Granville Brothers
Model Z Super Sportster
Photo: Robert Deering 9/3/2011
Museum of Flight
Seattle, Washington
Gee Bee Model Z Super Sportster

The Model Z was built to win the 1931 Thompson Trophy Race at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio. With a big engine incorporated into the smallest possible airframe the plane was fast, but tricky to fly. During the Shell Speed Dash, the Z set the world record for the fastest speed ever recorded by a land plane -- an average of 267.342 miles per hour. Refitted with a bigger engine, the Z began flying at speeds over 280 miles per hour by December. But during one high-speed run at 150 feet, the Z's right wing failed and the racer crashed in a massive fireball -- killing pilot Lowell Bayles.

The Museum's Gee Bee is a reproduction of the original but is not exact in every way. In 1978, Bill Turner built the plane to fly -- and fly much safer than the hot-rod original. This plane has slightly longer wings and fuselage and less-powerful engine to make it easier to control. The plane was purchased by the Disney Corporation and appeared in the 1991 movie The Rocketeer. The Gee Bee was on display at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying before it was purchased by The Museum of Flight.

Source: Museum of Flight

Granville Brothers Aircraft

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.

The Granville Brothers built only 24 aircraft. Only two original aircraft are known to exist.

  • Model A biplane (nine built, 2 survive, one at the New England Air Museum).
  • Model X Sportster flown in the Cirrus Derby (one built, crashed September 1931, Roscoe Brinton bailed out.)
  • 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 in Jersey City, New Jersey October 25, 1931, killing Harry E.R. Hall)
  • 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)
  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
  • Model Y Senior Sportster, (two built, both destroyed)
  1. Warner radial, prop came apart and the aircraft spun in.
  2. 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, 1931 Thompson Trophy winner (one built, destroyed December 5, 1931, Lowell Bayles killed.  Reproduction on display at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington). 
  • Model R-1 Super Sportster — Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered, 1932 Thompson Trophy and Shell Speed Dash winner, Jimmy Doolittle pilot. (one built, destroyed July 1, 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 Model Q — Aeronca powered tractor canard built to test configuration (one built, crashed 24 December 1931, Mark Granville injured)
  • Gee Bee Q.E.D. — Pratt & Whitney "Wasp" powered (one built, crashed June 7, 1939, Francisco Sarabia killed, aircraft rebuilt and retired to a museum in Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico)

Source: Wikipedia