airracing

Granville R-6C Gee Bee Racer (XB-AKM) MSN 1 Crashed the 7th June 1939 in te Potomac River during is initial climb. A pioneer of commercial aviation in Mexico and a famous pilot, Francisco Sarabia Tinoco was returning to Mexico City after setting a record flight time of 10 hours, 43 minutes for a flight between that city and New York City. Just after take off from Bolling Field the Gee Bee Racer, named ' Conquistador del Cielo ', crashed in the Potomac River. His plane had gained about 100 feet of altitude when the engine failed, and the plane dumped into the Potomac River. Sarabia drowned. Reportedly an investigation showed that a mechanic had left a wipe rag inside the engine compartment and the rag had been sucked into the carburetor. aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=106665

01 July 1933, Municipal Airport, Los Angeles, CA. - Colonel Roscoe Turner established a new Transcontinental speed record and won the Bendix race from New York to Los Angeles. (In White hat below Turner) Tom Hynson of Pasadena CA., Truner's backer; (Standing in the cockpit) Roscoe Turner, (below Turner's left with white hat) Mrs. Turner and (next to Mrs. Turner and in dark blazer with medal on chest) Vicent Bendix, trophy doner.

It is the Sperry-Verville R.3 racer, as seen on this also front on picture of the machine. Dating from 1923 it had wheels that could retract, or as they named it at the time 'were foldable'. Underneath the fuselage are two Lamblin radiators for the water-cooled engine. This picture is in the collection of the SDASM :