Replica and Reproduction Gee Bee Aircraft
In 1970 Ken Flaglor began building a reproduction of the Florence Klingensmith's Model Y. Completed in 1984, this reproduction is powered by a 300 horsepower Lycoming R-680. Jack Venaleck now owns this aircraft.
David Gouldsmith, owner of Golden Aviation in Cassville, Mo, completed another replica of the Model Y Senior Sportster in 2001. Powered by a 300 hp Jacobs R-755, the Gee Bee is currently kept in Monett, Missouri (M58).
Another Menasco powered D Model should now be about completed by Al Lathum of Valdosta, Georgia, USA.
Scott Crosby of Antelope, California and Jim Jenkins of Connecticut have built replica E Models. Crosby's aircraft crashed several times and was re-built prior to donation to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
Dennis Emms of Australia is building an E model reproduction.
Gee Bee Model Z — Bill Turner made a close but not an exact replica, because it had a longer fuselage, longer wings, and 85 less horsepower. It was completed and flown on November 25, 1978. This aircraft was ultimately purchased by the Disney Corporation and was used in the movie The Rocketeer. In the movie, the Gee Bee Z appears with the same paint scheme and tail number "NR77V" as the original. It is now on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
An exact reproduction Gee Bee Z has been completed by Jim Kimball Enterprises and is on display at Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Florida.
The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio has an R-1 replica, although not currently on display.
The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut has a R-1 replica built with much assistance from the surviving Granvilles and Pete Miller, possibly qualifying as a replica aircraft, since people working for the original Gee Bee firm helped in its construction.
In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Museum of Springfield History has a non-flying, full scale fiberglass reproduction of the Gee Bee R-1 hanging in the atrium.
The most famous flying reproduction of any of the Super Sportsters was the Gee Bee R2 example built by Delmar Benjamin and Steve Wolf, which was test flown December 23, 1991. After being flown for many years, the plane was retired to Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida alongside the Model Z reproduction.
The San Diego Air & Space Museum is nearing completion of a Gee Bee R1, using original plans supplied by the Granville family. The plans were supplied under the agreement that the aircraft will never be flown or sold. Craftsmen working on the aircraft say it will be the most exact R1 Super Sportster reproduction in existence when finished.
Read more about this topic: Granville Brothers Aircraft
Famous quotes containing the words reproduction, gee and/or bee:
“As the twentieth century ends, commerce and culture are coming closer together. The distinction between life and art has been eroded by fifty years of enhanced communications, ever-improving reproduction technologies and increasing wealth.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
“in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jing by gee by gosh by gum”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
“Where the bee sucks, there suck I,
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)