Gee Bee Model R

:"For the 1978 arcade game, see Gee Bee (arcade game)."

The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster (also known as the GB Sportster), sometimes nicknamed "The Flying Silo" due to the short, fat fuselage resembling that type of farm storage building, was a special purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts. "Gee Bee" stands for Granville Brothers.

History

The 1932 R-1 and its sister ship, the R-2, were the successors of the previous year's Thompson Trophy-winning Model Z. It was suspected by a few that the Model Z's crash during a speed run in December 1931 was due to an unexpected failure of the gasoline tank cap, which may have been ripped off of the fuel tank filler tube by the aerodynamic boundary layer of air immediately over the surface of the airplane's fuselage, resulting in the now-airborne gas cap smashing into the pilot's face. A bullet-proof windscreen and internal fuel caps were part of the new design. Chief engineer Howell 'Pete' Miller and Zantford 'Granny' Granville spent three days of wind tunnel testing at NYU with aeronautical engineering professor Alexander Klemin. The aircraft had a very peculiar design. Granny reasoned that a teardrop-shaped fuselage would have lower drag than a straight-tapered one, so the fuselage was wider than the engine at its widest point (at the wing attachment point). The cockpit was located very far aft, just in front of the vertical stabilizer, in order to give the racing pilot better vision while making crowded pylon turns. In addition, it turned out that the fuselage acted as an airfoil, just like the 'lifting-body' designs of the 1960s. This allowed the plane to make tight 'knife-edge' turns without losing altitude. It was, in effect, a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine with wings and a tail on it.

The R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy cross-country speed race, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. He also set a new world landplane speed record of 476 kph (296 mph) in the Shell Speed Dash. The distinction of a landplane record was noteworthy because, at that time, specialized speed seaplanes outran landplanes (see Schneider Trophy). The "Springfield Union" of September 6, 1932 quoted Doolittle as saying, "She is the sweetest ship I've ever flown. She is perfect in every respect and the motor is just as good as it was a week ago. It never missed a beat and has lots of stuff in it yet. I think this proves that the Granville brothers up in Springfield build the very best speed ships in America today."

But the R-1 rapidly earned a reputation as, potentially, a very dangerous machine. The small wings, very low polar moment of inertia, and tiny control surfaces made for an aircraft that could rapidly get away from all but the most skilled pilots. Unfortunately, this shortcoming was common to most air racers of the day.

During the 1933 Thompson Trophy race, racing pilot Russell Boardman was killed, flying Number 11. After taking off from a refueling stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, the R-1 stalled, caught a wingtip and crashed.

The R-1 was later repaired with parts from the crashed R-2, creating the "Long Tail Racer." Unfortunately, this plane also crashed soon after it was built but, luckily, Roy Minor, the pilot, was not severely injured. After another rebuild, the Long Tail Racer was sold to Cecil Allen. Allen, against the advice of the Granvilles, modified it by installing larger gas tanks aft of center, which apparently made the craft unstable in pitch. Allen took off with a full fuel tank, crashed, and was killed. After this final crash, the plane was never rebuilt. [http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/4515/geebeer2.html]

Specifications (Gee Bee Super Sportster R-1)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=Aero Digest magazine "The Influence of Racing Types on Commercial Aircraft Design",Z.D. Granville July 1933]
crew=1
length main=17 ft 8 in
length alt=5.38 m
span main=25 ft
span alt=7.62 m
height main=8 ft 2 in
height alt=2.48 m
area main=75 ft²
area alt=6.97 m²
empty weight main=1840 lbs
empty weight alt=834 kg
loaded weight main=2415 lbs
loaded weight alt=1,095 kg
max takeoff weight main=3075 lbs
max takeoff weight alt=1394.8 kg
more general=

Incidence: 2.5 Degrees

Aspect ratio: 6.1
engine (prop)=Pratt & Whitney Wasp 1340 cu in (22 l) displacement
type of prop=Air Cooled 9 cylinder radial
number of props=1
power main=800 hp
power alt=596.5 kW
max speed main=294.38 mph
max speed alt=473.8 km/h
cruise speed main=260 mph
cruise speed alt=418.4 km/h
stall speed main=90 mph
stall speed alt=144 km/h
range main=925 miles
range alt=1488 km
range more=630 miles, full throttle
climb rate main=6100 fpm
climb rate alt=31 m/s
more performance

Lift-to-drag ratio: 14.6
endurance, full throttle=2.14 hours
endurance, cruising=3.65 hours

Note that the Wikipedia article Pratt & Whitney R-1340 lists the power output of the engine used in the Gee Bee R-1 as 550 horsepower, rather than the 800 hp listed above from another source - this is due to the supercharging of the engine. Additionally, in 1933 the R-1 was retrofitted with a 1,860 CID Hornet engine, rated at 1,000 hp.

In popular culture

The video game Racing Aces (Sega CD) depicts a Gee Bee aircraft; it being notably the fastest aircraft in the game.

The 1991 film "The Rocketeer" opens with a test flight (and crash sequence) using a Gee Bee (Model Z) aircraft. Another Gee Bee appears, unflown, at the end of the film.

References

#Citation
last =Graves
first =Darrell
author-link =[e-mail]
last2 =Brener
first2 =Scott
author2-link =[e-mail]
title =The Gee Bee "R-1" and "R-2"
year =1998
url =http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/4515/geebeer2.html
accessdate =2007-03-02

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/lab/4515/index3.html] Website dedicated to the Gee Bee "family" of aircraft designs
* [http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/GeeBee-Racer/geebee.php] Free Fiddlers Green Paper Model site with a good Gee Bee history page. (Model opens in pdf file)