The Racer’s Edge, Part One

Walter H. Beech possessed a highly competitive spirit that drove him to win, and never was that passion expressed more fully than during his early days competing in air races and aerial exhibitions.

Suddenly, the starter’s flag dropped and the race began. One after another the pilots shoved throttles all the way forward. In just seconds, the closely-packed swarm of flying machines was airborne and headed for the first turn pylon one mile away. As the large crowd of spectators cheered for their favorite aviator, to their amazement they saw one airplane still sitting at the starting line. It was the Travel Air Special. The biplane’s pilot, a young aviator from Wichita, Kansas, named Walter Beech, had asked race officials if he could takeoff last. Despite being puzzled at such a bizarre request, they granted his wish.

As the flock of airplanes rounded the pylon, Beech gave the engine of his eager steed full throttle, and 160 horsepower quickly thrust the biplane into the air. His competitors had a large lead over Beech, but that is exactly what he wanted. With a 100 mph wind whipping his cheeks as he rounded the first pylon alone, Walter kept his eyes on the scattered formation of ships far in front of him. In keeping with his race strategy, Beech eased back on the throttle so the Special would hold its position in last place.

The first lap of the 50-mile event passed quickly, then the fifth and then the tenth. By the 15th lap, Beech had caught up with the slower airplanes and, despite having throttled back a little more on the previous lap, was slowly gaining on the race leaders. With only a few laps remaining, Walter eased the throttle forward as the black and gold Travel Air quickly passed one competitor and then another. By now the excited crowds were on their feet as they watched Beech close in on the front runners. He eyed the next victim, added a little more power, and took over third place. None of his competitors thought the Travel Air would be so fast! As the final lap began, Beech decided the time had come to demonstrate the Special’s superiority over the other entrants. He gave the Curtiss C6A engine full throttle and the biplane easily overtook the leader and soon left the pack in its wake. Just as he had planned it, Walter flew the final lap all alone and took the checkered flag after completing the race in 29:26.

When the Tulsa Air meet ended on September 6, 1925, Beech and other pilots from the Travel Air Manufacturing Company including Clyde Cessna, Lloyd Stearman and Mac Short, had collected five highly polished trophies – three for first place victories and two for second place. The six-day event was sponsored by the Tulsa Daily World newspaper and was well attended by the local population. Although Beech did the majority of flying, it was the Special that stole the show. It had easily beaten the other airplanes, including the biplanes entered by one of Travel Air’s chief manufacturing competitors, Waco (Weaver Aircraft Com-pany) based in Ohio. Back in July, Stearman and Short had approached Beech about building a “speed ship” that would be capable of at least 120 mph. Walter soon became excited about the proposal and enthusiastically gave his consent to design and build the airplane. Beech knew that in the infant airplane business, speed was paramount. It slashed long-distance travel times to hours instead of days, it was aviation’s greatest asset, but above all, speed sold airplanes.

By 1925 Walter Beech was no stranger to air racing and exhibition flying. By July 1921, when he went to work for the E.M. Laird Company in Wichita, Beech had accumulated about 200 hours in the air since learning to fly in 1919.¹ After serving in United States Army Signal Corps during World War I as an aircraft engine mechanic at Rich Field near Waco, Texas, Walter was put on the company payroll in July 1921. Laird referred to Beech as “a pilot of limited experience” and Walter soon proved it by demolishing a Swallow. The loss of the airplane was a serious financial blow, but both Beech and Laird’s company managed to survive the debacle.

Walter’s introduction to aerial competition came when he and a few other employees assisted Laird in construction of a biplane designed strictly for air racing. Plans called for the ship to have a wingspan of only 20 feet and be powered by the ubiquitous Curtiss OX-5 engine rated at 90 horsepower. Laird estimated that the diminutive biplane would easily exceed 100 mph. The OX-5 powerplant, however, was replaced by a 150-horsepower Wright Martin Hispano-Suiza that propelled the racer to a maximum speed of about 125 mph. “Matty” and Walter Beech took turns flying the airplane in local and regional air races and were rewarded with a checkered flag at many of those events. The valuable prize money helped keep the company in the black. Walter would not forget the value of racing and its ability to contribute to the company coffers.

Beech flew the racer to vic-tory at a race in nearby El Dorado, Kansas, for airplanes powered by engines in the 150-horsepower class, and later placed second in a race at St. Joseph, Missouri, attaining a speed of 117 mph. By December 1921, Laird and Beech (particularly Beech) had won 14 air racing events during the spring, summer and early autumn months of that year. In addition, Walter and other company pilots earned money flying passengers on “joy rides” over Wichita. Sunday afternoons proved to be particularly profitable because large crowds came to the local flying field to observe flying and parachute jumping activities.

Laird and Beech were opposites in many ways, but both men shared a common passion for aviation. Whereas Walter was gregarious, always at ease speaking with total strangers, “Matty” was content to remain in the background. Despite their differences they learned to work together for a common cause – keeping Laird’s airplane company in business. As Beech’s flying experience increased, so did his talent for winning races and exhibitions. He flew a Swallow to victory at an air meet in Monmouth, Illinois, and won the aerobatic contest in addition to clinching first place in the race for OX-5-powered airplanes. Gradually, the press began to take notice of the novice aviator from Wichita. One newspaper reporter wrote that Beech “startles pilots and onlookers, first by a 2,000-foot tailspin, then by 22 consecutive loops that set the throng on fire, and later by five Immelmann turns and a direct sidewise flight before landing.”²

In June 1922, Walter continued his winning ways by earning $300 during an exhibition at El Dorado, Kansas, and a team of aviators from Wichita flying won first prize in every event they entered. Not to be outdone by his contemporaries, Beech placed first in the dead-stick landing competition, won the aerobatic contests and a race for airplanes in the 150-horsepower class, placed first in the Free-For-All event and won the race for Swallow biplanes. As the summer wore on, Walter just kept on winning. In July he took home $750 at an “air meet” held in Detroit, Michigan, and in September earned a whopping $1,000 by finishing first in a 250-mile race held at Okmulgee, Oklahoma. In October, Beech returned to Detroit and captured first place and another $1,000 for flying a commercial airplane with the heaviest load over the longest distance. In addition, that month he completed a highly successful 1922 racing season by winning the “On To Detroit” race, pocketing another $500.

Despite Walter’s success at air shows and exhibitions, by 1923 the E.M. Laird Company was in financial trouble. To make matters worse, Laird and business partner Jacob Moellendick did not agree on how the business should grow, and in October Matty resigned, returned to Chicago and established the E.M. Laird Airplane Company in rented facilities near Ashburn Field. Meanwhile back in Wichita, Moellendick promoted Lloyd Stearman to chief designer and Walter Beech managed manufacturing and sales.

As 1924 drew to a close, Beech and Stearman resigned to build a new three-place, open cockpit biplane recently designed by Lloyd. With the help of a few local businessmen and thanks to a healthy injection of money from pioneer aviator Clyde V. Cessna, they created the Travel Air Manufacturing Company, Inc. In March 1925, the first Travel Air Model “A” made its initial flight. Walter Beech knew he would have to return to the cockpit and earn Travel Air some hard cash if it was to survive its first year of existence.

Beech had helped make the Swallow a household word in the fledgling aviation community, and he was quick to put that same expertise to work in demonstrating the Model A. Winning races and competing in events at aerial exhibitions would bring in much-needed cash to pay the company’s small workforce. There were plenty of air races, and Walter wasted no time getting the new Travel Air before the eyes of the public. During the past four years he had built a solid reputation as a pilot and salesman, and his name was already well known not only in the Midwest United States, but on both coasts as well.

Fortunately, an excellent opportunity presented itself in September 1925 when Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, donated a special trophy made of gold and silver to the Detroit Board of Commerce. The Board planned to award the trophy (which stood four feet tall) as part of an “air tour” intended to prove the reliability of the airplane as the latest mode of transportation. Officially designated “The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy,” the name was often shortened to merely “the Ford Tour.” It was to be an annual event aimed chiefly at promoting advancements in aviation design, manufacture and performance, as well as development of a national infrastructure to support the fledgling aircraft industry.³

Each airframe manufacturer desiring to compete in the tour was required to certify that their aircraft were safe and structurally sound. Pilots had to promise they would not drink alcohol in any form during the event, and assure officials that they were in good health. Travel Air was well represented at the first Ford Tour: Walter Beech would fly the C6A-powered “Special,” and two Model A biplanes would be flown by local airman Francis “Chief” Bowhan and E.K. “Rusty” Campbell, one of Travel Air’s first distributors.

Plans called for the tour to depart Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, on September 28 and end at Ford Airport on October 4 after flying a distance of 1,775 miles and visiting 13 cities in seven states. The first Ford Tour was deemed a success despite foul weather that had hindered pilots along the route. Among the 11 entrants who finished with a “perfect score” (there were no first, second or third place prizes) were Beech, Bowhan and Campbell. All three received $350 in cash and had their names engraved permanently on the trophy.

A year later, Walter Beech and navigator Brice Goldsborough took top honors at the second Ford Tour, earning Travel Air the handsome sum of $2,500. Beech added more than $1,000 to that amount, thanks to small cash awards he won during the tour, and flew with $3,850 that the company sorely needed to strengthen its bank account.

In addition to his success in the Ford Tour, Beech continued to win cash at local and regional events. In May 1926, a major air show was held at the flying field on East Central Avenue to celebrate the inauguration of air mail service to Wichita. Large crowds came to watch the air racing, and Walter Beech was right in the thick of it. He won the “Free-For-All” event flying a Model BW powered by the new Wright J-4 static, air-cooled radial engine rated at 200 horsepower. Just as he did at the Tulsa races in 1925, the press reported that Walter “loafed” around the pylons for four laps, then “hit the throttle and walked away from everyone for the win.”

A month later Beech flew a Travel Air powered by a Curtiss C6A engine to Flint, Michigan, where he competed in the “Fly-To-Flint” race, but had to settle for second place. He redeemed himself and Travel Air, however, in the Manufacturers Trophy Race. The course was not very long and was marked with the usual sets of pylons to indicate where turns were to be made. When the field of competitors took off in their ships, the crowds in the bleachers were aghast to see Beech flying his biplane so close to the pylons. All the other pilots were making wide turns, but not Walter. He loved every second of air race competition – it was in his blood.

By 1927, Beech was deeply occupied managing Travel Air and found little or no time for airborne competitions. He realized his racing days were numbered, but when a wealthy pineapple magnate in Hawaii offered $25,000 to the first commercial airplane to fly nonstop from California to the Territory of Hawaii, he decided to take an enormous risk. At his direction, Travel Air workers built two modified Type 5000 monoplanes for the flight, which came to be known as the “Dole race.” One of those airplanes named the “Woolaroc” and sponsored by oilman Frank Phillips, was first to land at Wheeler Field after a flight lasting more than 24 hours. During 1928 Walter Beech spent a majority of his energy on the daily task of guiding Travel Air to new heights in sales. By that year, the modern factory on East Central Avenue boasted two buildings, and Beech had plans to build three more in an effort to increase manufacturing space and meet growing demand for Travel Air ships.

Although Walter’s appetite for air racing had to take a back seat to running a major aircraft company, in 1929 he would become directly involved with a top-secret project to build the fastest Travel Air ever built – a racer that promised to fulfill his dream of victory at the National Air Races.

Notes:

1. Laird, a self-taught designer from Chicago, had relocated to Wichita in 1919 to build a three-place biplane that was sold as the Laird Swallow.
2. The “Immelmann turn” was a maneuver developed by World War I German ace, Lieutenant Max Immelmann. It was executed by performing a half loop with a roll to level flight at the top of the loop. It was used in aerial combat to change direction and gain altitude against an opponent.
3. The idea for a national air tour began with Harvey Campbell, a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce. He recognized the publicity value of automobile tours (such as the “Glidden Tour” in 1904) that had centered on developing a highway system in the United States, and believed an aerial version would do the same for aviation.