Mick
April 28th, 2009, 13:34
I just uploaded the Granville Brothers Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster at FlightSim; apparently uploads aren't yet possible here yet.
Two Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportsters were built in late 1930.
NX11049, later NR11049, was built for the famous aviatrix and race pilot Maude Tait. Tait's father and uncle owned Springfield (Mass.) Airport and were the Granvilles' landlords, as well as major investors in Granville Bros. Aircraft Inc. Consequently, Maude's Senior was treated like a company plane. The Granvilles and their employees flew it regularly for business and personal use, and it was raced to show the company colors and earn some badly needed cash for the company. Zantford "Granny" Granville and Russell Boardman were among the pilots who raced 11049 along with Maude Tait.
The Granvilles made so much use of 11049 that some sources mistakenly identify it as Zantford Granville's personal plane. This plane had the longest and most successful racing career of any Gee Bee, earning more prize money than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters.
Eventually the first Model Y was sold. Its new owner was flying over the ocean off of New York City when the prop threw a blade, the resulting vibration ripped the engine from its mounts and 11049 flat spun into the Atlantic.
X718Y, later NR718Y, was built for the E.L Cord Corporation of automotive fame as a test bed for it's Lycoming aircraft engine division. Later it was sold to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing. At first he replaced the Lycoming R-680 with a 300 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. Later he installed a bigger Wasp of 425 hp , fully faired the landing gear legs like those of 11049, replaced the windscreen with a longer, more streamlined one, and apparently stripped and permanently sealed the front cockpit.
The Model Y had been designed for no more than 250 hp, and Knapp's modifications didn't include any structural strengthening. When the Granvilles heard about the modifications they contacted Knapp and told him the plane was unsafe, but Knapp was unresponsive. Florence Klingensmith won second place in the Women's Free-For-All at the 1933 Chicago International Races in the modified plane, but in the Phillips Trophy Race the fabric began to peel off of the right wing. 718Y crashed and Klingensmith was killed.
Both Seniors are depicted in the package, each in both touring (2-seat) and racing (1-seat) configurations. The second Model Y is modeled in both its original and first modified configurations. We decided not to model the final configuration because it was a hacked up deathtrap, far removed from the outstanding plane the Granvilles designed and built.
The first Senior Sportster is painted three ways, illustrating three slightly different variations on its colors and markings as they changed during its career with the Taits and Granvilles. The first paint depicts 11049 as delivered, registered as X11049 and without race numbers. On the fuselage is the Faloola Bird, a comic character noted for its song, "GeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBee..."
Not long after delivery the registration prefix changed from X (for eXperimental) to R (for Restricted); the N (for UNited States) was added when the new prefix was painted on the plane. Around this time the plane acquired race number 54 on the fuselage and wings. At some point later in its career 11049's white cowling was painted red. We've painted NR11049 both ways, with a white cowl and a red one.
718Y differed from 11049 in having a full NACA cowling instead of 11049's Townsend ring, and in having individually faired landing gear legs, unlike the fully-faired installation of the first Senior.
The plane is depicted as built, registered X718Y, with a smooth cowling over a Lycoming R-680 engine, and as first modified, registered NR718Y, race number 7, with rocker arm bulges on a bigger cowling covering a 300 hp P&W Wasp Jr.
Here's one of the Seniors:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/mm99/Misc/GBYbig.jpg
Two Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportsters were built in late 1930.
NX11049, later NR11049, was built for the famous aviatrix and race pilot Maude Tait. Tait's father and uncle owned Springfield (Mass.) Airport and were the Granvilles' landlords, as well as major investors in Granville Bros. Aircraft Inc. Consequently, Maude's Senior was treated like a company plane. The Granvilles and their employees flew it regularly for business and personal use, and it was raced to show the company colors and earn some badly needed cash for the company. Zantford "Granny" Granville and Russell Boardman were among the pilots who raced 11049 along with Maude Tait.
The Granvilles made so much use of 11049 that some sources mistakenly identify it as Zantford Granville's personal plane. This plane had the longest and most successful racing career of any Gee Bee, earning more prize money than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters.
Eventually the first Model Y was sold. Its new owner was flying over the ocean off of New York City when the prop threw a blade, the resulting vibration ripped the engine from its mounts and 11049 flat spun into the Atlantic.
X718Y, later NR718Y, was built for the E.L Cord Corporation of automotive fame as a test bed for it's Lycoming aircraft engine division. Later it was sold to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing. At first he replaced the Lycoming R-680 with a 300 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. Later he installed a bigger Wasp of 425 hp , fully faired the landing gear legs like those of 11049, replaced the windscreen with a longer, more streamlined one, and apparently stripped and permanently sealed the front cockpit.
The Model Y had been designed for no more than 250 hp, and Knapp's modifications didn't include any structural strengthening. When the Granvilles heard about the modifications they contacted Knapp and told him the plane was unsafe, but Knapp was unresponsive. Florence Klingensmith won second place in the Women's Free-For-All at the 1933 Chicago International Races in the modified plane, but in the Phillips Trophy Race the fabric began to peel off of the right wing. 718Y crashed and Klingensmith was killed.
Both Seniors are depicted in the package, each in both touring (2-seat) and racing (1-seat) configurations. The second Model Y is modeled in both its original and first modified configurations. We decided not to model the final configuration because it was a hacked up deathtrap, far removed from the outstanding plane the Granvilles designed and built.
The first Senior Sportster is painted three ways, illustrating three slightly different variations on its colors and markings as they changed during its career with the Taits and Granvilles. The first paint depicts 11049 as delivered, registered as X11049 and without race numbers. On the fuselage is the Faloola Bird, a comic character noted for its song, "GeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBee..."
Not long after delivery the registration prefix changed from X (for eXperimental) to R (for Restricted); the N (for UNited States) was added when the new prefix was painted on the plane. Around this time the plane acquired race number 54 on the fuselage and wings. At some point later in its career 11049's white cowling was painted red. We've painted NR11049 both ways, with a white cowl and a red one.
718Y differed from 11049 in having a full NACA cowling instead of 11049's Townsend ring, and in having individually faired landing gear legs, unlike the fully-faired installation of the first Senior.
The plane is depicted as built, registered X718Y, with a smooth cowling over a Lycoming R-680 engine, and as first modified, registered NR718Y, race number 7, with rocker arm bulges on a bigger cowling covering a 300 hp P&W Wasp Jr.
Here's one of the Seniors:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/mm99/Misc/GBYbig.jpg