06/03/2026
The GeeBee Racers - The GeeBee aircraft family was designed by the Granville Brothers. Hence the naming of the GeeBee line. The Granville’s produced over a dozen aircraft types. Pictured are 5 of the more infamous GeeBee aircraft. This is not a comprehensive history but a short visual story of the different models in photographs. The GeeBee Y was a sport plane and racer. It had two seats and was powered by several engines for this airframe, the 215hp and 300hp Lycomings and then pictured is the 450hp version. One GeeBee Z (wearing a yellow and black paint scheme) was a purpose built for racing that flew with two powerplants of 535hp and 700hp. It became well known for its wing failure filmed during a speed run in the 1930s. Also of note was a replica of the Z was the star of the 1991 movie, The Rocketeer. Two of the GeeBee R series aircraft (that wore red and white paint schemes) are pictured. The R-1, as race #11, famously flown by Jimmy Doolittle that raced with its 800hp engine. The GeeBee R-2, wearing #7, raced with a 550hp engine. In the 1990s an R-2 was replicated and flown on the airshow circuit by Delmar Benjamin. In 1934 a long range racing version of a GeeBee was designed and built for the Mac Robertson Race which was from London, England to Melbourne, Australia. It was much bigger than the other racers and carried the name Q.E.D. (Quad Erat Demonstrandum meaning “it is proven”). It was powered by a 675hp engine. Cool to note that the original QED survives in Mexico. It flew a famous flight from Mexico City to New York in 1939. The museums GeeBee is a modern QED replica flying with a Wright 1820 of 1400hp.
