The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster was a special-purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts at the now-abandoned Springfield Airport. Gee Bee stands for Granville Brothers.
Frank Monroe Hawks was a pilot in the United States Army Air Service during World War I and was known during the 1920s and 1930s as a record breaking aviator, using a series of Texaco-sponsored aircraft, setting 214 point-to-point records in the United States and Europe. Prolific in the media and continually in the "public eye", in the 1937 The Mysterious Pilot movie serial, Hawks was billed as the "fastest airman in the world." A popular saying from the time was, "Don't send it by mail ... send it by Hawks." After retiring from a career as an air racer, he died in 1938, flying an experimental aircraft.
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 Macchi M.C. 72 is an experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi Aeronautica. The M.C. 72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five years. In 1933 and 1934 it set world speed records for piston engine-powered seaplanes; the latter still stands.
The Bellanca 28-92 Trimotor was a racing aircraft built to compete in the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air Race of 1937, and was paid for by popular subscription in Romania. Christened Alba Julia it was piloted by Captain Alexander Papana of the Romanian Air Force.
The Bellanca 28-70 was a long-range air racer designed for James Fitzmaurice, Irish pioneer aviator, who christened it Irish Swoop. Although it was built in time for the 1934 MacRobertson Race from England to Australia, it was never destined to be a competitive long-distance racer but it was ultimately reborn as a high-speed bomber.
The Curtiss Eagle was an airliner produced in small numbers in the United States shortly after World War I. The aircraft was a conventional biplane with three-bay, unstaggered wings of equal span. The fuselage was a very advanced design for its day, incorporating careful streamlining of its monocoque structure, and offering the crew as well as the passengers a fully enclosed cabin. The Eagle is sometimes named as the first American tri-motor aircraft; however Curtiss' own Model H flying boat flew with three engines for a time in 1914 before being converted back to twin-engine configuration.
The Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster was a sport aircraft built in the United States in the early 1930s by the Granville Brothers. Essentially an enlarged two-seat version of the single-seat Sportster, it was a low-wing strut-and-wire-braced monoplane of conventional design with open cockpits and fixed tailskid undercarriage. The first of the two examples constructed remained with the Granville Brothers company and competed in many races, piloted by Maude Tait and Russell Boardman, among others. Later it also served as a support aircraft for the R-1 and R-2 racers. The second Model Y was built to order for the Cord Auto Company to be used as an engine testbed for the Lycoming R-680 engine they produced. This aircraft was later refitted with a Wright Whirlwind of nearly double the power of its original powerplant. In this form, it was flown by Florence Klingensmith at the 1933 Chicago International Races, where she won second place in the Women's Free-For-All, then perished in the aircraft after fabric became detached from the upper right wing while contesting the Phillips Trophy.
The Navy-Wright NW series, also called the Mystery Racer were racing aircraft built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation at the request of the US Navy. Although innovative, both prototype racers were lost before achieving their true potential.
The Type R "Mystery Ships" were a series of wire-braced, low-wing racing airplanes built by the Travel Air company in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They were so called, because the first three aircraft of the series were built entirely in secrecy.
The Brown Aircraft Co was an American aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s.
The Pitcairn PA-1 Fleetwing is the first biplane designed for air racing and commercial airmail service by Pitcairn Aircraft Company.
The Brown B-2 Racer was an American-built small monoplane racing aircraft built in 1934.
The Church Midwing JC-1, a.k.a. Church Mid-Wing Sport, is a midwing racing aircraft designed by James Church using the fuselage of a Heath aircraft.
The Cessna GC-1 was an air racer built to compete in the Cirrus All American Air Derby in 1930.
The Folkerts SK-3 a.k.a. "Jupiter, Pride of Lemont" was the third in a series of air racers developed by Clayton Folkerts.
The Granville Gee Bee R-6 International Super Sportster, named "Q.E.D.", and later named "Conquistador del Cielo", was the last in a series of racing and touring monoplane aircraft from the Granville Brothers. The R-6H was dogged with bad luck throughout its career and never finished any race it entered.
The Hawks Miller HM-1, named Time Flies was an American racing aircraft that was the joint project of pilot-owner, Frank Hawks and Howell W. "Pete" Miller, chief engineer for the Granville Brothers. Although very advanced for its time with an enclosed cockpit that highlighted its streamlined lines, development ended after a crash during testing. A completely new design emerged when the aircraft was re-configured as a two-seat military aircraft.
The Stinson Model O was an American single-engined military trainer aircraft of the 1930s designed built by the Stinson Aircraft Company. Based on the Stinson SR, the Model O was designed to meet a requirement of the Honduran Air Force, forming the initial equipment of that air arm.
The Miller JM-2 was an American Formula One Air Racing homebuilt aircraft that was designed by Jim W Miller and produced by JW Miller Aviation of Marble Falls, Texas. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction.
