The Schneider Trophy competition for seaplanes and flying boats was inaugurated in 1913 with the condition that the trophy would be permanently retained by the first team to gain three successive victories. By 1931 Britain had won the competition twice in succession but the British Government, reeling from the Depression caused by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, was reluctant to invest any further in the High Speed Flight of the Royal Air Force. However, thanks to the £ 100 000 donation of Lady Houston ( later to finance the flight of two Westland Wallace aircraft over Mount Everest in 1933 ) Britain's Supermarine S-6B was able to win the Schneider Trophy outright and go on to set two World Air Speed Records - first of 379 mph for Flight Lieutenant Stainforth. Then, on 29 September 1931, only 16 days after Stainforth's record, a second S-6B flown by Flight Lieutenant Bootham raised the record again to 407.5 mph
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