Flying
Bayles began taking flying lessons from a former World War I instructor pilot. He eventually bought a surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny The Jenny was lost when he stopped over in Herrin, Illinois during a gang war between Charlie Birger and the Shelton Brothers Gang. Birger had been bombed from the air and he mistook Bayles' plane for the bomber and had the plane dynamited.
After a stint back in the mines, Bayles began barnstorming around the country. In 1928 he partnered with H. Roscoe Brinton starting a flying service in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Due to the Great Depression, orders for aircraft had stopped and the Granville Brothers Aircraft Company saw the air racing circuit as a way to stay in business. To raise seed money for the air racing operation, the "Springfield Air Racing Association" (SARA) was formed. A group of local Springfield merchants and businessmen who sought to promote Springfield bought shares to fund creation of the racing planes. Bayles added $500 of his own money to be the pilot in the venture.
Bayles flew the Gee Bee Model X in the Cirrus Derby in 1930, coming in second and sharing the $7000 purse with the Granvilles.
In 1931, Bayles piloted a Gee Bee Model E Sportster in the Ford National Reliability Air Tour, coming in fourth in the point standing and winning the Great Lakes Trophy for a total of $2000 in prize money.
At the 1931 National Air Races, Bayles and the Gee Bee Model Z, christened the "City of Springfield," cleaned up, first winning the $7500 Thompson Trophy prize with an average speed of 236.239 miles per hour (380 km/h), then the Shell Speed dash with an average of 267.342 miles per hour (430 km/h), breaking the speed record for the course, then won the Goodyear Trophy race with an average of 206 miles per hour (332 km/h).
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Famous quotes containing the word flying:
“Bonnie Lee: Oh, it’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen.
Geoff Carter [sarcastically]: Yes, it reminded you of a great big, beautiful bird, didn’t it?
Bonnie: No, it didn’t at all. That’s why it’s so wonderful. It’s really a flying human being.
Geoff: Well, you’re right about one thing. A bird’d have too much sense to fly in that kind of muck.”
—Jules Furthman (1888–1960)
“You’ve always reminded me of a seagull, Jo. Strong and wild and fond of the wind and storms. And dreaming of flying far off to sea. And Mother always said that I was like a little cricket. Chirping contentedly on the hearth, never able to bear the thought of leaving home.”
—Victor Heerman (1893–1977)
“The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)