Video: Kermit Takes The Gee Bee Z Out For A Spin
Saturday, May 25, 2013 at 01:10PM
Don't get too excited here, there's no 'spinning' or even leaving the ground with the beautiful replica Gee Bee Z that's part of Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight collection, but he did fire her up again and do some taxi testing in preparation for possibly getting her back in the sky before long. Just seeing (and hearing) this replica of the iconic Golden Age air racer move around on the ground is enough to significantly elevate my heart rate : )
You might remember a Fantasy of Flight video I posted about a year ago of Kermit running the engine on the Z... this airplane is stunning to look at whether it's in the air or not! And just to clarify once again, this replica is NOT the one seen in the 1991 film the Rocketeer. The one seen in the film was built in 1978 by Bill Turner and was modified from the original design by increasing the wing area some and lengthening the fuselage a little to help make it easier to fly. That replica is currently on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The replica that Kermit has (in the video above) was built in 1996 to the same dimensions as the one-and-only original that was destroyed in a crash during a speed record attempt 1931. You can read a little more about the original Gee Bee Z history in the wiki. This replica is housed at Kermit's Fantasy of Flight museum and is where this video was shot the other day.
Screenshot: Kermit Weeks doing taxi tests his replica Gee Bee Z the other day
There's plenty of avgeek awesomeness to see in this video of the Z, but I wanted to point out what really caught my eye. Note how the tail lifts off the ground just a little at 1:50. On one hand it's no big deal... it's a small taildragger with a Pratt & Whitney R-985 making 450 hp hanging off the nose. You might easily expect the tail to get really light when running the engine up and holding the brakes. However, note that Kermit has the stick back and the elevator deflected in a manner meant to keep the tail on the ground, yet even with all that air going over the tail it still comes off the ground! It looks like the combination of buckets full of power and that short fuselage (limiting the arm that the elevator is mounted on) mean that this thing is a bona fide beast!
Even more, the wing-loading on the Gee Bee Z is somewhere in the area of 30 to 35 pounds to the square foot which puts it more inline with fighter aircraft from WWII. I think you can imagine that a fairly high wing-loading and a short-coupled fuselage make an airplane that's definitely a handful to fly. The first flights on this replica back in 1996 were done by Delmar Benjamin of Gee Bee R-2 fame - and I saw him post on facebook not long ago that the Z was his favorite Gee Bee to fly. Kermit also flew this airplane, 13 years ago, so he's knows what it's like. It's sure gonna fun to see if he gets her back in the air once again! #geebeelove
Reader Comments (8)
What's up with that tail? Is that some kind of a skid? It moves awfully easy (especially at the end where you see them pushing it backwards into the hangar) which I wouldn't expect from a skid.
Adam- I should know this for certain but I don't... but I think it's a tailwheel made to look like the skid that the original airplane was equipped with. It would sure be extra difficult to handle on the ground without a steerable tailwheel!
You are usually right, and in this case as well. If you watch the video closely, you'll see what this frame grab shows - at that point the tail rises, it looks an AWFUL lot like a wheel is sticking out. So I think you're right on now that I look closer. They must have fashioned something to make it look stock while actually being totally different.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4gour0speycsi5/Screen%20Shot%202013-05-25%20at%209.39.46%20PM.png
Only the single most beautiful airplane ever built. It's not really quite as short coupled aerodynamically as it looks - the big fuselage diameter is deceptive. If he flys it I need to go down there again!
That will be sweet if he fly's it again! Is there a way to get out of the cockpit from the inside?
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hi...
im from poland...
what i want to say is:
in 1930 polish engineur
Zygmunt Puławski
was make your pzl p6 aircraft
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_P.6
it was presented in paris and america...
in 1931 it won American National Races in Cleveland...
that was inspiration for american engineur bob HALL
who was work with geebee airplanes...
in 1932 he was make your BULL DOG aircraft...
it was the inspiration for polish p24 aircraft...
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_P.24
pulawski died shortly after presentation in america
in very oddly looking aircraft accident...
in 1939 there was ww2 - you know...
shortly before that he was make one not realized project...
it was looking like geebee but in p6 and bulldog style...
you know - high wing - similar fixed gear like in p6...
general base for this construction was cylinder splashed on
one end... they look like fish or somewhat... that was very
budget construction... it was make because of supremation of
german airforce in 1930s... just rectangular wing and tail,
radial engine with 6-pistons - 150 KM or somewhat...
3,2 m lengt, 3,2 m wing... without towend ring - like in
your hot road cars... everything else like in p6 and geebee...
vmax about 300 km/h... everything maked locally on very low cost
- even the engine, gears - easy to make for amateurs with
simply hardware!
well... in my opinion we was one step to win ww2!
2x50 kg of cargo under wing, bombs and rockets...
but polish army was not interested... they just bay p6
upgraded clones... eventually they was interested
of super modern cosntruction like spitfire and hurricane...
that was the mistake... in 1939 we was won fight but we lost the war...
final score in the game with luftwaffe was 1,5:1... not enough
unhelpfully... we could have 2500 p6/geebee/bulldog... instead of this
we was have 350 p6,7,11,24...
i think that pulawski p6/geebee/bulldog construction was much more
better than geebee - with all due respect avcose...
wing of bulldog and geebee are not properly fixed...
they are fixed from upside and downside in 1-point...
they should be like in oryginal p6 - 2-point fixed...
because of something who aircraft engineurs call:
aeroelasticall divergention of the wing or simply FLATTER...
gears are not properly fixed to - geebee have that maked more properly
while bulldog not...
belive me or not - that design of pulawski looks very good,
and much better than geebee... and it was very cheap...
maybe i make one in some day...
all that is just for your information only...
have fun with wikipedia!
with best regards...
mgr ST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKLMYZlbIb8
chabern e3d3fd1842 https://myrovy.com/oxapacip