Bendix Trophy

The Bendix Trophy is an 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 current 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 race

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 James Harold Doolittle, who won the first race, and several women. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to enter the Bendix, taking fifth place in 1935. 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. Post war winners were frequently military veterans from the United States Army Air Forces: the 1956 winner, Capt. Manuel Fernandez, Jr, was the third ranking WWII USAAF Ace. By the 1960s, American interest in air racing declined; this is likely due to an increased focus on the space race during this time. Lt. Richard F. Gordon, Jr., the 1961 winner, went on to become an Astronaut with NASA.

Mister Mulligan

"Mister Mulligan" (Howard DGA-6) was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. Commissioned and flown by Ben Howard in the 1935 race. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who went on the 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, changing how long distance airplanes were designed.

The second place plane in the 1935 race was actually a faster airplane, but had to make refuelling 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 convert|0.2|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. "Mr.Mulligan" convert|238.70|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on, compared to Roscoe Turner's convert|238.52|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on.

"Mister Mulligan" not only won the Bendix 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, convert|40|mi|km north of Crownpoint, New Mexico; this crash landing almost killed Howard and his co-pilot wife, Maxine.

Winners

Honeywell Bendix trophy for Aviation Safety recipients

References

* [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/trophies/EX10.htm "The Major Trophy Races of the Golden Age of Air Racing"] by David H. Onkst, "US Centennial of Flight Commission", retrieved January 6, 2006
* [http://www.airracinghistory.freeola.com/Between%20the%20wars(2).htm "The Bendix Trophy"] , "Air Racing History", retrieved January 6, 2006
* [http://www.aeromuseum.org/Articles/July04/QuestForSpeed.htm "The Quest for Speed Bendix Air Races 1931 to 1949"] From Air Trails, September 1950
* [http://2k.si.edu/2ksearch/Low_Artifacts.asp?ObjectData_Action=Find('ID','d517') Artifacts - Bendix Trophy] Smithsonian Institution Online Exhibit
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1954.html 1954 USAF Serial Numbers entry number 2096]
* [http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/gordon.htm Astronaut Bio: Richard F. Gordon, Jr., (Captain, USN, Ret.)]
* [http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/aviators/usaf.htm United States Air Force Aviation AeroWeb History]
* [http://www.arkairmuseum.org/mulligan.html Howard DGA-6 Mister Mulligan] at the Arkansas Air Museum
* [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p80_12.html Service History of the Shooting Star]
* [http://www.afa.org/magazine/KittyHawkNew/1944_1953.asp Up From Kitty Hawk 1944-1953]
* [http://www.aerofiles.com/nar.html The National Air Races]
* [http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,858274,00.html TIME Magazine Archive Article -- Scoreboard -- Sep. 14, 1953]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=1330 Seattle native Dick Gordon orbits the moon on November 18, 1969.]

External links

* [http://www.flightsafety.org/bendix_trophy.html The Honeywell Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety] at Flight Safety Foundation homepage
* [http://www.55srwa.org/0301/01010803-03.html Kenny's Long Shot] about Kenny's 1954 Bendix Trophy run