Granville Brothers Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster
The Senior Sportster was a stretched, two-place derivative of the Model E Sportster and a direct descendent of the original Model X in-line Sportster. The first of the two Model Ys built was the winningest Gee Bee of all, earning more prize money in its long career than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters. The Granvilles thought that the Senior Sportster was the best plane they ever built. The front windshield folded down into the cockpit, which had a flush-fitting cover, to streamline the plane for racing. Both Model Ys were built in late 1930, one for race pilot Maud Tait and one as a test bed for Lycoming engines. The second one was later sold to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing. This package includes both Senior Sportsters in both touring (2-seat) and racing (1-seat) configuration. The second Senior is modeled in both its original and modified configurations. Included are six models, five authentic paints, 2D panels, VCs, and sounds by Mike Hambley. By David Wooster & Mick Morrissey.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANIMATIONS:
The Shift + E keys open and close the rear cockpit access door.
The Shift + E then 2 keys open and close the front cockpit access door on models with the front cockpit uncovered.
The O key adds or removes the front cockpit passenger in Spot View and VC.
INSTALLATION:
Put the three Model Y aircraft folders into your main FS9 or GW3 Aircraft folder.
Put the Sportster CAB file into your FS9 or GW3 Gauges folder.
HISTORY:
Two Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportsters were built in late 1930.
NX11049, later NR11049, was built for the famous aviatrix and race pilot Maude Tait. Tait's father and uncle owned Springfield (Mass.) Airport and were the Granvilles' landlords, as well as major investors in Granville Bros. Aircraft Inc. Consequently, Maude's Senior was treated like a company plane. The Granvilles and their employees flew it regularly for business and peronal use, and it was raced to show the company colors and earn some badly needed cash for the company. Zantford "Granny" Granville and Russell Boardman were among the pilots who raced 11049 along with Maude Tait. The Granvilles made so much use of 11049 that some sources mistakenly identify it as Zantford Granville's personal plane. This plane had the longest and most succesful racing career of any Gee Bee, earning more prize money than even the big unlimited Super Sportsters.
Eventually the first Model Y was sold. Its new owner was flying over the ocean off of New York City when the prop threw a blade, the resulting vibration ripped the engine from its mounts and 11049 flat spun into the Atlantic.
X718Y, later NR718Y, was built for the E.L Cord Corporation of automotive fame as a test bed for it's Lycoming aircraft engine division. Later it was sold to Art Knapp, who modified it for racing. At first he replaced the Lycoming R-680 with a 300 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. Later he installed a bigger Wasp of 425 hp , fully faired the landing gear legs like those of 11049, replaced the windscreen with a longer, more streamlined one, and apparently stripped and permanently sealed the front cockpit.
The Model Y had been designed for no more than 250 hp, and Knapp's modifications didn't include any structural strengthening. When the Granvilles heard about the modifications they contacted Knapp and told him the plane was unsafe, but Knapp was unresponsive. Florence Klingensmith won second place in the Women's Free-For-All at the 1933 Chicago International Races in the modified plane, but in the Phillips Trophy Race the fabric began to peel off of the right wing. 718Y crashed and Klingensmith was killed.
WHAT YOU GET:
Both Seniors are depicted in the package, each in both touring (2-seat) and racing (1-seat) configurations. The second Model Y is modeled in both its original and first modified configurations. We decided not to model the final configuration because it was a hacked up deathtrap, far removed from the outstanding plane the Granvilles designed and built.
The first Senior Sportster is painted three ways, illustrating three slightly different variations on its colors and markings as they changed during its career with the Taits and Granvilles. The first paint depicts 11049 as delivered, registered as X11049 and without race numbers. On the fuselage is the Faloola Bird, a comic character noted for its song, "GeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBeeGeeBee..."
Not long after delivery the registration prefix changed from X (for eXperimental) to R (for Restricted); the N (for UNited States) was added when the new prefix was painted on the plane. Around this time the plane acquired race number 54 on the fuselage and wings. At some point later in its career 11049's white cowling was painted red. We've painted NR11049 both ways, with a white cowl and a red one.
718Y differed from 11049 in having a full NACA cowling instead of 11049's Townsend ring, and in having individually faired landing gear legs, unlike the fully-faired installation of the first Senior. The plane is depicted as first built, registered X718Y, with a smooth cowling over a Lycoming R-680 engine, and as first modified, registered NR718Y, race number 7, with rocker arm bulges on a bigger cowling covering a 300 hp P&W Wasp Jr.
MORE GEE BEE STUFF:
If you're interested in the Granvilles and their Gee Bee planes, you might like our scenery for Springfield Airport in Springfield, Mass., where the Granvilles built their aircraft. We've also released models of the Gee Bee R-1 and R-2 unlimited racers, the Model Q Ascender experimental canard plane, the Gee Bee Model E radial engined Sportster and the Gee Bee X, B, B, D and F in-line Sportsters. Warwick "Wozza" Carter released an outstanding model of the Model Z "City of Springfield" unlimited racer, and Tom Eads released an excellent Gee Bee R6H QED. All of these items can be found at SurClaro.
REFERENCES:
The Golden Age of Aviation web site:
Home:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/index.html
Gee Bee pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/index3.html
Farmers Take Flight by June I. Granville
Available at the New England Air Museum gift shop
http://www.neam.org/
The Gee Bee Racers by Charles A. Mendenhall & Tom Murphy
Available from most booksellers
LEGAL:
These files are freeware and must remain so. The authors retain the copyright.
These files may not be distributed to or by AvSim, FSPlanet, Simviation, or SimNetwork.
These files are released without warranty of any kind. By downloading them you accept full responsibility for any consequences resulting from their use. The authors accept no responsibility whatsoever.
CREDITS:
Aircraft models, flight models, panels, gauges and textures by David Wooster & Mick Morrissey
The Senior Sportsters use the FS2002 Gee Bee Racer sounds by Mike Hambly (BlueArrowFS); Please see his ReadMe file patched in below. These sounds were meant for the larger Model R and Z unlimited racers, but they sound good and we like them for the Model Y. Inappropriate gear and flap sounds have been deleted and the sound.cfg file has been edited accordingly.
SUPPORT
E-mail David Wooster at: this4david2@q.com
Or post a PM or a message in the FS2004 forum to Mick at the Sim OutHouse:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Hambley's ReadMe:
FS2002-Sound.
A complete sound set for the Gee-Bee Racer, compiled by me for use in all three sims, CFS2,FS2000 and FS2002. Sampled at 22050-16 bit mono ADPCM. All files are tagged with BA copyright.
Mike Hambly (BlueArrowFS)
Filename-ba_gbr.zip
14:19 04/07/2005
Instructions.
1. Place these wavs into your aircraft sound folder.
PLEASE GIVE THIS FILE YOUR VOTE NEXT MONTH!
Thanks in advance.
Enjoy and don't forget to vote next time for anything I have this month that you think is worthy of your vote.
These files can be used for any freeware design for flightsim purposes. They may not be used for commercial products without permission.
