Granville Brothers Aircraft

Granville Brothers Aircraft was an aircraft manufacturer in operation from 1929 until their bankruptcy in 1934. They were 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. .

Aircraft

The Granville Brothers built only 24 aircraft. Only three originals are known to exist.

*Model A biplane (nine built, two exist)
*Model X Sportster flown in the Cirrus Derby (one built, crashed September 1931)
*Model B Sportster with a Warner radial engine (one built, rumored to have been used in the Spanish Civil War, still flying in late 1940s in Spain)
*Model C Sportster, Menasco inline engine (one built, destroyed at an air show crash)
*Model D Sportster with in-line Menasco Engine (one built, crashed July 1936, pilot Channing Seabury killed bailing out)
*Model E Sportsters with Warner radial engine (four built, all destroyed)
# Crashed February 1934, ZD Granville killed.
# Crashed August 1932, Russell Boardman suffered a bad concussion
# Crashed February 1931, Johnny Kytle killed
# Destroyed in crash
*Model Y Senior Sportster, (two built, both destroyed)
# Warner radial, prop came apart and the plane spun in
# Lycoming test bed, later fitted with a Wright Whirlwind. Florence Klingensmith killed in 1933 National Air Races crash.
*Model Z Super Sportster - Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered (one built, destroyed 5 December 1931, Lowell Bayles killed}
*Model R-1 Super Sportster- Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered (one built, destroyed 1 July 1933, Russell Boardman killed)
*Model R-2 Super Sportster- Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered (one built, destroyed late 1933, Jimmy Haizlip injured)
*Model R-1/2 Super Sportster- Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered, built from remains of the R1 and R2 (one built, destroyed 1935, Cecil Allen killed)
*Gee Bee QED- Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered (one built, crashed 7 June 1939, Francisco Sarabia killed, plane rebuilt and retired to a museum in Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico)

Replica Gee Bees

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

Another Menasco powered D Model should now be about completed by Al Lathum of Valdosta, Georgia, USA. [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/geebeey.html] Scott Crosby of Antelope, California and Jim Jenkins of Connecticut have built replica E Models.

Dennis Emms of Australia is building an E model replica. [http://www.rotecradialengines.com/customers/DennisEmms.htm]

Gee Bee Model Z - Bill Turner made a close but not an exact replica because it had a longer fuselage, longer wings, and 85 fewer hp. It was completed and flown on 25 November 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 replica 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, Ct has a R-1 replica built with a lot of assistance from the surviving Granvilles and Pete Miller.

The Springfield, Massachusetts visitors center, near the Basketball Hall of Fame, has a non-flying, full scale fiberglass replica of the Gee Bee R-1 hanging in the atrium.

Delmar Benjamin and Steve Wolf had built a Gee Bee R2 replica which was test flown 23 December 1991. After being flown for many years, the plane was retired to Kermit Weeks Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Florida alongside the Model Z replica.

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 replica in existence when finished.

References

* Benjamin, Delmar and Steve Wolf. "Gee Bee". Osceola, WI: 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, MA: 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". 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, MN: Specialty, 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, WI: MBI Publishing Co., 1991. ISBN 0-940000-00-8.
* "Those Incredible Gee Bees" (VHS 60 min). Springfield, MA: Studio 16, 1992.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/index3.html The Granville Brothers Gee Bee]
* [http://www.fantasyofflight.com/aircraftpages/geebee.htm The Fantasy of Flight Museum's Model Z replica]
* [http://neam.org/inventory/airprofile.asp?ID=45 New England Air Museum's Gee Bee Model A biplane]
* [http://neam.org/inventory/airprofile.asp?ID=46 New England Air Museum's Model R-1 replica]
* [http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/briefs/186560-1.html News item about Benjamin's donation of his R-2 reproduction to the mentioned Florida aviation museum.]
* [http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww15/s/1724/3_p Profiles of Gee Bee Aircraft]