„Gee - Bee“ R - 1 - the American record aircraft

One of the companies, that tried to create special racing planes in the USA in the thirties of the 20th century, was the Granville brothers' company, which until then had produced sports planes. Designed in 1931, the plane had very unconventional shapes, with a powerful radial engine, a highly compressed fuselage, small wings and shrouded retractable landing gear. It's called "Gee Bee" Z. The price, that had to be paid for record-breaking performance, was ugly handling conditions and difficult piloting. The minimum landing speed was even 190 km/h. On December 5, 1931, an attempt to break the speed record, the plane crashed, the pilot was killed. In 1932 two new "Gee Bee" airplanes, R1 and R2, appeared, differing in engines and purpose. R1 was supposed to compete in the Thompson Cup. On September 1, 1932 during the qualification, the plane broke the speed record for land planes - it became 471.83 km/h. The plane was piloted by Jimmy Dolittle. The plane later won everything, defeating all the famous pilots one by one. In 1933, after another crash and the death of the pilot, the Granville company went bankrupt, and the "Gee Bee" passed from hand to hand until, finally, in 1939, the Mexican Sarabio bought it, made several record-breaking flights with it, but also died with the plane.

An uncomplicated, unconventionally shaped, well-designed and detailed model, suitable for almost any modeler, but for a beginner modeler we recommend, that You glue it under the supervision of a more experienced colleague and it should not be one of the first more complex models You build.