Moving on to work for a local garage, he was asked to drive some customers to Germany, calling in at an aeronautical exhibition in Frankfurt on the way.

[3] In April 1910 he saw Claude Grahame-White and his Farman Box Kite at Lichfield having force-landed with engine trouble during his attempt to fly from London to Manchester to claim the £10,000 Daily Mail prize (equivalent to £1,289,400 in 2023).

Roe had met a member of the Harvard University Aeronautical Society who ordered a Triplane and invited him to attend their first flying meeting in September.

After the Atlantic voyage (with Pixton and other lowly colleagues travelling steerage) they arrived at the Squantum Flying Ground outside Boston on 1 September.

Roe and the rest of the team returned to Britain, leaving Pixton to assemble a working aircraft from the two wrecks, deliver it to the University, and sell them the remaining parts as spares, the money from which would pay for his fare home.

[8] Back at Brooklands, which was now a thriving centre of aviation development and training, Pixton resumed his normal activities, including giving many pleasure flights.

He got to know nearly all the important people in British aviation at the time, including Grahame-White, Gordon England, Samuel Cody (with whom Pixton became the best of friends), James Vallentine, John Alcock, and Mrs Hilda Hewlett and Gustav Blondeau who together would form a flying school and an aircraft manufacturing business,[9] C. G. Grey (influential founding editor of The Aeroplane)[10] and many more.

There was a sewage farm at the side of the landing area which the local council refused to remove without a large payment from the Brooklands owners, which they could not afford.

[A] Pixton had many more incidents of this than the other pilots, and became known as the ‘’Tripe Hound’’ and ‘’Sewage Farm King’’[12] along with his regular nicknames which included Pick, Pixie and HP.

Pixton started the race late, distracted by a flight for the Manville Prize,[B] then got lost and had to land at what turned out to be Plumpton Racecourse to refuel, and arrived at the finish line well after the other three contestants.

She demanded 25%, and at the next event the pilots refused to fly for longer than the bare minimum needed to qualify for prizes, and kept their planes locked up in hangars for the rest of the day, unavailable for public inspection.

He gained a great reputation for his skill in flying in high winds that left everyone else grounded[25] Bristol used this in adverts even though he had only been with them for a few weeks.

[26] Pixton was entered for “The Great Race” or “Daily Mail Circuit of Britain air race’’, an anti-clockwise tour of England and Scotland running from 22 July to 5 August 1911, starting and ending at Brooklands, and with a prize of £10,000, and prizes for several accomplishments en route, such as fastest to Newcastle and first to land at Trafford Park.

[28] Pixton carried on at Brooklands flying passengers, demonstrating and instructing, but on 31 August 1911 Bristol moved him to Larkhill as an instructor and test pilot.

Having made his career and many friends at Brooklands, he was very reluctant to go,[30] but he found that he enjoyed the comparative peace and quiet of the area, and the flying conditions were favourable.

[41] With the relative success of the Bristol Coanda, Romania was interested in the aircraft, so Pixton went there in October 1912 to demonstrate a tandem-seat version, accompanied by the designer, Henri Coandă, whose father was the war minister.

[44] In January 1913 he made another trip to Spain to demonstrate the Bristol Coanda to King Alfonso, whom Pixton flew as a passenger.

[44] Pixton and the rest of the Larkhill team had to move to Brooklands in October 1913 as the army wanted to take over the airfield for artillery ranges by March 1914.

He leased an old skating rink in Kingston-upon-Thames as his factory and design office, and used his buildings at Brooklands for assembling and flying the aircraft.

[48][49] The Tabloid, officially named the Scout, was a very fast aircraft, and capable of looping, but Pixton had no desire to perform ‘stunts’.

[51] Sopwith decided at the very last moment to enter the Tabloid in the Schneider Trophy International Seaplane Race, the second of which was to be held at Monaco, where the first had been staged the previous year.

[53] In Monaco the aircraft was tested the day before the race and an extra fuel tank was added in the cockpit to avoid the need to refuel during the event.

[56] The remaining competitors either did not start, or failed to complete the course except for one Swiss pilot, Burri, in an FBA biplane powered by the same Gnome Monosoupape engine as the Tabloid.

[57][58] Jacques Schneider invited Pixton to the Sporting Club after the event, and, amid the luxury of the hospitality in the land of wine and champagne, when asked what he would like to drink, bemused his host by replying "Thanks, mine's a half of Bass".

[60] However Pixton continued with his work for Sopwith,[61] testing and delivering aircraft and competing in air races until, on 4 August 1914, war was declared and soon all non-military-related aviation had to stop, except within 3 miles of a recognised aerodrome.

[75] He operated charter flights including flying Daily News newspapers to the Douglas Bay in the Isle of Man, on which he would also take fare-paying passengers for 10 guineas (£10.50).

[77] Avro Transport Company withdrew in October 1919, (it ceased operations the following year)[78] so Pixton carried on himself, as well as starting a car garage at the hangar and running a taxi and seasonal coach tours.

[72] After the death of his wife, he gave up the business and became the ground engineer for Liverpool & District Aero Club at Hooton Park on The Wirrall, Cheshire, over the winter of 1928-29.

[82] Pixton married Maude E Hallam, daughter of the late Chief Constable of Salford, on 19 November 1912 at St Annes-on-Sea, Lancashire.

[86] In 2014 the Isle of Man Post Office issued a set of four stamps commemorating the centenary of Pixton's Schneider Cup victory.