Gee Bee Z, ready to fly?

Thanks for that post, JT! Beautiful work going on!

I seem to remember Delmar saying that it flies better on its side!

True read up the accident reports…Not all aircrafts fault

Some of you guys have no sense of adventure and have allowed myths and legends to persist. Delmar Benjamin flew his for some years on the American airshow circuit and put in some fairly serious hours in the machine without too much trouble. Kermit Weeks is not silly either and displays a professional approach to aviating. I reckon it is terrific these guys (and others) have gone to so much trouble to recreate these wonderful machines, to keep the knowledge alive and to dispel some of the tall stories.

Although, they have apparently managed to correct the flutter issues that made it so dangerous, I still think the last thing anyone should do with a Gee Bee is fly it. … and how claustrophobic it must feel with that lid down.

So that’s where it went. Thanks Mike.

And talking of rods and Gee Bee’s. Here is an example if you don’t wanna build an aircraft…
http://wildbillphoto.blogspot.no/2011/06/la-roadster-show-selections-gee-bee.html
T J

That was Kermit’s first flight in the GB!!!! That man has titanium cojones. The fast low past was awesome.

Here is the video that they play at Fantasy of Flight, which was recorded of Kermit’s first flight in the aircraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaCT_8sK-aM

I believe everything that was going to be done with regards to wing flutter with the aircraft has been taken care of – Kermit has said several times recently that he will just keep it under 220 mph and thus far enough away from the speeds that wing flutter would develop.

I’ve had a nearly life-long interest in the Gee Bee aircraft (though namely the R-1 and R-2), so I am thrilled about seeing one fly again. Watching the ‘Z’ just taxiing around reminds me of a street rod idling about, just raring to go.

Some might be surprised by just how many Gee Bee replicas/reproductions are currently in the works. This blog post pretty-well covers them, with a Gee Bee QED, an R-2, and two different R-1’s currently in the works (one of which is being done by a well known Reno air race pilot, Lee Oman). I believe the QED might very well be at Oshkosh this summer: http://supersolutionproject.blogspot.com/2013/01/golden-age-projects.html

Here are some newer photos of the “QED” reproduction from earlier this month: http://www.antiqueairfield.com/articles/show/1549-jim-moss-gee-bee-q-e-d-project
…and video of one of its first starts last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JcRzsgiTMM

This is a plane i really have bad feelings about — keep it on the ground ,it just doesn’t look right.

This one was built by Kevin Kimball at Zellwood. The REPEAT (Bill Turner) one ended up at the Museum of Flight in Seattle

I thought Weeks had the old “Rocketeer” replica built by Bill Turner. This one is built by someone else, which warrants the question, where is the ex- Bill Turner machine?

T J

He flew it twice, and has stated that he won’t fly it again until possible wing flutter issues have been resolved. There is a video of both the original and the replica in flight, and Kermit talking about it, on show at FoF

http://www.fantasyofflight.com/aircraftpages/geebee.htm

I’d rather Kermit didn’t fly this aircraft. The tail feathers look far too inadequate to me but he’s flown it before…