It is unlikely Allen ever attempted a fully fueled takeoff before the start of the race. chief engineer "Pete" Miller wrote to Allen warning for him never to put fuel in the rear tank as it would move the center of gravity far to the rear and make the ship too tail heavy to be flown. Allen renamed the ship "Spirit of Right", built an entirely new wing with a different airfoil and added a new rear fuel tank for the long distance Bendix race. The unrepaired Long Tail Racer was sold to Cecil Allen before the sheriff's bankruptcy auction ended the Granville Brothers company. The damage was not severe but there was no money left for repairs. This aircraft crashed in a landing overrun incident soon after it was built, but Roy Minor, the pilot, was not severely injured. The R-1/2, or "Longtail" aircraft carried race number 11 because the R-2's original wings were already painted as Number 11 and the repaired fuselage had to be painted regardless. It was decided to save time by not to repairing the R-1 wings, but to use the original wings from the R-2, which had been removed in February 1933 when new wings with flaps were built and installed. The ship was painted with "I.F." on the cowl for intestinal fortitude and the same cartoon "Filaloola Bird" was painted on the side of the fuselage as it was on their successful Model YW. The R-1 was repaired but with an 18 in (460 mm) fuselage extension, creating the "Long Tail Racer". During takeoff from a refueling stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, Boardman pulled up too soon, stalled the R-1 and crashed. During the 1933 Bendix Trophy race, racing pilot Russell Boardman was killed, flying Number 11. This shortcoming was common to most racing machines of any kind. The R-1 rapidly acquired an reputation as a dangerous aircraft. He also personally wrote Zantford "Grannie" Granville a letter dated September 7, 1932, on Shell Petroleum stationery and addressed to Granville Brothers Aircraft, which reads as follows: I am sure Russell Boardman can take her around at quite a bit more than 300 miles an hour so you see my record may not last long after all." There were lots of things we might have adjusted more properly if we had had time to run tests with the ship, and they would have meant more speed. I just hope Russell Boardman can take her out soon and bring her in for a new record. She was so fast that there was no need of my taking sharp turns although if the competition had been stiffer I would have. I think this proves that the Granville brothers up in Springfield build the very best speed ships in America today." Another Springfield paper of the same date quoted Doolittle as saying, "The ship performed admirably. It never missed a beat and has lots of stuff in it yet. She is perfect in every respect and the motor is just as good as it was a week ago. The Springfield Union newspaper of Septemquoted Doolittle as saying, "She is the sweetest ship I've ever flown. The distinction of a landplane record was noteworthy because, at that time, racing seaplanes outran landplanes, such as the then current speed record holder, a Supermarine S.6B which had averaged 407.5 mph (655.8 km/h) on September 1931. world landplane speed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) in the Shell Speed Dash. He lapped all but one ship in the race, made easy turns and never had to come down and make a tight pylon turn. The R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy race, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. Reproduction of the Thompson Trophy Race winning R-1 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. Granville 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, within the length of the wing chord). The 1932 R-1 and its sister plane, the R-2, were the successors of the previous year's Thompson Trophy-winning Model Z.Īssistant 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 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.
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