my Dad called the Gee Bee’s ‘ flying milk-bottles ‘ !!!

What a History ! The United States of America !! Its fantastic ! So much greatness..so many great americans !! Were still number one ! Sure no doubt In my mind...God Bring his greatest blessings upon America and all true Americans!! Salute Brothers and Sisters..

What an amazing time that must of been.

Much regards for a fine offering on these great people.

Fantastic documentary of a fantastic , revolutionary aircraft. Thank you.

One of my neighbors was a test engineer at Pratt & Whitney and worked with Ed. Ed was the manager of one of Pratt's machine shops. My neighbor said Ed was very talented and could fabricate anything.

Very cool documentary. I never knew anything about the Gee Bee's origins. Thank you.

One of my favorite Historical Aircraft with a history of mishaps and great Trials by the Granville Brothers. This little plane was one with a misrepresented negative reputation.

37:45 Actually Kevin Kimball from FL, he is (one of the last real Gee Bee Z experts) claims that the airplane had a ground loop the day before the record flight, after the P&W 985 was removed and the P&W 1340 was installed for the speed record attempt. The ground loop was said to cause the right wing to hit the ground. If you slow down the video and watch the crash scene, you'll see that the right wing failed, but didn't break at the point the flying & landing wires where attached. It failed at the pitot tube location on the front spar diagonally to the outboard aileron hinge. A 1” hole was drilled through the front spar and the tube passed thru, so pitot lines were behind the spar. The spar is small at that point leaving less wood above and below the hole than the size of the hole. Kevin suspect the ground loop cracked the spar at the pitot tube hole. The other fact is in the Detroit Daily News of the day after the crash. A race course worker at the start end of the speed run is quoted stating the pitot tube fell to the ground near him before the wing broke as Bayles passed by. The gas cap theory was based on a statement by an official on scene that saw the cap and his goggles near each other not far from the wreckage and Bayles’ body. A convenient way to cover up any potential structural problems or mechanical neglect that could prevent them from making potential sales of their aircraft line for the future. Also while you have the video slowed down to watch the footage, You'll note how the plane is diving into the course and pitches down a few degrees followed by what seems to be a reactionary pull up on the stick pitching the nose up just through level flight when the wing fails. This is all in just a few frames of film. A sudden spike in G load from the quick correction after a bit of sink with a damaged wing is a perfect storm for such a disaster and thus far makes much more sense as to what most likely happened vs the official report.

Please fio the volume level .

The first time I saw a Gee Bee race plane I was young, I can't remember exactly how old I was. It was in a picture probably on a plastic model box. I was very much into assembling models between age 11 and 15. The distinctive shape of the Gee Bee always stuck with me. Thank you very much for posting this video. It was wonderful to get to understand the history behind this amazing aircraft.

Kermit Weeks can fly this ludicrously dangerous aircraft. He also demonstrates, through scientific analysis, these machines were prone to flutter. Utterly deadly aeroplanes.

The narrator sounds like the same guy that would do Wings episodes on Discovery Channel back in the 90s

Absolutely terrific piece of video, highly inspiring, save one feature: can't something be done about the inadequate audio? Could not even make out some of the interview dialogue, even with all sliders to the max!

Now this is pod racing!

What I can't hear

Kinda make me think of how close the Granville Brothers came in becoming a big present in aviation to this day. The guys who made the D.G.A. 108 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y8WAjLmDtMm5doE.html fellow race plane maker of the early 1930's was able to provide light transport aircraft during WW2 and Ryan Aircraft is still here .

welcome to the strange part of youtube

37:45 Actually Kevin Kimball from FL, he is (one of the last real Gee Bee Z experts) claims that the airplane had a ground loop the day before the record flight, after the P&W 985 was removed and the P&W 1340 was installed for the speed record attempt. The ground loop was said to cause the right wing to hit the ground. If you slow down the video and watch the crash scene, you'll see that the right wing failed, but didn't break at the point the flying & landing wires where attached. It failed at the pitot tube location on the front spar diagonally to the outboard aileron hinge. A 1” hole was drilled through the front spar and the tube passed thru, so pitot lines were behind the spar. The spar is small at that point leaving less wood above and below the hole than the size of the hole. Kevin suspect the ground loop cracked the spar at the pitot tube hole. The other fact is in the Detroit Daily News of the day after the crash. A race course worker at the start end of the speed run is quoted stating the pitot tube fell to the ground near him before the wing broke as Bayles passed by. The gas cap theory was based on a statement by an official on scene that saw the cap and his goggles near each other not far from the wreckage and Bayles’ body. A convenient way to cover up any potential structural problems or mechanical neglect that could prevent them from making potential sales of their aircraft line for the future. Also while you have the video slowed down to watch the footage, You'll note how the plane is diving into the course and pitches down a few degrees followed by what seems to be a reactionary pull up on the stick pitching the nose up just through level flight when the wing fails. This is all in just a few frames of film. A sudden spike in G load from the quick correction after a bit of sink with a damaged wing is a perfect storm for such a disaster and thus far makes much more sense as to what most likely happened vs the official report.