Brown
Brown B-1 Racer
Photo: Robert Deering 11/17/2010
Wings Over Miami Museum
Miami Executive Airport (TMB)
Miami-Dade County, Florida

Brown B-1 Racer

The B-1 Racer was built in 1933 by the Brown Aircraft Co. of Montebello, California, which had been founded by Lawrence W. Brown, previously of Clover Field, Santa Monica, California.  The aircraft was designed by Dean Holloway and was intended for competitive flying at the hands of Ralph Bushey. The diminutive aircraft was a low-winged monoplane with an open single-person cockpit and a fixed tail-skid undercarriage.

Ralph Bushey raced the aircraft NR83Y in several prewar competitions in the United States, but the aircraft was damaged in a crash after the engine fell out whilst racing. It was rebuilt in 1947 with a removable closed cabin and powered by an 85 hp (63 kW) Continental C-85 engine.

The aircraft continued to compete as a "midget racer", named Suzie Jayne.

The B-1 was withdrawn from flying in the late 1940s and is currently owned by the Wings Over Miami aircraft museum and on public display at their exhibition hangar at Miami Executive Airport near Miami, Florida.

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 16 ft 0 in (4.88 m)
  • Wingspan: 18 ft 9 in (5.72 m)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Continental C-85, 85 hp (63 kW)

Source: Wikipedia 
Brown Aircraft

During 1926 Lawrence W. Brown established a small aircraft modification and design operation at Clover Field Santa Monica, California. His initial project was to modify a Thomas-Morse S-4 as a parasol monoplane with a 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5 engine. In 1929 he built a similar two-seat aircraft powered by a 260 h.p. Menasco-Salmson engine.

In 1931, Brown moved to Montebello, California and established the Brown Aircraft Co.. From 1933 he built a series of small low-wing racing monoplanes and these competed in the major air racing meetings held in the United States. Postwar he built the L-20 Brownie, a high-wing monoplane intended for operation by private pilots, but on Brown's death on 25 December 1945, the firm's activities ceased. The sole surviving original aircraft built by the firm is the Brown B-1 Racer, which is preserved in the Wings over Miami aircraft museum at Tamiami Airport near Miami.
B-1 Racer
1 built 1933, crashed but rebuilt in 1947 and preserved in the Wings over Miami aircraft museum at Tamiami Airport near Miami.
B-2 Racer "Miss Los Angeles"
1 built 1934, 160 hp (119 kW) Menasco B6 engine, raced by Roy Minor and Marion McKeen. Crashed 1938, it was restored with wider-span wings, but
destroyed in in a crash in 1939, pilot Lee Williams was killed.  A replica was built by Bill Turner, renowned replicator of Golden Age racers, and is currently part of the collection at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.
B-3
1 built built 1936, improved B-2 with closed cockpit and 290 hp (216 kW) Menasco D-6, maximum speed 225 mph.
B-3 Super Sport
1 built 1935 with two seats and supercharged Menasco engine, maximum speed 200 mph.
L-20 Brownie
1 built 1945. Single-seat open-cockpit high parasol-wing aircraft with 25 hp (19 kW) Haines M-2 pusher engine. Intended for use by private pilots. Development ceased after Brown's death.
Source: Wikipedia