Granville Gee Bee Z40
| Granville Gee Bee Z40 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Racing plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Granville Brothers Aircraft |
| First flight: |
August 22, 1931 |
The Granville Gee Bee Z40 was an aircraft produced by the five-brother US aircraft manufacturer Granville Brothers Aircraft .
history
The aircraft flew for the first time on August 22, 1931, with designer Robert Hall at the controls. In 1931 it won the Thompson Trophy race .
The company took this as an opportunity to attack the world speed record with a now 700 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 . On November 30, 1931, 452 km / h could be achieved, but this attempt was not recognized due to irregularities in the timing. During a new attempt on December 5, 1931, the wing structure failed at a low altitude. In the crash, the pilot Lowell Bayles lost his life. The cause of the crash could not be conclusively determined.
construction
The Z40, like the other aircraft built by Granville, was a single-seat, single-engine, braced low- wing aircraft with a fixed, disguised tail landing gear that was specially built for speed races. The fuselage and tail consisted of a welded tubular steel frame, while the wings were made of wood. The clumsy shape of the fuselage was striking, the diameter of which, due to the built-in engine, was 1.12 meters and a length of only 4.57 meters. In addition, there was the cockpit, which was moved far back to directly in front of the vertical tail fin. A 535 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 star engine, which was covered with a NACA hood , served as the drive .
Replica
In 1978 Bill Turner built a flyable replica of the Z40. Small changes to the fuselage and wings should improve the explosive flight behavior of the otherwise faithful replica. In 1991 Turner's Z40 was used in the Disney film Rocketeer . After being exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying , it is currently owned by the Museum of Flight in Seattle .
Technical specifications
| Parameter | original | replica |
|---|---|---|
| length | 4.50 m | 4.60 m |
| span | 7.16 m | 7.77 m |
| height | 1.64 m | 2.13 m |
| Wing area | 6.69 m² | 6.97 m² |
| Wing extension | 7.7 | 8.7 |
| Empty mass | 636 kg | 635.04 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 1439 kg | 1034.21 kg |
| Top speed | 452 km / h | 434.43 km / h |
| Cruising speed | 370.07 km / h | |
| Range | 1609 km | |
| Engine | a Pratt & Whitney R-985, 535 PS (approx. 390 kW) | |
See also
- List of aircraft types
- Gee Bee R-1 (successor model)
literature
- Erich H. Heimann: The fastest aircraft in the world. 1906 until today. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-540-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Museum of Flight, Seattle: Granville Brothers Gee Bee Z "City of Springfield," Retrieved October 25, 2009