Page 25 - Volume 12, Number 3

In September 1929, Travel Air engineers Herbert Rawdon and Walter Burnham joined forces to build the Type “R” monoplane. At the National Air Races that year, the powerful and fast Scarlet Marvel stunned the aviation world by beating the best speedsters the U.S. Army and Navy could muster, achieving an average speed of 194 mph. (TEXTRON AVIATION)
Soon after the Special’s triumphs in Tulsa it was flown by Walter Beech in the inaugural National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy. Henry Ford’s son, Edsel, believed in the future of aviation and in 1925 donated a special trophy to the Detroit Board of Commerce. The Board planned an aerial tour of different states aimed at demonstrating to the public that air travel was becoming a reliable form of transportation, and the trophy would serve as a symbol of that event.
race began Walter Beech visited the competition and took bets that the Type R would easily defeat not only the highly-modified military fighters fielded by the U.S. Army and Navy, but the best of the commercial competitors, too.
According to eye witness accounts of the race, the free- for-all speed dash unfolded as follows: “Then the start! All eyes focused on the Army’s Curtiss Hawk biplane
Although not an air race, the first “Ford Tour,” as it became known, was held in 1925. When the tour ended, 11 pilots had amassed the most points by flying between designated checkpoints. Pilots who landed first won more points, and speed proved to be the key asset throughout the event. In addition to winning cash, the name of each pilot was permanently engraved on the Ford trophy – a monumental object standing four feet high and made of pure gold and silver. Walter Beech and two other pilots flying Travel Air biplanes were among the top finishers, and the trophy was displayed briefly in the Travel Air factory before it was returned to Detroit.3
Four years later in 1929, two other engineers at Travel Air created the Type “R” – a single-seat monoplane powered by a nine-cylinder static, air-cooled radial engine rated at 420 horsepower. The engine was manufactured by Wright Aeronautical Corporation specifically for the new racer. The chief designer was Herbert Rawdon, and he was assisted by Walter Burnham. The two men convinced Walter Beech to allow them to build the speedster on their own time but with company money. Chief pilot Clarence Clark flew the Type R for its maiden flight on August 18.
A week later the team from Travel Air arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, for the 1929 National Air Races (NAR). On September 1, Labor Day, the thousands of spectators in the grandstands waited anxiously for the start of Event 26 – the free-for-all race sponsored by the Thompson Products. A story persists to this day that before the
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23