Art Chester
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Art Chester
Art Chester (1899–1949) was an American barnstormer and air racer of the 1930s and 1940s. Chester was instrumental in the development of the Menasco Pirate and Buccaneer inverted inline engines. He was also the designer of the propeller spinner and engine front cowling for the North American North American P-51 fighter. Early life In September 1930, Chester bought a Davis D-1-85 parasol, and flew it to victory in the National Air Races. He later developed a series of successful air racers named after Popeye cartoon and comic strip characters. His designs were the Chester Jeep, Chester Goon, and Chester Swee Pea. Chester's "Jeep" became a formidable racer. He would tow his aircraft from race site to race site, driving a matching colored Auburn boat tailed speedster. Chester's "Jeep" and "Goon" were powered by Menasco Motors Company engines, which he tuned for maximum performance and reliability. Al Menasco took note of Chester's engine building and tuning skills. In ...
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San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States and the seat of San Diego County, the fifth most populous county in the United States, with 3,338,330 estimated residents as of 2019. The city is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches and parks, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center. San Diego is the second largest city in the state of California, after Los Angeles. Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego is frequently referred to as the "Birthplace of California", as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the U.S. west coast. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, ...
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Chester Jeep
The Chester Jeep aka the Chester Special #1 was an air racer built by Art Chester for the 1932 National Air Races. The aircraft once held the world's speed record for aircraft at . Design and development The Chester Jeep was named after "Eugene the Jeep" from the Popeye comics of the time. Chester created a compact airframe in order to maximize speed from a small engine. Art Chester later designed the nose and cowling of the P-51 fighter for North American Aviation. The Jeep was a mid-wing taildragger racer using a Menasco engine. The wings were supported with small struts. The Jeep was modified with a new prop, spinner and less sharp angles for the 1934 National Air Races. The aircraft's wings were removed and reinstalled for trailering to air events. In 1947 the aircraft was retrofitted ("butchered" by some) with an engine to meet the power requirement for the Goodyear races. Operational history The green and cream colored aircraft was intended to compete in the 1932 Nationa ...
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1949 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States. * January 16 – Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. It is the 18th government, last single party government of the Republican People's Party. * January 17 – The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models are sold in America tha ...
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1899 Births
Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a customs office in Puerto Alonso, leading to the Brazilian settlers there to declare the Republic of Acre in a revolt against Bolivian authorities. **The first part of the Jakarta Kota–Anyer Kidul railway on the island of Java is opened between Batavia Zuid ( Jakarta Kota) and Tangerang. * January 3 – Hungarian Prime Minister Dezső Bánffy fights an inconclusive duel with his bitter enemy in parliament, Horánszky Nándor. * January 4 – **U.S. President William McKinley's declaration of December 21, 1898, proclaiming a policy of benevolent assimilation of the Philippines as a United States territory, is announced in Manila by the U.S. commander, General Elwell Otis, and angers independence activists who had fought against ...
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American Air Racers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ...
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Formula One Air Racing
Formula One Air Racing is an American motorsport that involves small aircraft using engines up to in displacement. Racers can reach speeds over 200 mph. History Formula One air racing is sanctioned by the International Aeronautics Federation. Formula One was first proposed in 1936 as "midget racing". The 190 Cubic in specification was set in 1946, and the first competition was set in 1947. Some 1930s air racers, like the Chester Jeep and Loose Special were retrofitted with smaller engines to compete. With the introduction of the Continental O-200 The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in³ (3.29 L) displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower (67 and 75 kW).''Federal Aviation Admini ... engine, the maximum engine displacement was raised to 200 cubic inches in 1968. Aircraft must have a minimum wing area of , and an empty weight of 500 pounds or more. The aircr ...
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North American Aviation
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, the XB-70, the B-1 Lancer, the Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, and the Space Shuttle orbiter. Through a series of mergers and sales, North American Aviation became part of North American Rockwell, which later became Rockwell International, and is now part of Boeing. History Early years On December 6, 1928, Clement Melville Keys founded North American as a holding company that bought and sold interests in various airlines and aviation-related companies. However, the Air Mail Act of 1934 forced the breakup of such holding companies. North American became a manufacturing company, run by James H. Kindelberger, James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger, who had bee ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ...
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Chester Swee Pea
The Swee' Pea was a series of three midget aircraft racers designed by Art Chester. Design and development The Swee' Pea was a racing aircraft to compete in the new midget racing class championed by race pilot Art Chester. The aircraft was the third design from Chester with a Popeye comic name. The midget racer was required to have an engine less than 190 cubic inches in displacement at the time. The Swee' Pea shared a similar short, mid-wing taildragger configuration with other midget racers. The aircraft was unique in that it used a V tail configuration and a single cooling air intake through a large hole in the center of the spinner. The Fuselage is welded tube steel with plywood covered wings. Operational history The Swee' Pea was introduced at the 1947 National Air Races The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy 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 ...
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Chester Goon
The Chester Goon aka The Chester Special #2 was a single-engine taildragger-configuration monoplane racer built for the 1938 National Air Races. Design and development Art Chester followed on his successful air racer the " Jeep"" with the Goon. "Goon", like "Jeep" was named after characters in Popeye cartoons and comic strips. The Goon was built with a conventional welded steel tube frame and fabric covering. The wings used spruce spars and plywood covering. The mid-wing taildragger aircraft featured short-legged retractable landing gear. The engine was prepared to turn clockwise (as normal for some British inlines of the era) in anticipation of mounting a custom French propeller, but the propeller was also customized for American engines, and the engine needed to be modified again to rotate normally. During the 1956 rebuild, a 190 hp Lycoming O-435-1 engine was installed in place of the Menasco, including a cut down Beech-Roby propeller and wheel brakes. Operationa ...
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Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Segar, Elzie (Crisler) – Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Britannica.com. Retrieved on March 29, 2013.
Goulart, Ron, "Popeye", ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture''. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. (Volume 4, pp. 87-8).Walker, Brian. ''The Comics: The Complete Collection''. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2011. (pp. 188-9,191, 238-243) The character first appeared in the daily King Features Syndicate, King Features comic strip ''Thimble Theatre'' on January 17, 1929, and ''Popeye'' became the strip's title in later years. The character has also appeared in theatrical and television animated cartoons.
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Air Racing
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. History The first 'heavier-than-air' air race was held on 23 May 1909 - the Prix de Lagatinerie, at the Port-Aviation airport south of Paris, France. Four pilots entered the race, two started, but nobody completed the full race distance; though this was not unexpected, as the rules specified that whoever travelled furthest would be the winner if no-one completed the race. Léon Delagrange, who covered slightly more than half of the ten laps was declared the winner. Some other minor events were held before the ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne'' in 22–29 August 1909 at Reims, France. This was the first major international flying event, drawing the most important aircraft makers and pilots of the era, ...
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