Poll: Is The Gee Bee R-2 One Of The World's Most Perfect Airplanes?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 11:26PM 
The Gee Bee R-2 racer from the 1930's (with the tighter fitting cowl than the R-1)
It's true that I'm a bit obsessed with the Golden Age of Air Racing at the moment... and not just because I posted a video with some amazing actual footage of the 1935 National Air Races, but also because I'm working on developing a mainstream business that actually ties in peripherally with the airplanes from that era. That business will hopefully be a kickstarter.com campaign sometime in the Spring, and you can be sure I'll be letting you know about it so you can be a contributor to its success!
But for now I thought it would be interesting to see if you agree with me that the Gee Bee R-2 is one of the world's most perfect airplanes. And no, the poll isn't configured wrong, but if for some reason you aren't able to find the answer you were looking for in the poll, feel free to leave your disagreeable thoughts in the comments area : )
Reader Comments (8)
Hello. I will be watching your Gee Bee postings very carefully and with much interest. I, too, am a student of the so-called 'Golden Age of Air Racing' with a particular interest in the 23 1/2 Gee Bee aeroplanes, most of which, of course, were not racing ships. Over the years, so much incredible rubbish has been written about these aeroplanes and it will be interesting to see your take on them. My own book will hopefully be finished before I get too old to write! Every time I think I'm nearing the finish, more information comes available...most pure nonsense but every once in a bit something of value turns up. I'm really looking forward to your input. Good work.
I thought that the Gee Bee was a really great airplane but then I read some about them and a number of pilots that were killed, mostly on landings. (I think)
So, I hold reservations about their safety before I can say they are perfect.
That era of aviation is the most interesting to me also. I'll be waiting for more postings of that era.
No.
Hi!
Do you know the story of Francisco Sarabia and his Gee Bee R-6H (QED) called "Conqueror of Sky"?
Here I share with you some of my photos of this plane:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayearth/5866106566
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayearth/5865552281
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayearth/5865553365
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayearth/5866105540
viele Grüße aus Berlin!
As far as I know, Delmar Benjamin is world's highest time GeeBee pilot (R-2 replica, since retired.) I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in it many years ago at an airport in Westminster, MD. It was impressive to say the least.
Indeed Delmar Benjamin is the world's highest time Gee Bee pilot with in ;the neighbourhood of 1,500 hours in the R-2 replica. In 1997, after performing in the Wings of Freedom show in Frederick, Maryland, Delmar's next show was at Windsor, Ontario in five weeks' time. The weather wasn't suitable to get through to Windsor, so I offered one of my hangars at the Leesburg, Virginia airport in which to store the aeroplane until Delmar could get back from his farm to collect it. I had the ship here for about five weeks and my wife and one of my flying students cleaned and waxed it, and when I went to collect Delmar from Friendship Airport (BWI) he allowed me to taxi the Gee Bee from the hangar to the north end of Godfrey Field for fuel and then back to the hangar. A wee while later, Delmar took off and headed for Canada and we have a lot of good memories of the aeroplane....including a video we made of it being here.
I posted this on the AirPigz facebook page: Delmar Benjamin certainly proved with hundreds of hours of R-2 flying and loads of low level aerobatics thru the 90's that the airplane isn't dangerous... however, it is possibly the most unforgiving airplane in the world to the pilot who doesn't understand her ways.
I saw him fly it many times, and of course it was absolutely stunning every time.
Pops - thanx for sharing that story... and wow, what an amazing opportunity getting to taxi the R-2 replica!
I don't mean to monopolize the blog, but I do have quite an interest in the 23 1/2 aeroplanes built by the Granville brothers. Their reputation of all being 'killers' is totally unjustified, though, as the administrator of this blog states, they were quite unforgiving. One must realize that most of the reputation of these ships came from the racing aeroplanes..the Model Z, the R-1, the R-2 and the 'hybrid' R-1/R-2 'Longtail.' The 9 biplanes, the two Model Y ships, and the 8 Sportsters were aeroplanes that it didn't take a 'super-pilot' to handle. QED, of course, wasn't really a Gee Bee, even though it was actually constructed by some of the brothers. The racing aeroplanes were not designed or built for the Sunday-afternoon sportsman pilot.