Granville Brothers Aircraft

Granville Brothers Aircraft
Former type Aircraft Manufacturer
Fate Bankrupt
Founded 1925
Defunct 1933
Headquarters Springfield, Massachusetts
Key people Zantford, Thomas, Robert, Mark, and Edward Granville
Products Sportster Racers
Employees 12

Granville Brothers Aircraft was an aircraft manufacturer in operation from 1929 until its bankruptcy in 1934. The firm was located at the Springfield Airport in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Granville Brothers, Zantford, Thomas, Robert, Mark and Edward are best known for the production of the three Gee Bee Super Sportster air racers, the Models Z, R1 and R2, which are synonymous with the golden age of air racing.

Contents

Aircraft

The Granville Brothers built only 24 aircraft. Only two originals are known to exist.[1]

  1. Crashed February 1934, Z.D. Granville killed, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
  2. Crashed August 1932, Russell Boardman suffered a bad concussion
  3. Crashed February 14, 1931 airshow at Candler Field Atlanta. Johnny Kytle killed
  4. Destroyed in crash. The wing is at the EAA AirVenture Museum
  1. Warner radial, prop came apart and the plane spun in
  2. Lycoming test bed, later fitted with a Wright Whirlwind. Florence Klingensmith killed in 1933 National Air Races crash.

Replica and reproduction Gee Bee aircraft

In 1970 Ken Flaglor began building a reproduction of the Florence Klingensmith's Model Y. Completed in 1984, this reproduction is powered by a 300 horsepower Lycoming R-680. Jack Venaleck now owns this aircraft.

David Gouldsmith, owner of Golden Aviation in Cassville, Mo, completed another replica of the Model Y Senior Sportster in 2001. Powered by a 300 hp Jacobs R-755, the Gee Bee is currently kept in Monett, Missouri (M58).[5]

Another Menasco powered D Model should now be about completed by Al Lathum of Valdosta, Georgia, USA.[6]

Scott Crosby of Antelope, California and Jim Jenkins of Connecticut have built replica E Models. Crosby's aircraft crashed several times and was re-built prior to donation to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

Dennis Emms of Australia is building an E model reproduction.[7]

Gee Bee Model Z — Bill Turner made a close but not an exact replica, because it had a longer fuselage, longer wings, and 85 less horsepower. It was completed and flown on November 25, 1978. This aircraft was ultimately purchased by the Disney Corporation and was used in the movie The Rocketeer. In the movie, the Gee Bee Z appears with the same paint scheme and tail number "NR77V" as the original. It is now on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

An exact reproduction Gee Bee Z has been completed by Jim Kimball Enterprises and is on display at Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Florida.

The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio has an R-1 replica, although not currently on display.

The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut has a R-1 replica built with much assistance from the surviving Granvilles and Pete Miller, possibly qualifying as a replica aircraft, since people working for the original Gee Bee firm helped in its construction.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Museum of Springfield History has a non-flying, full scale fiberglass reproduction of the Gee Bee R-1 hanging in the atrium.[8]

The most famous flying reproduction of any of the Super Sportsters was the Gee Bee R2 example built by Delmar Benjamin and Steve Wolf, which was test flown December 23, 1991. After being flown for many years, the plane was retired to Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida alongside the Model Z reproduction.

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is nearing completion of a Gee Bee R1, using original plans supplied by the Granville family. The plans were supplied under the agreement that the aircraft will never be flown or sold. Craftsmen working on the aircraft say it will be the most exact R1 Super Sportster reproduction in existence when finished.

References

Notes
  1. ^ Graves, Darrell and Scott Brener. "The Granville Brothers Gee Bee." breners@aeroinc.com, D&C Aviation Limited, 1998. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.
  2. ^ "New England Air Museum - Aircraft Profile." New England Air Museum. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.
  3. ^ "Local Flier Killed in Crash at Detroit." Springfield Daily News, December 5, 1931. Retrieved: December 26, 2008.
  4. ^ "The Gee Bee Sportsters - Holcomb's Aerodrome" The Gee Bee Sportsters - Holcomb's Aerodrome. Retrieved: October 22, 2009.
  5. ^ "Model Y Senior Sportster." goldenaviation.com. Retrieved: August 30, 2010.
  6. ^ Graves, Darrell and Scott Brener. "Gee Bee D Model." breners@aeroinc.com, D&C Aviation Limited, 1998. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.
  7. ^ "Dennis Emms Gee Bee "E" Model Project." rotecradialengines.com, Rotec Engineering. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.
  8. ^ "Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History."springfieldmuseums.org. Retrieved: August 30, 2010.
Bibliography
  • Benjamin, Delmar and Steve Wolf. Gee Bee. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Co., 1993. ISBN 0-87938-820-X.
  • Bowers, Pete M. The Gee Bee Racers — Number 51. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1965.
  • Granville, J.I. Farmers Take Flight. Springfield, Massachusetts: Copy Cat Print Shop, 2000. ISBN 0-9702493-1-4.
  • Haffke, Henry A. Gee Bee: The Real Story of the Granville Brothers and Their Marvelous Airplanes.Colorado Springs, Colorado: VIP Publishers, Inc., 1989. ISBN 0-934575-04-5.
  • Mendenhall, Charles A. and Tom Murphy. The Gee Bee Racers: A Legacy of Speed. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 1994. ISBN 0-933424-05-1.
  • Schmid, S.H. and Truman C. Weaver. The Golden Age of Air Racing: Pre-1940, 2nd rev. edition (EAA Historical Series). Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Co., 1991. ISBN 0-940000-00-8.
  • Those Incredible Gee Bees (VHS 60 min). Springfield, Massachusetts: Studio 16, 1992.

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