric Canberra B2 |
| 1958 | Grp Cpt John Cunningham and P. Bugge | Development flying of the de Havilland Comet | de Havilland Comet |
| 1959 | No. 111 Squadron RAF | For aerobatic display formation works | Hawker Hunter F6 |
| 1960 | T. W. Brooke-Smith | For the first vertical takeoff, transition to normal flight and vertical landing in this aircraft | Short SC.1 |
| 1961 | Anne and D. Burns | For their achievements at the World Gliding Championships | |
| 1962 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1963 | A. W. Bedford | Achievements as Chief Test Pilot of the Hawker Aircraft Company, particularly in development of VTOL aircraft | Hawker Siddeley P.1127 and Harrier |
| 1964 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1965 | The Red Arrows | Meritorious service as an aerobatic team | Folland Gnats |
| 1966 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1967 | Sheila Scott | On the establishment of over 100 point-to-point international records | Piper Comanche |
| 1968 | Sqn Ldr R. G. Hanna | Leadership of The Red Arrows for three seasons | Folland Gnat |
| 1969–1972 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1973 | D. P. Davies | As Chief Test Pilot of the Air Registration Board, granting airworthiness certificates to commercial aircraft for many years | |
| 1974–1976 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1977 | N. Todd, B. Walpole and S. Bolton | The development, planning and flying of Concorde on its first supersonic trans-Atlantic passenger service | Concorde |
| 1978 | Sqn Ldr D. G. Lee | Twice winning the World Gliding Championships | Schleicher ASW 17 |
| 1979 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1980 | Julian Nott | World altitude record in a hot-air balloon of 55,134 ft (16,805 m) | "Innovation" hot air balloon now on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Dulles Airport |
| 1981 | Sqn Ldr D. G. Lee | A further three victories at the World Gliding Championships | Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-3 |
| 1982–1983 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1984 | St John Ambulance air wing | Outstanding service since 1972 by their team of 165 volunteer pilots in transporting over 700 heart and liver transplants with accompanying medical staff | |
| 1985 | British Hang Gliding Team | | |
| 1986 | J. Egginton and D. Clews | The world sectional speed record for a helicopter 401 km/h (249 mph) | Westland Lynx |
| 1987 | P. Lindstrand and R. Branson | First trans-Atlantic crossing by hot air balloon, 3075 3,075 mi (4,949 km) in 31 hrs 41 mins. | Virgin Atlantic Flyer |
| 1988 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1989 | British Hang Gliding Team | | |
| 1990 | British Microlight Team | | |
| 1991 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1992 | D. Cameron and R. Bayly | The victory of the first trans-Atlantic balloon race, Maine to Portugal, 4,823 km (2,997 mi) in 124 hrs 34 min | Cameron R-77 Rozière balloon |
| 1993–1994 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1995 | Chris Rollings and Chris Pullen | The first 1,000 km (620 mi) glider flight in the UK. | Schleicher ASH 25E |
| 1996 | Not Awarded | | |
| 1997 | David Bareford | Twenty years of competition in hot air ballooning, British, European and World Champion and bronze medal at the World Air Games | |
| 1998 | Brian Milton | Round the world flight in a flex-wing microlight. This flight crossed 25 countries and took four months and 400 hours flying time | Pegasus Quantum 912 |
| 1999 | Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard | The first circumnavigation of the world by a free balloon, continuing for a further 4 days to complete 40,814 km (25,361 mi), an endurance of nearly 20 days | Breitling Orbiter 3 |
| 2000 | Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill | A microlight versus helicopter race around the globe in support of the charity Operation Smile | Robinson R44 (Murray - helicopter) and Mainair Blade (Bodill - microlight) |
| 2001 | British Microlight Team | Winning the second World Air Games and eighth World Microlight Championships | |
| 2002 | Not Awarded | | |
| 2003 | Andrew Davis | Meritorious performances in competitions as a glider pilot, including being, from 1981, a member of the British Gliding Team for and unprecedented twelve World Championships | |
| 2004 | Richard Meredith-Hardy | Flying over Mount Everest in a weight-shift microlight | Pegasus Quantum (with a turbo-charged Rotax 914 engine) |
| 2005 | David Hempleman-Adams | A new World Altitude Record for open-basket hot-air airship (21,830 ft (6,650 m)) | |
| 2006 | Manuel Queiroz | First British pilot to circumnavigate the world in a homebuilt aircraft | Van's RV-6 |
| 2007 | John Williams | For developments in the field of gliding sports and the three longest UK glider flights, increasing the furthest distance flown in a day from 1,020 km (630 mi) to 1,540 km (960 mi) | |
| 2008 | David Hempleman-Adams and Jonathan Mason | Winners of the Gordon Bennett race | |
| 2009 | Cpt Paul Bonhomme | Winner of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship | Zivko Edge 540 |
| 2010 | Cpt Stephen Noujaim | Breaking the London-Cape Town and return-trip records for aircraft under 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) | Van's RV-7 |
| 2011 | David Sykes | First paraplegic to fly solo from England to Australia | P&M Aviation Quik |
| 2012 | Gerald Cooper | Meritorious performances in aerobatics culminating in 2012 becoming the European Unlimited Aerobatic Champion | Xtreme Air XA-41 |
| 2013 | Jon Hilton | First flight by Microlight from Britain to Canada and returning to Britain | Flight Design CTSW |
| 2014 | Richard Bird and Richard Foster | Microlight flight from Goodwood to Cape Town and back in their Comko C42 microlight. Departing on New Year's Day, they flew a total of 14846 nautical miles in 39 flying days, returning on 14 May. | Comko C42 microlight |
| 2015 | British Microlight Team | The British Microlight Team excelled itself in the 2015 FAI World Air Games in Dubai. The British Team performed a clean sweep of the medals with David Broom winning Gold, Paul Dewhurst Silver and Rees Keene the Bronze medal, with Mark Fowler in fourth, Rob Keene in sixth and Chris Saysell in eighth place. | |
| 2016 | Steve Edwards, David Hempleman-Adams and Frederik Paulsen | Steve Edwards, David Hempleman-Adams and Frederik Paulsen took off from the Geographical North Pole in a Lindstrand 105 hot air balloon on 16 April 2016. The wind chill at the surface of the North Pole was -40°C. causing all of the fuel cylinder gauges to freeze and one of the burners to freeze in the on position. After a distance of 41.2Nm, the crew landed, put up an emergency shelter and made a nice cup of tea. | Lindstrand 105 hot air balloon |
| 2017 | Sacha Dench | "Flight of the Swans" expedition - 7,000 km from the Russian arctic to the UK on a paramotor following the Bewick's swan migration. During the conservation adventure – spanning 11 different countries – she also became the first woman ever to cross the English Channel by paramotor. | Paramotor (powered paraglider) |
| 2018 | Peter Wilson | Peter undertook a series of three epic journeys in his Robinson R66 Helicopter. On his first journey in 2016 he flew round Africa solo in a VFR helicopter through 23 different countries, completing 16,600 nm in 73 days and setting three world records. For his second journey in 2017 with Matthew Gallacher, they travelled east around the world passing through 42 countries completing 32,000 nm in 121 days, (11,600 nm over water) and setting another five world records. The third Journey Round started on 2 December 2018 around Latin America. | Robinson R66 Helicopter |
