that would be delmar benjamin in the geebee R2 I'm guessing. that was the only real replica of a geebee to ever fly. He proved that plane was NOT ill designed or a killer, just required a skilled pilot that was attentive to detail. those were few and far between back in the day. many of the geebee planes had "bad luck" and media sensationalized it. the wings and stabilizers on the GB planes were actually bigger than most contemporary race planes. the use of a teardrop shape as the most aerodynamic for the fuselage is what made the plane look so stubby. there is only one surviving geebee race plane and it is in a hanger in mexico city. it was the R-5 also known as the QED.
the hawker is bad to the bone too: http://www.sandersaircraft.com/restoration_seafury-janitell.asp this plane has not got much press over here in the states.. first time iv heard of it, im not a huge airplane guy but enjoy them and been into rc airplanes for a lot of years. will go read about the hawker now.. have a great lunch people. chris,
In the mid 90's I built a house for a guy in Martinque. He told me that the US had left canister containers all over the Islands with Allison engines in them, in case a plane made to an island and needed an engine. The real Southern Cross has been on display since 1958 at Canberra (I believe), but some guys built a clone in the 80's and were touring with it.
2 different old timers have told me that The Yard Store in Wichita had several Allisons in crates in the early 60's for a couple grand each. For those coming to the Starliner show at the air museum in Wichita they are restoring a Stearman now.
there's also video on youtube of the geebee z breaking up in flight if you want to see it. I'll p*** on posting a link to it. killed a good pilot. the instability is from an overly sensitive rudder. it was originally designed with NO rudder sticking out above the canopy but this proved to be not enough vertical stabilizer during test flights. they increased the fin and rudder to compensate which made the rudder more sensitive than designed for. if you read about these planes almost every pilot flew them barefoot.
Doc: If you ever get to Detroit, go out to the Yankee Air Force Museum at Willow Run Airport. They offer rides in both the B-17 and the B-25.
My dad used to fly a Stearman, then one day he was messing around and buzzed the house while my mom was out hanging clothes on the line. Guess he came a little to close, because she grounded him after that .
Absolutely freakin' killer!!! We are so far off topic at this point, but damn, who cares when there was (is) stuff like this out there! I put watching that thing take off that day in the top say, 15 things I have ever seen... And I have seen a lot of cool stuff!
the geebee's were built right across the river from me in springfield, but the runway there was too short to land at so they were flown over here to be hangered at bowles airfield in agawam. unfortunately this piece of history is now an industrial park.....
The Granville brothers built some awsome aircraft and advanced aviation along with them. perhaps the most beautiful and last built of the was a racer built for and flown by Frank Hawks, known as "Time Flies" and sponsored by the Gruen Watch Company
Since we were in formation when this picture was taken I wasn't flying at the time....but I was before & after Airplanes is fun....got about 1500 hrs; most of it in taildraggers flying from a gr*** field. Owned a 150hp Citabria for 14 years, damn I miss that plane!
The Curtis and Allisons were the hotrods of their era, p40's and p51's, spitfires were a close runner up!!
I wholeheartedly agree on time flies! unfortunately it was not a "true" granville brothers aircraft as the granville brothers company had been sold at auction following granny's death. by 1936 when time flies was built it was designed by pete miller who was an engineer for the granville brothers. I'm pretty sure it was also built in either the same building in springfield as other GB's or in the bowles field in agawam by mostly the same extremely talented craftsman. this craft featured retractable landing gear and ****pit with a seat that cranked up so you could see during takeoff and landing while looking through portholes while flying. this plane was a long distance runner. they ended up trying to market it to the military without success. it eventually shed a wing during aerobatic maneuvers, the pilot being able to parachute safely to the ground.
Wow, those Bee Gee's are cool! I've jumped out of a plane before, but I can't imagine having to unbuckle from an open ****pit plane while it's spinning toward the ground. How on earth did they get out!?!?
The Jalopy Journal
