ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2019 - 39

Commerce. One of the new engineers
was Bob Hall - more about him later.

National Air Races
In those days, dozens of air rallies and
races could be found all across the
country. One of the most spectacular
events was the first National Air
Races, held in Cleveland and spread
over 10 days in the summer of 1929.
Charles Lindbergh, who had crossed
the Atlantic solo two years prior, flew
in. It was estimated that more than
100,000 spectators were at the airport
on opening day.
Every day there were closedcourse pylon races for different
aircraft categories, and on different
days, cross-country races took off
from cities as far away as Santa
Monica, California, and crossed the
finish lines at Cleveland. Major events
for prestigious races were the Bendix
Trophy for cross-country races, the
Thompson Trophy for pylon races and
even the "Powder Puff Derby" for the
ladies flying in from California. Amelia
Earhart, who was the first woman to
cross the Atlantic the year before as
part of a crew of three, finished third
in her first attempt at competitive air
racing. Cash prices were doled out to
the winners.
All of this, of course, was about
two months before the stock market
crash and the beginning of the Great
Depression. This took its toll on the
new airplane market, and sales were
almost impossible. In total, only eight
Model A biplanes were manufactured
and sold.

Another Beginning:
The Cirrus Derby
Rescue arrived in the mail in the
spring of 1930. It was an invitation to
take part in the All American Flying
Derby sponsored by American Cirrus
Engines Inc. of Detroit. This was
purported to be the longest air race
ever, spanning about 5,540 miles

There were 18 aircraft lined up on Race Day, 21
July 1930, and the Model X Sportster won second place,
fetching $7,000 (worth about $102,000 in 2019 dollars).
Lowell Bayles and Zantford Granville divided the winnings.
beginning in Detroit, going east to New
York, south to Houston, then west to
Los Angeles and ending back in Detroit
12 days later. The purse was $15,000
for first prize, $7,000 for second and
$3,000 for third. It would be a test of
reliability and endurance of men and
their machines.
The Granville brothers immediately
designed and built a new aircraft. It
would be a low-wing monoplane with a
single open cockpit named the Gee Bee
Model X Sportster. In the race it was
flown by Lowell Bayles, an experienced
pilot who owned an aviation business in
the nearby Agawam airport a few miles
from the Springfield airport.

There were 18 aircraft lined up on
Race Day, 21 July 1930, and the Model
X Sportster won second place, fetching
$7,000 (worth about $102,000 in 2019
dollars). Lowell Bayles and Zantford
Granville divided the winnings. Later,
since Bayles loved the Model X so
much, he used some of his winnings
to buy it from Granny. The brothers
went on to build and sell 11 Model X
Sportster variants B, C, D and E.
Later that year, the National
Air Races moved from Cleveland to
Chicago. The Granville Brothers had
a small representation there, and the
Sportsters racked up several victories
for their owners. It seemed that the big

LEFT: Jimmy Doolittle, flying the Gee Bee
Model R-1 Racer, wins the Thompson
Trophy in the 1932 National Air Races in
Cleveland, Ohio.

RIGHT: A replica of the Gee Bee
Super Sportster Model Z flown
in the 1931 Cleveland races on
display at the Fantasy of Flight
Museum in Polk City, Florida.

LEFT: Granville Brothers'
first racer, the Gee Bee Model
X Sportster, won second
place in the 1930 coast-tocoast and back cross-country
Cirrus Derby.
Jetrader

* A U T U M N 2 0 19 * 3 9
ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2019
