Page 22 - Volume 12, Number 3

Wichita’s Air Racing
Legacy PartOne
Walter Beech is remembered as one of Wichita’s greatest aviation patriarchs, an aviation titan who not only put his name on the best airplanes money could buy, but also was driven by a never-ending quest for speed.
by Edward H. Phillips
Wichita pilot Walter H. Beech sat in the cockpit of the Travel Air Special, patiently awaiting the start of the “Free-For-All,” 50-mile speed dash at the Tulsa Air Meet in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beech was one of more than a dozen competitors hoping to cross the finish line first, but as he taxied his biplane to the starting line, Walter told officials that he would be the last to take off! Such an odd decision could only mean one thing – Beech was feeling confident that he was flying the fastest ship in the event.
Suddenly, the starter’s flag dropped, and the race was on! The gaggle of airplanes surged forward, kicking up clouds of dust, their engines making so much noise that spectators covered their ears. Crowds cheered for their favorite pilot as the flying machines banked to round the first turn pylon, sometimes flying perilously close to one another. Back at the starting line, however, sat Walter Beech and the Special.
As the last airplane rounded the pylon, Beech shoved the throttle full forward and the 160-horsepower Curtiss engine roared to life. A few seconds later the black and gold biplane was in the air. The competition had opened up a big lead on Beech, but he chose to ease back on the throttle, smoothly flying his steed around the home pylon and onto the back stretch. Walter had plenty of throttle left, but he was content to slowly catch the flyers ahead.
The crowds were on their feet as the sleek Travel Air began to overtake the field, slipping past one and then another of the slower ships. Walter kept a keen eye on the airplanes ahead as the slipstream slapped at his cheeks. He was about to overtake yet another ship, so he skillfully applied right stick and rudder, pushed the throttle farther forward and swiftly left the hapless pilot in his wake. For mile after mile and lap after lap, Beech just kept pushing the throttle forward, passing all but the lead aircraft.
As the last few laps began, Walter applied full throttle and the Special surged forward. He quickly caught the front runners and passed them easily to take the lead. His competitors were stunned by the Travel Air’s outright
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speed – nobody thought the little biplane from Wichita would be so fast! Walter soon found himself five miles ahead of the field and took the checkered flag after flying for 29:26 seconds. He took home a fist full of greenbacks and a handsome trophy for his efforts.
The race was sponsored by the Tulsa Daily World and drew large crowds to the city’s airfield outside of town. The team from Travel Air included not only Walter Beech, but company president Clyde Cessna and engineers Mac Short and Lloyd Stearman. Beech struck first by winning the 30-mile race for stock airplanes powered by Curtiss OX-5 engines and beating Travel Air’s chief competition, the WACO company based in Troy, Ohio.1
As the week-long airshow continued, pilots Mac Short, Stearman and Cessna won six races. Stearman was victorious in the “On-To-Tulsa” cross-country event for the heaviest load carried, and Short took first place in that race for stock (unmodified) airplanes, flying a standard Travel Air Model A. When the Tulsa Air Meet was over, the airmen from Wichita had won five events and placed second in two other races. The trophies awarded to the pilots were displayed proudly in the front window of the small Travel Air factory.
Stearman and Short had been friends for years and both attended the Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC) before America’s entry into World War I in April 1917. When President Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war against Germany and her allied powers, both young men were quick to enlist. Stearman chose the U.S. Navy and Short signed up for the U.S. Army. Although Short completed training as a bomber pilot, Stearman did not win his wings before the Armistice was signed in November 1918.
Short returned to KSAC and spent the next three years earning a degree in mechanical engineering. Upon graduation he became a Junior Aeronautical Engineer at the Army’s prestigious McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. During his brief time at McCook, where he met several soon-to-be-prominent aviators including James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, Short was involved in
MARCH 2018