The Granville Gee Bee Model Z was an American

racing aircraft 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 previ ...

of the 1930s, the first of the Super Sportster aircraft built by

Granville Brothers Aircraft Granville Brothers Aircraft was an aircraft manufacturer from 1929 until its bankruptcy in 1934 that was located at the Springfield Airport in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Granville Brothers—Zantford, Thomas, Robert, Mark and Edward—are ...

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, with the sole intent of winning the Thompson Trophy, which it did in 1931. However, it soon suffered a fatal crash during a world speed record attempt, starting the reputation of the Gee Bee aircraft as killers.

Design and development

Suffering from the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Granville Brothers decided in July 1931 to build an aircraft to compete in that fall's Thompson Trophy competition at the

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 and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. They hoped that a victory in the prestigious race would lead to additional orders for their line of sporting aircraft."Gee Bee Model Z
"] ''Fantasy of Flight Air Museum''. Retrieved: May 26, 2010. Constructed in less than five weeks at a cost of under $5,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

, the Gee Bee (for "Granville Brothers") Model Z, named ''City of Springfield'', was a small, tubby airplane. It was essentially the smallest possible

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

constructed around the most powerful available engine of a suitable size,Donald 1997, pp. 466–467. a supercharged Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior (R-985) 0

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

, producing .

Operational history

First flying on August 22, 1931, the Gee Bee Z quickly proved to be tricky to fly, but fulfilled every expectation with regards to its speed. Flown by pilot Lowell Bayles, the Gee Bee Z attained the speed of Granville Brothers Gee Bee Z "City of Springfield."
''The Museum of Flight''. Retrieved: May 26, 2010. at the National Air Races during the Shell Speed Dash qualifying on September 1, then went on to win the Goodyear Trophy race, run over a course of , the next day at an average speed of . On the September 5, the aircraft's engineer, Bob Hall, flew the Gee Bee Z to victory in the General Tire and Rubber Trophy race, then won again the next day in a free-for-all event. In the Thompson Trophy Race on September 7, Bayles was triumphant, winning with an average speed of , winning over competitors including

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

, James "Jimmy" Wedell,

Ben Howard Benjamin John Howard (born 24 April 1987) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut EP ''Games in the Dark'' (2008) was followed by two more EPs, '' These Waters'' (2009) and '' Old Pine'' (2010). Signed t ...

, Dale Jackson, Bill Ong,

Ira Eaker General (Honorary) Ira Clarence Eaker (April 13, 1896 – August 6, 1987) was a general of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Eaker, as second-in-command of the prospective Eighth Air Force, was sent to England to form and ...

, and Hall, who finished fourth in a Gee Bee Model Y."Gee Bee Z."
''Air Racing History''. Retrieved May 26, 2010. Following the Thompson Trophy race, the Gee Bee Z was re-engined with a larger, Wasp Senior radial, in preparation for an attempt at establishing a world speed record for landplanes at Wayne County Airport in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Unofficially clocked at on a trial run, it surpassed the previous record of by attaining on December 1, 1931, but the margin was too small for the record to be officially registered. A further record attempt on December 5, 1931, would end in tragedy, the aircraft suffering a wing failure and rolling into the ground, killing Bayles. It was suspected 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 come loose and passed through the windshield. A

bullet-proof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. Fragmentation (weaponry), shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials ...

windscreen The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

and internal fuel caps were part of the new design. Analysis of motion picture film of the event examined frame-by-frame, is inconclusive. Control surface flutter is a more likely cause. It is theorized that the gas cap struck the pilot and incapacitated him, causing a sudden upset in pitch that led to uncontrolled flutter in the right aileron which imparted undue stress on that wing, causing it to pitch up sharply and fail. In addition, tests of a reproduction aircraft have shown that the Gee Bee Z was susceptible to aerodynamic flutter at high speed. The 1932 R-1 and its sister ship, the R-2, were the successors of the previous year's Thompson Trophy-winning Model Z.

Legacy

Film of the crash of the Gee Bee Z has become some of the most well known footage from the era of air racing. The crash also helped to establish the reputation of Gee Bee racing aircraft as killers. The Super Sportster design would be refined into the

Gee Bee Model R 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. Design and deve ...

for the 1932 air race season. Two reproductions of the Gee Bee Z have been constructed. One, a faithful reproduction of the original aircraft, was constructed by Jeff Eicher and Kevin Kimball of

Mount Dora, Florida Mount Dora is a city in Lake County, Florida, US. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had a population of 12,370, and in 2019 the population was estimated to be 14,516. It is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan S ...

, and is housed in the

Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight is an aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. It opened in November 1995, to house Kermit Weeks' collection of aircraft that, until Hurricane Andrew damaged many in 1992, were housed at the Weeks Air Museum in Tamiami, Florida ...

museum in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

. The other, constructed by Bill Turner in 1978, features extended wings and fuselage for better flight characteristics. It appeared in 1991 as both a static and flying prop in the Walt Disney feature film ''

The Rocketeer The Rocketeer is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Pacific Comics. Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, the character first appeared in 1982 and is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes f ...

''; it is now on display at the

Museum of Flight The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, immediately south of Seattle.< ...

Tukwila, Washington Tukwila ( ) is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States, located immediately to the south of Seattle. The population was 21,798 at the 2020 census. Tukwila is a community of communities, with residents of many diverse origin ...

Specifications (Gee Bee Model Z Super Sportster)

Popular culture

Kermit Weeks Kermit Weeks (born July 14, 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration. Oil and ...

, founder of

, used a Gee Bee Model Z as his main character "Zee" in a series of children's books set around the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. "Historic racers inspire kids' books." ''Orlando Sentinel'' (Orlando, Florida), October 8, 2007, p. J1. A modified replica of the Gee Bee Model Z appeared in the 1991 Walt Disney feature film, ''

''.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bowers, Pete M. ''The Gee Bee Racers''. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1965. * Donald, David, ed. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. London: Orbis, 1997. .

External links

{{Granville Brothers aircraft Granville Brothers aircraft 1930s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Racing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931