GeeBee R-1 - 1/20 scale model Review
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GeeBee R-1 - 1/20 scale model Feature
- Handcarved Mahogany Wood Model Airplane
- Handcrafted and Handpainted
- Comes with base stand ready to display
- Comes with base stand ready for display
GeeBee R-1 - 1/20 scale model Discription
The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster (also known as the GB Sportster), sometimes nicknamed The Flying Silo due to the short, fat fuselage resembling that type of farm storage building, was a special purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts. Gee Bee stands for Granville Brothers.
The 1932 R-1 and its sister ship, the R-2, were the successors of the previous year's Thompson Trophy-winning Model Z. It was suspected by a few that the Model Z's crash during a speed run in December 1931 was due to an unexpected failure of the gasoline tank cap, which may have been ripped off of the fuel tank filler tube by the aerodynamic boundary layer of air immediately over the surface of the airplane's fuselage, resulting in the now-airborne gas cap smashing into the pilot's face. A bullet-proof windscreen and internal fuel caps were part of the new design. Chief engineer Howell 'Pete' Miller and Zantford 'Granny' Granville spent three days of wind tunnel testing at NYU with aeronautical engineering professor Alexander Klemin. The aircraft had a very peculiar design. Granny reasoned that a teardrop-shaped fuselage would have lower drag than a straight-tapered one, so the fuselage was wider than the engine at its widest point (at the wing attachment point). The cockpit was located very far aft, just in front of the vertical stabilizer, in order to give the racing pilot better vision while making crowded pylon turns. In addition, it turned out that the fuselage acted as an airfoil, just like the 'lifting-body' designs of the 1960s. This allowed the plane to make tight 'knife-edge' turns without losing altitude. It was, in effect, a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine with wings and a tail on it.
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