This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(March 2016) |
The Bendix Trophy is a U.S. aeronautical racing trophy. The transcontinental, point-to-point race, sponsored by industrialist Vincent Bendix founder of Bendix Corporation, began in 1931 as part of the National Air Races. Initial prize money for the winners was $15,000. The last Bendix Trophy Race was flown in 1962.
The trophy was brought back in 1998 by AlliedSignal, the then-owner of the Bendix brand name (which later merged with Honeywell), to "recognize contributions to aerospace safety by individuals or institutions through innovation in advanced safety equipment and equipment utilization."
The current awards of the Honeywell Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety includes a scale reproduction of the original Bendix Trophy design and a citation.
The purpose was to interest engineers in building faster, more reliable, and durable aircraft. Bendix competitors flew from Burbank, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, except for two years when the contest began in New York and ended in Los Angeles.
Famous competitors for the trophy included Jimmy Doolittle, who won the first race, and several women. Amelia Earhart and Ruth Rowland Nichols were the first women pilots to enter the Bendix, taking fifth and sixth places, respectively, in 1933. In 1936, Louise Thaden and her copilot Blanche Noyes won the race. Laura Ingalls finished second. In 1938, Jacqueline Cochran, arguably the greatest female aviator of all time, took home the trophy. Paul Mantz was the only pilot to ever win the Bendix three consecutive years, from 1946 through 1948.
The race was not run during World War II. Postwar winners were frequently military veterans from the United States Army Air Forces: the 1956 winner, Capt. Manuel Fernandez Jr., was the third-ranking Korean War USAF ace. By the 1960s, American interest in air racing declined. This was probably due to an increased focus on the space race during this time. Lt. Richard F. Gordon Jr., the winner in 1961, went on to become an astronaut with NASA.
Mister Mulligan (Howard DGA-6), commissioned and flown by Ben Howard in the 1935 race, was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who went on to become an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Howard and Israel, who co-piloted, won the trophy. Their victory changed how long-distance airplanes were designed.
The second-place plane in the 1935 race was actually a faster airplane but had to make refueling stops, which cost enough time to prevent Roscoe Turner from winning the race. The time difference was only 23.5 seconds between first and second place. The winning difference in speed, over the total distance was less than 0.2 mph (0.32 km/h). Mister Mulligan achieved 238.70 mph (384.15 km/h), compared to Roscoe Turner's 238.52 mph (383.86 km/h).
Mister Mulligan not only won the Bendix Trophy but also the Thompson Trophy, when flown by Harold Neumann in 1935. Instead of a cross-country distance race, the Thompson was a closed-circuit race around pylons, a type of race for which it was not particularly well suited. Entered again in the Bendix in 1936, the Mister Mulligan was completely destroyed when the craft lost one of the propeller blades, resulting in a forced landing, 40 miles (64 km) north of Crownpoint, New Mexico; this crash landing almost killed Howard and his co-pilot wife, Maxine.
Propeller Class | |||||||
Year | Start location | End location | Pilot | Plane | Speed (MPH) | Time (H:M:S) | Prize |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | Burbank | Cleveland | Maj. James H. Doolittle | Super Solution | 223.06 | 09:10:21.0 | $7,500 |
1932 | Burbank | Cleveland | Capt. Jasper H. Haizlip | WW-44 | 245.00 | 08:19:45.0 | $8,750 |
1933 | New York | Los Angeles | Roscoe Turner | WW-44 | 214.78 | 11:30:00.0 | $4,050 |
1934 | Burbank | Cleveland | Doug Davis | WW-44 | 216.24 | 09:26:41.0 | $4,500 |
1935 | Burbank | Cleveland | Ben Howard | DGA-6 | 238.70 | 08:33:16.3 | $4,500 |
1936 | New York | Los Angeles | Louise Thaden Blanche Noyes | C-17R | 165.35 | 14:55:01.0 | $4,500 |
1937 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Frank W. Fuller Jr. | SEV-2S | 258.20 | 07:54:26.3 | $9,000 |
1938 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Jacqueline Cochran | SEV-2S | 249.11 | 08:10:31.4 | $9,000 |
1939 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Frank W. Fuller Jr. | SEV-2S | 282.10 | 07:14:19.0 | $9,000 |
1940 | No races during this period due to World War II | ||||||
1941 | |||||||
1942 | |||||||
1943 | |||||||
1944 | |||||||
1945 | |||||||
1946 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Paul Mantz | P-51 | 435.50 | 04:43:14.0 | $10,000 |
1947 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Paul Mantz | P-51 | 460.42 | 04:26:57.4 | $10,000 |
1948 | Los Angeles | Cleveland | Paul Mantz | P-51 | 447.98 | 04:33:48.7 | $10,000 |
1949 | Rosamond Dry Lake | Cleveland | Joe DeBona (Flying for Jimmy Stewart) | F-51 | 470.14 | 04:16:17.5 | $10,000 |
Jet Class | |||||||
Year | Start location | End location | Pilot | Plane | Speed (MPH) | Time (H:M:S) | Prize |
1946 | Van Nuys | Cleveland | Leon W. Gray | F/P-80A | 494.78 | 04:08:00.0 | |
1947 | Cleveland | Leon W. Gray | F/P-80A | 507.26 | 04:02:00.0 | ||
1948 | Cleveland | Ens. F. E. Brown | FJ-1 | 489.53 | 04:11:00.0 | ||
1949 | Cleveland | Vernon A. Ford | F-84E | 529.61 | 03:45:51.0 | ||
1950 | No race this year due to Korean War | ||||||
1951 | Muroc Field | Detroit | Col. Keith K. Compton | F-86A | 553.76 | 03:27:00.0 | |
1952 | No race this year due to Korean War | ||||||
1953 | Muroc Field | Wright-Patterson Air Force Base | Maj. William T. Whisner Jr. | F-86F | 603.55 | 03:05:25.0 | |
1954 | Edwards Air Force Base | Dayton | Capt. Edward W. Kenny | F-84F | 616.21 | 03:01:56.0 | |
1955 | Victorville | Philadelphia | Col. Carlos Talbott | F-100C | 610.726 | ||
1956 | George Air Force Base | Tinker Air Force Base | Capt. Manuel Fernandez Jr. | F-100C | 666.66 | ||
1957 | Chicago | Andrews Air Force Base | Capt. Kenneth Chandler | F-102A | 679.00 | 02:54:45.0 | |
1958 | No award these years | ||||||
1959 | |||||||
1960 | |||||||
1961 | Los Angeles | New York | Lt. Richard F. Gordon Jr. Lt. Bobbie R. Young | F4H-1 | 869.74 | 02:47:00.0 | |
1962 | Los Angeles | New York | Capt. Robert G. Sowers Capt. Robert MacDonald Capt. John T. Walton | B-58A | 1,214.17 | 02:00:56.8 | |
Year | Recipient | Company |
---|---|---|
1998 | Capt. David A. Fleming Capt. Edward D. Mendenhall Capt. Edmond L. Soliday | British Airways Gulfstream Aircraft United Airlines |
1999 | Leonard M. Greene | Safe Flight Instrument Corp. |
2000 | James F. Bothwell | STAT Medevac |
2001 | No award this year | |
2002 | Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. | |
2003 | Peter F. Sheppard | UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch |
2004 | Dassault Aviation | |
2005 | Earl F. Weener, Ph.D. | |
2006 | No award this year | |
2007 | Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation | |
2008 | The Mode S Radar Tools Project, U.K. National Air Traffic Services | |
2011 | National Air Transport System (NATS) and Airbox Aerospace | |
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying boats. In 1931 Britain met the conditions to retain the Trophy permanently; it is held at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.
Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a previously estimated time.
The National Air Races are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew rapidly during this period; the National Air Races were both a proving ground and showcase for this.
The Wedell-Williams Model 44 is a racing aircraft, four examples of which were built in the United States in the early 1930s by the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation. It began as a rebuilding of the partnership's successful We-Will 1929 racer, but soon turned into a completely new racing monoplane aircraft, powered by a large radial engine. Model 44s became the dominant racers of the 1930s, setting innumerable records including setting a new world speed record in 1933.
The Howard DGA-15 was a single-engine civil aircraft produced in the United States by the Howard Aircraft Corporation from 1939 to 1944. After the United States' entry into World War II, it was built in large numbers for the United States Navy and also served various roles in the United States Army Air Forces.
The Howard DGA-8, DGA-9, DGA-11, and DGA-12 were a family of four-place, single-engine, high-wing light monoplanes built by the Howard Aircraft Corporation, Chicago, Illinois from 1936.
Blanche Noyes was an American pioneering female aviator who was among the first ten women to receive a transport pilot's license. In 1929, she became Ohio's first licensed female pilot.
The Thompson Trophy race was one of the National Air Races of the heyday of early airplane racing in the 1930s. Established in 1929, the last race was held in 1961. The race was 10 miles (16 km) long with 50-foot-high (15 m) pylons marking the turns, and emphasized low altitude flying and maneuverability at high speeds. As the race was flown around a closed course, crowds in the grandstands could easily see much of the spectacle.
Roscoe Turner was a record-breaking American aviator who was a three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy air race and widely recognized by his flamboyant style and his pet, Gilmore the Lion.
The Howard DGA-6 was a pioneer racing plane, nicknamed "Mister Mulligan". It was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Mister Mulligan won the trophy, and thus changed the way in which long distance airplanes were designed.
Benjamin Odell Howard, was an American aviator and aeronautical engineer, whose aircraft won the Bendix Trophy and the Thompson Trophy in 1935.
Howard Aircraft Corporation was a small United States aircraft manufacturer in the 1930s and 1940s. The factory was initially on the south side of Chicago Municipal Airport at 5301 W. 65th Street; during World War II a second plant was opened at DuPage Airport west of Chicago.
Sylvester Joseph "Steve" Wittman was an American air-racer and aircraft engineer.
The Brown B-2 Racer was an American-built small monoplane racing aircraft built in 1934.
Chief Oshkosha.k.a.Buster is a homebuilt racing plane designed to compete in the 1931 American Cirrus Races.
The Howard DGA-3 "Pete", a.k.a. "Damned Good Airplane – 3", "Baker Special", and "Little Audrey" was the third aircraft built by Ben Howard, and the first in a series of racing aircraft. Howard claimed that the aircraft was so fast from his use of "Go Grease".
The Howard DGA-4 a.k.a. Mike, and DGA-5 a.k.a. Ike and "Miss Chevrolet" was the next in a series of racers from Ben Howard. He built two examples, "Mike" and "Ike", each with a different landing gear design.
The Laird-Turner RT-14 Meteor, also called the Turner TR-14, Ring Free Meteor, PESCO Special, Miss Champion, Turner Special and the Turner Meteor was the winning aircraft of the 1938 and 1939 Thompson Trophy races.
The Halle Trophy Race, later briefly renamed the Kendall Trophy Race, was an air race for women aviators that ran for a few years after World War II.