Air racing in the golden era

[Talbot]

Air racing was pivotal to the development of aeronautical technology in the years between the wars.

I have always seen this as the pinnacle of know how and daring. Some of these people designed and built thier own planes and then had to scrounge gas money to race. After WWII it was never the same.

 

[Talbot]

Taken from the Society of Air Race Historians
http://www.airrace.com/index.htm

 

[Diamondback]

Actually, we had a discussion about the great races going from a modeler's perspective over at the forum for a cardmodel-designer I do some business with. I'll see if I can find the link--most of the discussion was my research and what was missing from the Fiddler's Green catalog.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

My hero, Roscoe Turner!

 

[Talbot]

Now that is a classic!

 

[Diamondback]

And, the discussion I referred to above, from another username and another life...
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=408

No pics, and I still have a lotta holes to fill in, but based on the Society of Air Racing Historians' summaries it's a good start about who was where when.

 

[Talbot]

This is a good reference series as well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOTH-HC-VOLS-REED-KINERT-S-RACING-PLANES-AIR-RACES-/310260470727

There is actually four volumes. They are terriffic!

 

[Fletch]

Now that is a classic!

Wonder what happened immediately after they took the picture. I picture Turner chasing the miscreant around the flightline, swooshing madly at the air with his stick. lol

 

[Talbot]

I have often wondered how Roscoe Turners' showmanship went down with his peers.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My favorite air racer is, without a doubt, the Supermarine S.6B, winner of the 1931 Scheider Trophy Race.

And probably one of the best books on air racing, in my opinion is The Speed Seekers by Thomas G. Foxworth (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1974)

 

[lord_k]

My favorite air racer is, without a doubt, the Supermarine S.6B, winner of the 1931 Scheider Trophy Race.

And one of my all-time favorites is Italian MC.72, too late for Schneider Trophy, just in time to set two world speed records:

 

[Stearmen]

1924 Schneider Cup

My favorite air racer is, without a doubt, the Supermarine S.6B, winner of the 1931 Scheider Trophy Race.

Double edge sword on that one for us Yanks! On the one hand, one of the most beautiful planes ever. On the other, if we had just flown the 1924 Schneider solo like you, the trophy would have been ours in 1925, and a lot of great planes would have never seen the light of day!

 

[Talbot]

The Schneider entries were some of the most beautiful aircraft ever made.

I have a soft spot for the privateering spirit of the US races though. I often wonder what would happen today if a private company developed an aircraft that outperformed the best the military had to offer.

I think that why I like the Travel Air Type R "Mystery Ships" so much.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

The Wedell Williams racers were my favorite, Roscoe Turner's all gold Wedell is in the Crawford Museum:
http://www.wrhs.org/index.php/crawford/1932ww

History of Wedell Williams Air Service, The museum recently added a replica of Jimmy Wedell's '45 here:
http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/aviation/wedwm.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDz88KC7M0

 

[Stearmen]

Yak R2800

Not really a Golden era race plane, but, as many said when it made it's debut on the Reno ramp in 1987, you could picture Rosco Turner sauntering out to it at Cleveland! It's a Yak 11 powered by a Pratt & Whitney R2800 engine, first raced and built by the late Bob Yancey! Thats 45.88 Liters, and producing over 3000HP. The original Yak 11 had a Shvetsov ASh-21 9 cylinder air cooled engine producing 700HP. When the new owners purchased it, the pilot could not believe any one could fly it! It took full left rudder, and full up aileron trim to stay in the air around the pylons. They have since put a larger tail on the bird, which makes it much easier to race. The plane has come in third twice, not bad for a little trainer!

 

[RetroToday]

The Gee Bee

Very surprised the (in)famous Gee Bee hasn't been mentioned yet!

Their planes were nicknamed "The Widowmaker". etc., etc., and they had several setbacks, but had a great award winning career.

I became fascinated with the Granville Brothers racers and the golden age of air racing in general after reading "The Rocketeer" comic books and seeing the movie in 1990. I love the streamlined design and thoughtful innovations of the 1930s. Air racing of that time is so full of that spirit, coupled with death defying feats of aerial bravery.

The Rocketeer movie featured a replica of the Gee Bee model Z built by Bill Turner, now retired to the museum of flight. Here is a pic of the orginal Z:

In 1994 my family and I flew on a chartered DC-3 to the EAA's Oshkosh Airshow to meet Delmar Benjamin and see his Gee Bee model R2 replica fly. What an incredible experience, Delmar was such a nice person.
His R2 racer has also since been placed on display in a museum, wish I could see it fly again.

Me and the Gee Bee R2 at Oshkosh in 1994

[video=youtube;s79LcCCszRQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s79LcCCszRQ[/video]
Not my video, or same location, but this video gives the basics of the show I saw Delmar perform in 1994.

 

[Stearmen]

Z For Zinger

Love the Gee Bees! The Z is my favorite, Turner's has a revised airfoil, longer and more forgiving. Kermit Weeks has a spot on replica, he hired some engineers to sort it out, they discovered aileron flutter, so they are going to put two mass balancers under each aileron. That is probably the real reason for Lowell R. Bayles demise in the Z!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I think the model R Gee Bee's reputation was due to the other pilots not handling the aircraft properly, the way Jimmy Doolittle had.
The Cecil Allen R-1/R-2 hybrid was not even allowed to carry the Granville Bros. logo and name after it was rebuilt without the Granville Bros. sanction.

The Gee Bee QED El Conquistador del Cielo survives in Durango Mexico.

 

[RetroToday]

There's a special place in my heart for those Gee Bees too, the Z especially.

The Granville Brothers' Model Z and R took the art of streamlining as far as it could go with the motors available, but it made the planes very tricky to fly - those little buggers stalled at 100mph!

Bayles was a great pilot and understood the Gee Bees and their touchy behavior quite well, before the mishap.
The team had just upgraded the Model Z with a larger, higher horsepower engine to make an attempt at the World Land Speed Record and underestimated the extra strain it would put on the wings.

As Bayles made a speed run in front of the cameras at Wayne County Airport in 1931, one of the wings snapped off, causing the plane to rapidly spin and fall to earth. So sad to watch the newsreel of the crash, it breaks my heart every time I see it.

(video webpage link below: press the red play button).
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675046366_Pursuit-Airplanes_Pilot-Lowell-Bayles_Gee-Bee-Racer-airplane_hits-ground-and-explodes

Makes me want to invent a time machine to go back and stop Bayles from flying that day.

I remember there was also a theory that the accident was caused when the gas cap came loose and flew back through the windshield, hitting Bayles in the face. Did they really ever pin a definite cause on that crash?

 

[Absinthe_1900]

I believe some witnesses reported seeing wing flutter on the Z just before the wing broke.