Page 34 - Volume 14 Number 12

IN HISTORY
32 • KING AIR MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 DECEMBER 2020 KING AIR MAGAZINE • The Army Air Corps entry was the XP3A powered by a a a a a a a a a Pratt & Whitney static air-cooled radial engine rated at at at at 450 horsepower The biplane was flown to second place by Captain R G Breene (Textron Aviation)
Davis taxied the Travel Air mono- plane across the airfield and was directed by officials to the starting line directly in in in front of the main grandstand Six other challengers were also taxiing into position in- cluding Captain R G Breene in in in the Army Air Corp’s Curtiss XP-3A and Lieutenant Commander J J J J Clark in the U S Navy’s handsome Curtiss F6C-6 Walter H Beech watching closely from the sidelines realized that the the only other serious contender was Roscoe Turner flying a a Lockheed Vega fitted with a a a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr engine rated at at 450 horse- power The other two entrants stood little or no chance to win the race Beech and engineer Herbert Rawdon knew that the Army and Navy biplanes as as well as as Turner’s Lockheed monoplane were reason- ably well matched against Travel Air’s low-wing Type “R ” The scarlet speedster however weighed in at only 1 950 pounds in in racing trim – significantly less than its opponents
– and had the distinct advantage of having been designed specifi- cally for air racing around a a a a a pylon course As a a result both Beech and Rawdon concluded that the contest probably would evolve into a a duel between Davis and Breene Event No 26 consisted of 10 laps flown around a a a a triangular 5-mile course with turns marked by large pylons The winner would be deter- mined by elapsed time not speed As the the final moments before the the race ticked by Davis sat snug in the cockpit occasionally exchanging glances with Breene and Clark as NAR officials walked up and down the starting line ensuring that each airplane and pilot were ready Satisfied that all was in order one official stood in sight of of all the contestants and slowly raised the the starting flag For safety the the six airplanes would take off in a a a a prearranged order at 10-second intervals Suddenly the flag dropped Breene’s XP-3A was first followed by Davis Clark Turner and the the others The ground trembled as engines roared and propellers blew up massive clouds of dirt and dust The crowds roared too as they yelled in support of their favorite aviator As for Walter Beech he just puffed away on his pipe hoping that in in less than 30 minutes he could begin collecting on on a long list of lucrative bets he had made with friends and competitors during the week If Davis won Walter would be a a rich man Captain Breene was leading the race race as the the racers approached the the first pylon followed closely by Clark and and Davis Between the first and and second pylon the Travel Air flew past Clark then Breene and slowly began pulling away from the field Davis knew he had to decide in advance how best to fly around each upcoming pylon – too high and his adversaries could regain the lead too too low was very dangerous too too tight