Gee Bee Model R

Gee Bee Model R
Country	USA
Role	Air racing
First flight	13 August 1932
Built	Unknow

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.

Source: Gee Bee Model R on Wikipedia

Gee Bee R-2 Walk Around
Photographer	Vladimir Yakubov
Localisation	Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, FL
Photos	78

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Gee Bee R-2 08

Gee Bee R-2 09

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Gee Bee Model R Walk Around
Photographer	Unknow
Localisation	Unknow
Photos	23

Gee Bee Model R 02

Gee Bee Model R 01

Gee Bee Model R 03

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Gee Bee Model R 08

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General Characteristics

The Gee Bee Model R was a radical, high-performance racing aircraft designed and built by the Granville Brothers in 1932 for the prestigious US air race circuit. Its design was purely focused on minimizing drag to achieve maximum speed, resulting in an unusual and notoriously dangerous appearance and handling.

Property	Value (R-1 Super Sportster)
Role	Pylon/Speed Racing Aircraft
Manufacturer	Granville Brothers Aircraft
First Flight	August 13, 1932
Crew	1 pilot
Configuration	Low-wing monoplane, fixed gear
Length	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Wingspan	7.62 m (25 ft 0 in)

Design and Powerplant

Engine: One Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp Senior air-cooled 9-cylinder radial engine.
Power Output: Approximately 596 kW (800 hp).
Fuselage Design: Featured a barrel-shaped, teardrop fuselage that was wider than the engine at its broadest point (at the wing root). This was done to achieve a near-perfect teardrop shape, minimizing drag.
Cockpit Placement: The cockpit was located extremely far aft, just in front of the vertical stabilizer. This placement was intended to give the pilot better vision while making crowded pylon turns, but severely restricted forward visibility during landing and taxiing.
Variants: The R-1 was built for short-distance pylon racing (Thompson Trophy), while the similar R-2 was intended for longer cross-country races (Bendix Trophy) with a slightly smaller engine (R-985, 550 hp) and a larger fuel capacity.

Performance and History

Maximum Speed: Up to 474 km/h (294 mph).
World Record: Piloted by the famous aviator Jimmy Doolittle, the R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy race and set a new world landplane speed record of 296 mph (476 km/h) at the Shell Speed Dash.
Flight Characteristics: The short, massive fuselage and small wing area made the aircraft extremely unstable and prone to torque rolling at slow speeds, demanding exceptional piloting skill. Its stall speed was dangerously high (around 90 mph).
Safety Record: Despite its performance, the Gee Bee Model R quickly earned a reputation as a highly dangerous aircraft, and both the R-1 and R-2 were destroyed in fatal crashes in 1933. No original examples survive today, though several flying replicas exist.