Engineering:Gee Bee Senior Sportster

Model Y Senior Sportster
Role	Sports plane
National origin	United States of America
Manufacturer	Granville Brothers
Designer	Robert Hall
First flight	1931
Number built	2

The Gee Bee Model Y Senior Sportster was a sports aircraft built in the United States in the early 1930s by the Granville Brothers. Essentially an enlarged two-seat version of the single-seat Sportster, it was a low-wing strut-and-wire-braced monoplane of conventional—if short-coupled—design with open cockpits and fixed tailskid undercarriage. The first of the two examples constructed (registration NR11049) was built for the Granville Brothers company itself and served as a support aircraft for the R-1 and R-2 racers and also for competition in its own right. The other Model Y (registration NR718Y) was built as an engine testbed for Lycoming. This latter aircraft was later refitted with a Wright Whirlwind of nearly double the power of its original powerplant. In this form, it was flown by Florence Klingensmith at the 1933 Chicago International Races, where she won second place in the Women's Free-For-All and was killed in it while contesting the Phillips Trophy.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Capacity: 1 passenger
• Length: 21 ft 0 in (6.40 m)
• Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
• Height: 7 ft 5 in (2.25 m)
• Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming R-680, 215 hp (160 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 160 mph (260 km/h)

References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp. 416. 
• aerofiles.com
• The Golden Age of Aviation