• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Gee Bee Roadster [The airplane, not the band]

Share this page

coldplugs

coldplugs

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
I have some old Gee Bee (Granville Bros.) stuff I was thinking of selling on eBay, was doing some research, and turned this up.

https://stores.ebay.com/Spudmans-HotAutoWeb

Take a look at the Gee Bee roadster, currently at the top of this list and being sold on eBay. It won't mean much if you're not familar with the planes but somehow it strikes a chord - at least the paint job does.

(Nial - it'd be a great paint scheme for your racecar).
 
That Ford roadster is the bee's knees....very cool.

I've actually seen Delmar Benjamin fly the Gee Bee R2 replica that he built (saw him at the Sussex Airshow here in NJ, about 10 years ago).
It's really something "in the flesh"....like a little red and white whale with wings. Supposedly a "widowmaker", but ol' Delmar is still flying it, so I guess not. The red and white paint scheme is very "period" in a cool way. So is "the pilot's door".
geebee.jpg
 
That thing's always reminded me of a bumblebee - never knew how it flew!
 
I saw a special on Fox the other night about the Dolitle Raiders. I am pretty sure they showed a clip of Jimmy racing one of those bad boys before the war.
 
Yeah, I believe Doolittle set or broke a bunch of airspeed and time records throughout the 20's. He won the Schneider cup in 1925 I think for seaplane racing. Pretty incredible guy, he held both an MS and a PhD from MIT in aeronautical engineering. He also broke both ankles in an airplane accident and went on to fly aerobatic routines with both ankles in casts. His military career is legendary, but he did equally incredible things outside the air corp.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...
I've actually seen Delmar Benjamin fly the Gee Bee R2 replica that he built (saw him at the Sussex Airshow here in NJ, about 10 years ago)...

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that the replica that lives at the air museum at Bradley Field between Hartford & Springfield?
 
I keep a photo of the replica flying at an airshow in Frederick Maryland on my tool box. I am a huge fan of Gbs in general. They remind me of E types, the minimun airframe to hold up the engine.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Including the first "blind", instrument-only landing ever recorded. At the old Mitchell Field in Boonton, NJ about 5 miles from where I am right now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, they talked about that also on the Foxnews special. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...
I've actually seen Delmar Benjamin fly the Gee Bee R2 replica that he built (saw him at the Sussex Airshow here in NJ, about 10 years ago)...

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that the replica that lives at the air museum at Bradley Field between Hartford & Springfield?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a different replica (but very similar in appearance).
 
I've flown R/C models of the R-2, and it's an airbrake with a propeller. On landing it, you have to keep the throttle up, ir ot just about stops, then falls from the sky /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif Kinda twitchy too, (thank the electronics guru's for exponential controls).

Love the paintjob on that ford roadster though! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
but ol' Delmar is still flying it, so I guess not. The red and white paint scheme is very "period" in a cool way. So is "the pilot's door".

[/ QUOTE ]

Just FYI: Delmar stopped flying the Gee Bee R2 in 2004 and trucked it to its new home at the Fantasy of Flight museum in Polk City FL.
 
Back
Top