Travel Air | ||||||||||
Type R
Mystery Ship |
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Photo: Robert
Deering 8/20/2014 "Texaco No.13" Museum of Science & Industry Chicago, Illinois |
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The Type R "Mystery Ships" were a series of
wire-braced, low-wing racing airplanes built
by the Travel Air Company in the late 1920s
and early 1930s. They were so called,
because the first three aircraft of the
series (R614K, R613K, B11D) were built
entirely in secrecy.
In total, five Type Rs were built and flown by some of the
most notable flyers of the day, including
Jimmy Doolittle, Doug Davis, Frank Hawks,
and Pancho Barnes, not only in races but
also at air shows across the United States,
and most notably, by Hawks in Europe. |
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Design and Development
The environment
in air racing at the time was one of give
and take with the military. A civilian
designer would take an existing aircraft
design, modify it for greater speed and
enter it in the race. Since the military
already had access to the fastest and most
advanced aircraft available, it was simply a
matter of upping the horsepower on whatever
aircraft they were using and the problem was
solved. This led to the military completely
dominating the air racing scene. In an
effort to combat this, two Travel Air
designers; Herb Rawdon and Walter Burnham
undertook proving that a civilian aircraft
built from scratch and designed exclusively
for racing (as opposed to combat or
passenger/mail service) could out-fly the
military.
Under
construction during 1928, the aircraft was
kept under cover prior to the 1929 Cleveland
Air Races, with the builders even going so
far painting the windows on the factory to
keep the curious press from getting a look
at it. The local Wichita paper picked up on
the secret program, with one reporter even
going so far as to scale a ladder to try to
peek into the vents in the factory roof. The
paper dubbed it the "Mystery Ship" and the
name stuck with R (for Rawdon) added. Rawdon
and Burnham both knew that to approach
Travel Air CEO Walter Beech would be
fruitless, unless they hit him with the idea
just before the air racing season began, so
they designed the aircraft in their spare
time, without pay until they could get Beech
to agree to build the type.
During an era
when biplanes were still common, the use of
a monoplane planform, a NACA engine cowl,
and large wheel pants significantly reduced
aerodynamic drag, creating a streamlined
design. Construction of the fuselage and
wings was based on a plywood structure with
the thin wings braced with wires. The sleek,
polished fuselage continued the shape and
width of the cowl throughout, with the
cockpit featuring a small windshield, set
nearly flush with the skin. A turtle deck
extended from the cockpit to the vertical
tail creating a fairing for the helmeted
head of the pilot.
The first
"Mystery Ship", NR614K (Race No. 31), was
designed for both closed course and long
distance racing. NR614K had two sets of
wings, a shorter set of racing wings, about
one and one half foot (.46m) shorter in span
and three inches (7.62 cm) narrower in chord
than the set used for cross country events.
R614K was destroyed when it caught fire
before the 1931 Thompson Trophy race. The
original long wings and tail now reside at
the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tennessee
and are on display at the museum.
The second Type R, NR-613K (Race No. 32) (called the
"Mystery S") powered by a six-cylinder D-6
Chevrolair, manufactured by Arthur Chevrolet
Aviation Motors Corporation of Indianapolis,
Indiana. The six-cylinder air-cooled,
inverted inline engine developed 165 hp at
2,175 rpm, and powered NR-613K to a win in
the Experimental class at the 1929 National
Air Races. NR-613K was later converted back
to a radial-engined version by Florence
"Pancho" Barnes. Paul Mantz later purchased
the aircraft and used it extensively in film
work. Years later, Barnes bought it back in
an auction where other pilots made sure
nobody bid against her. It is currently
undergoing restoration in the UK.
The third Mystery Ship, NR-482N (Race No. 35), was
purchased by Shell for the use of Jimmy
Hazlip and Jimmy Doolittle. NR-614K's short
wings were later purchased by Shell and were
used, as required, on Doolittle's Race No.
400. NR-482N also crashed and was a complete
loss.
The fourth Type R, NR-1313, purchased by the Texaco
Company for Frank Hawks as "Texaco 13"
became the most famous of the series,
setting numerous long distance records both
in the United States and internationally.
"Texaco 13" is now displayed at the Museum
of Science and Industry in Chicago.
A fifth Type R, 11717/MM185, was built at the request of
the Italian government several years after
the rest, after Hawks toured the European
continent. After factory construction and
testing, it was subsequently disassembled,
shipped by boat to Italy and served as the
basis for the Breda Ba.27 fighter.
It was later scrapped. The last Type
R was built by Travel Air after it had been
absorbed by Curtiss-Wright. |
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Racing
The Model R
series set numerous speed records for both
pylon racing and cross country flying, and
were the most advanced aircraft of the day,
by far outpacing anything that even the
military could offer. On September 2, 1929,
Doug Davis entered the "Mystery Ship" in the
Thompson Cup Race. Davis won at a speed of
194.9 mph (one lap flown at 208.69 mph),
beating the military entries, even
recircling one of the pylons. This was the
first time in the history of air racing that
a civilian racer had outperformed a military
aircraft. |
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