Tuesday 33rd August 2021

BOOK REVIEW  By Peter Baker

CRUSADER - John Cobb's ill-fated quest for speed on water 

I often feel cheated that I was born out of time, and not around during those early pioneering days when man risked life and limb, without a second thought, in his attempt to push forward the boundaries of science, looking to achieve just one more inch of height, or one more mile of speed.

Of course, it might not have worked out in my favour. First time up, the plane may have spiralled out of control, leaving yours truly to meet his maker. Likewise, my land speed, record-breaker, in which I’d pinned so much hope, might have ended its life in a million pieces, leaving the team to sweep up copious debris and plant a wooden cross. It was a sad fact, during the early nineteen-hundreds, more adventurers died young than of old age.

Take John Rhodes Cobb, born 1899, for example. Why on earth would an ex-Eton and Trinity Hall scholar with lots of money, many friends, and a secure future in the family firm, chuck all his money away and take up a career that would almost certainly end in his premature death? Maybe speed and headline publicity to Cobb was no more than an unbreakable drug habit.

He was certainly drawn towards large capacity, difficult-to-control racing cars, of the type used to break pre-war records at Brooklands. In July 1932 John Cobb achieved 138.88mph on the famous outer circuit, driving a 10.5-litre French-built Delage. A year later, and his long-standing relationship with designer Reid Railton began. Behind the wheel of their Napier Railton the speed was raised to 143.44mph. Reid also designed the Railton Special, powered by a pair of aero-engines, in which Cobb broke the World Land Speed Record (369mph) at Bonneville Salt Flats in August 1939.

After surviving WW2 as a Group Captain pilot, in 1947 he returned to Bonneville, this time tripping the timer at 394mph. Officially, John Cobb was now ‘the fastest man alive.’

That’s when he should have drawn stumps and called it a day. But flushed with success, and perhaps egged on too easily by the world press, Cobb now went for the land/water speed double record.

Crusader, Reid Railton’s jet-propelled vision of the future, and title of this beautifully written, in-depth study, was built by Vospers and transported by road to Loch Ness in September 1952. By the end of the month John Cobb was dead, the boat having broken up around him on the first run, whilst travelling at 200mph, faster than anyone one before him. But it wasn’t a record.

Steve Holter’s book, published by EVRO is a 352-page masterpiece, well-illustrated, painstakingly researched and carefully constructed to reveal, chapter-by-chapter, all the drama associated with Cobb’s attempt on the World Water Speed Record. It is far too cheap at just £30. Not only do I give it five stars, but unless something very special crops up between now and Christmas, I’m making it my Book of the Year.

CRUSADER - John Cobb's ill-fated quest for speed on water
Written by Steve Holter
ISBN 978-1-910505-61-8
Published by EVRO Publishing
Price £30.00