Page 29 - Volume 12, Number 3

The two pilots had flown the Beechcraft at an average speed of 234 mph – the best performance made by a certified commercial airplane in any event sanctioned by the National Aeronautical Association up to that time. Throughout the flight the Beechcraft’s two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior static, air-cooled radial engines were operated at a power setting of 52 percent of the powerplant’s rating of 450 horsepower. Both engines already had accumulated 330 hours of flying time before the race. Total oil consumption was a mere 1.5 quarts for both engines and 208 gallons of fuel were consumed. Three days later the airplane was entered in the Congress Cup Race from Miami to Havana, Cuba. The duo of Beech and Rankin prevailed once again, this time setting a new speed record between these cities by covering 233 statute miles in only 59 minutes.
By the time of his death in November 1950, Walter Beech had long since established his reputation as an aviation entrepreneur, businessman and pilot with more than 10,000 hours in his logbook. It was, however, Walter’s enthusiasm and skill as an early air racing pilot that fueled his never-ending desire for speed, speed and more speed. KA
NOTES:
1. Weaver Aircraft Company, universally known as simply “WACO” but renamed the Advance Aircraft Company late in 1923, manufactured an excellent product line of airplanes that often competed head-to-head with Travel Air. The WACO Model 9 biplane was a direct competitor of the Travel Air Model “A.” The company survived the Great Depression and designed the famous CG-4A troop gliders used in the D-Day assault against the Nazi’s “Fortress Europe” in June 1944. Advance Aircraft Company ceased airframe manufacture in 1947, and in 1963 rights to the company’s name were sold to the Siai-Marchetti company in Italy.
2. In the mid-1920s MIT was one of only a few universities in the United States that offered a thorough course of education specifically designed to graduate aeronautical engineers. Mac Short excelled in that field and later was recognized as one of the best engineers in America. In 1927 he would join forces with Lloyd Stearman again, this time at the Stearman Aircraft Company, located first in Santa Monica, California, and later in Wichita. In the early 1930s Lloyd Stearman resigned from the company and Stearman Aircraft was absorbed into the Boeing Airplane Company.
3. As of 2018, the trophy is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of the Heroes of the Sky gallery.
4. In 1981 a Travel Air mechanic, who had been working at the races, recalled that later that day Walter Beech split his winnings with all of the team.
5. Famed American humorist and newspaper columnist Will Rogers dubbed the event the “Powder Puff Derby” and the name stuck.
6. Doolittle would go on to fame flying the Granville Brother’s Gee Bee to victory in the 1932 NAR, and in April 1942 led the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo flying North America B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor
for his leadership of that mission. He died in September 1993.
7. Of the five Type R airplanes manufactured, only Texaco No. 13
survives.
Ed Phillips, now retired and living in the South, has researched and written eight books on the unique and rich aviation history that belongs to Wichita, Kan. His writings have focused on the evolution of the airplanes, companies and people that have made Wichita the “Air Capital of the World” for more than 80 years.
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 27