Granville Brothers Aircraft was an aircraft manufacturer from 1929 until its bankruptcy in 1934 that was located at the Springfield Airport in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Granville Brothers (Zantford, Thomas, Robert, Mark, Edward) are best known for the three Gee Bee Super Sportster racers, the Models Z and R-1/-2. Prior to building aircraft, Zantford ran a mobile aircraft repair service.

Aircraft Data from:Aerofiles The Granville Brothers completed 25 aircraft of which only two original aircraft are known to still exist.Graves, Darrell and Scott Brener. "The Granville Brothers Gee Bee." [email protected], D&C Aviation Limited, 1998. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.

Model name Engine Date No. NotesModel A (biplane)various19299Survivor at New England Air MuseumModel X Sportster95 hp ADC Cirrus inline19301Entered the 5,000 mile Cirrus Derby,"Local Flier Killed in Crash at Detroit." Springfield Daily News, December 5, 1931. Retrieved: December 26, 2008. finished 2nd overall, later converted to Model F with 135 hp Fairchild 6-390 engineModel B Sportster95 hp Cirrus Hi-Drive inline19301rumored to have been sent to Spain for Spanish Civil WarModel C Sportster95 hp Menasco B-4 inline19301"The Gee Bee Sportsters - Holcomb's Aerodrome" The Gee Bee Sportsters - Holcomb's Aerodrome. Retrieved: October 22, 2009."The Gee Bee Model's B,C,D & E" The Gee Bee Model's B,C,D & E. Retrieved: May 13, 2013.Model D Sportster125 hp Menasco C-4 inline19311Model E Sportster110 hp Scarab radial19314One wing survives at the EAA AirVenture MuseumPratt and Whiney Wasp Jr./Wasp C radial19311Won more races and more prize money than any other Gee Bee, Maude Tait won the 1931 Aerol trophy, set the closed course speed record for women and won the Shell Oil speed trophy for women. It competed in the 1931 and 1933 Thompson trophy races finishing 4th and 5thModel YL Senior SportsterLycoming R-680/Whirlwind19311Lycoming test bed, later fitted with 575 hp Wright WhirlwindModel Z Super Sportster525 hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp Jr./Wasp Sr. radial193111931 Thompson Trophy winnerModel Q AscenderAeronca twin19311CanardHarrison, Ronald W. Gee Bee Ascender, Journal AAHS Fall 1984, pp. 190–191.Hannan, Bill, le Gee Bee qui volait a l'envers, Le Fanatique de l' Aviation, No 161, page numbers unknown.Model R-1 Super SportsterP&W Wasp T3D1/Hornet radial193111932 Thompson Trophy winnerSet world speed record, Shell Speed Dash winnerModel R-2 Super Sportster525 hp Pratt and Witney Wasp Jr./Wasp T3D119311Cracked an oil line and did not finish in the 1932 Bendix, pilot Russell Thaw withdrew from the 1933 BendixTiger/Mickey MouseArmstrong Siddeley Genet radial19321Designed by Ed GranvilleDismantled after a few flightsMendenhall, 1994, p.163Granville, 2000, pp.123-124"Long Tail"Hornet radial19331R-1/R-2 Hybrid rebuilt from R-1 and 1932 R-2 wingsNamed "Intestinal Fortitude" sold to Cecil Allen 1933Aeromobile Menasco Pirate inline(1933)0Roadable airplaneModel C-4 FoursterWasp Jr. radial(1933) 0plans only, 4-seat airliner Model C-6 Sixsterunk.(1933)0plans only, 6-seat airlinerModel C-8 EightsterHornet radial(1933)0uncompleted, 8-seat airlinerModel R-5Hornet radial(1933)0plans only, Basis for R-6Model R-6CCurtiss Conqueror V-12(1934)0plans only, engine unavailable, Completed as R-6HModel R-6H Hornet radial19341"Q.E.D." built for MacRobertson RaceSet Mexico City to Washington D.C. record as "Conquistador del Cielo". Survivor in a museum in, Ciudad Lerdo, Mexico

Replica and reproduction Gee Bee aircraft

A Model E replica was flown and wrecked before being donated to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Another Model E replica was being built in Australia."Dennis Emms Gee Bee "E" Model Project." rotecradialengines.com, Rotec Engineering. Retrieved: June 3, 2009.

A replica of Florence Klingensmith's Model YL was completed in 1984 powered by a Lycoming R-680.

A Model Z replica first flown in 1978 was used by the Walt Disney Company in the film The Rocketeer (1991), which is now on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight. A second Gee Bee Z replica was sold to Fantasy of Flight.

The New England Air Museum and the San Diego Air & Space Museum have each completed replica R-1s with help from the Granvilles under the agreement that the aircraft will never be flown. The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio also has an R-1 replica on display as of June 2018. The Springfield, Massachusetts Museum of Springfield History has a full size static fiberglass replica of the R-1 hanging in the atrium."Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History."springfieldmuseums.org. Retrieved: August 30, 2010. A Gee Bee R-2 Super Sportster replica flown extensively since 1991 is now at Fantasy of Flight.

A highly modified replica of the Gee Bee R-6 powered by a Wright R-1820 Cyclone was first flown on 26 September 2013.

See also New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 207: Granville Homestead

References Notes

Bibliography

Benjamin, Delmar and Steve Wolf. Gee Bee. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing Co., 1993. . Bowers, Pete M. The Gee Bee Racers — Number 51. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1965. Granville, J.I. Farmers Take Flight. Springfield, Massachusetts: Copy Cat Print Shop, 2000. . Haffke, Henry A. Gee Bee: The Real Story of the Granville Brothers and Their Marvelous Airplanes.Colorado Springs, Colorado: VIP Publishers, Inc., 1989. . Mendenhall, Charles A. and Tom Murphy. The Gee Bee Racers: A Legacy of Speed. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 1994. . Schmid, S.H. and Truman C. Weaver. The Golden Age of Air Racing: Pre-1940, 2nd rev. edition (EAA Historical Series). Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Co., 1991. . Those Incredible Gee Bees (VHS 60 min). Springfield, Massachusetts: Studio 16, 1992.

External links

Geebee Model Q Ascender video