Lowell Richard Bayles (January 24, 1900 - December 5, 1931) was an American air race and stunt pilot from the "Golden Age of Air Racing." He was the winner of the 1931 Thompson Trophy flying the

Gee Bee Model Z The Granville Gee Bee Model Z was an American racing aircraft of the 1930s, the first of the Super Sportster aircraft built by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts, with the sole intent of winning the Thompson Trophy, whic ...

. He was killed during an attempt at the landplane speed record when the Model Z he was flying crashed at over mph.

Early life

Bayles was born in

Mason, Illinois Mason is an incorporated town in Effingham County, Illinois, United States. The population was 345 at the 2010 census, down from 396 at the 2000 census. It was named after Roswell Mason, an official of the Illinois Central Railroad. Mason is pa ...

on January 24, 1900, the oldest child of Hattie and Rayford E. Bayles. He graduated from

Newton, Illinois Newton is a city in and the county seat of Jasper County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census, down from 3,069 at the 2000 census. Newton is home to a large coal-fired power plant operated by Illinois Power Gen ...

High School and attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in mining engineering, but was forced to leave due to eye trouble. He was working as an electrician in various mines around Illinois when he began taking flying lessons.

Flying

Bayles began taking flying lessons from a former

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

instructor pilot. He eventually bought a surplus

Curtiss Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

JN-4 Jenny The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...

The Jenny was lost when he stopped over in

Herrin, Illinois Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois. The population was 12,352 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and is a part of the Carbondale- Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area with 123,27 ...

during a gang war between Charlie Birger and the

Shelton Brothers Gang The Shelton Brothers Gang was an early Prohibition-era bootlegging gang based in southern Illinois. They were the main rivals of the famous bootlegger Charles Birger and his gang. In 1950, the '' Saturday Evening Post'' described the Sheltons ...

. Birger had been bombed from the air and he mistook Bayles' plane for the bomber and had the plane dynamited. After a stint back in the mines, Bayles began

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...

around the country. In 1928 he partnered with H. Roscoe Brinton starting a flying service in Springfield,

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. Due to the Great Depression, orders for aircraft had stopped and the

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 ...

Company saw the air racing circuit as a way to stay in business. To raise seed money for the air racing operation, the "Springfield Air Racing Association" (SARA) was formed. A group of local Springfield merchants and businessmen who sought to promote Springfield bought shares to fund creation of the racing planes. Bayles added $500 of his own money to be the pilot in the venture. Bayles flew the Gee Bee Model X in the Cirrus Derby in 1930, coming in second and sharing the $7000 purse with the Granvilles. In 1931, Bayles piloted a Gee Bee Model E Sportster in the

Ford National Reliability Air Tour The Ford Reliability Tour, properly called "The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy", was a series of aerial tours sponsored in part by Ford from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliability ...

, coming in fourth in the point standing and winning the Great Lakes Trophy for a total of $2000 in prize money. At the 1931 National Air Races, Bayles and the

, christened the "City of Springfield," cleaned up, first winning the $7500 Thompson Trophy prize with an average speed of , then the Shell Speed dash with an average of , breaking the speed record for the course, then won the Goodyear Trophy race with an average of .

Speed record and death

Bayles had failed to break the official 3 km World Landplane Speed Record at the 1931 National Air Races. 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 another world speed record 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 t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

."Gee Bee Model Z
"] ''Fantasy of Flight Air Museum''. Retrieved: May 26, 2010. On December 1, 1931 Lowell Bayles attempted the speed record again and made four passes at an average of , but did not surpass the old record by the required . On December 5, Bayles tried again, diving into the course from and leveling off at as rules allowed. Travelling over , from the ground, the Model Z suddenly pitched up, the right wing folded beyond the flying wire attachment point, most likely due to aileron flutter stressing the wing spar and causing it to fail. The plane crashed alongside a railroad track in a huge ball of flame and smoke. Lowell Bayles' body was thrown from the disintegrated plane. Analysis of the crash, based on motion picture film of the event examined frame-by-frame, showed that the aircraft's fuel cap had come loose and crashed through the Gee Bee Z's windscreen. It struck the pilot and incapacitated him, causing a sudden upset in pitch that led to the structural failure of the wing.Gee Bee Z
Air Racing History. Accessed 2010-05-26. In addition, tests of a reproduction aircraft have shown that the Gee Bee Z was susceptible to Aeroelasticity#Flutter, aerodynamic flutter at high speed. His fiancée, Gertrude St. Marie of Springfield, traveled to his hometown of

for his funeral, along with Mrs. Zantford Granville.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayles, Lowell Richard 1900 births 1931 deaths American air racers American aviation record holders Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Flight speed record holders Ford National Reliability Air Tour People from Effingham County, Illinois Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1931