Occasionally, I run into an (un-explored) aircraft in my Archive that brings such a pleasant surprise, and also so much fun to fly...! This happened today with the (respected SIM developer) Golden Age Simulation (GAS) created "Travel Air Mystery Ship", which is the topic of my post here. In one of my earlier posts (on Alabeo Gee Bee Z), I'd mentioned the (prestigious) Thompson Trophy Race of the 1930s. The Race's first competition would take place at the Cleveland Municipal (now Hopkins) Airport, in Ohio, in 1929.

Until then (1928), all the National Air races had been completely dominated by military competitors, simply because the military had (ready) access to the:

1. Most advanced (fighter) air-frames of the time
2. Most powerful (purposely built) engines
3. Most skilled pilots to fly such planes

The indomitable Walter Beech was "fuming"...he had had enough! BTW, Walter Beech would be later famous as the principal founder of the Beechcraft Company (in 1932), along with his wife Olive Ann Beech, and three other partners. Upon his return to the Travel Air Company as CEO, he summoned his lead designer to his office and gave him his marching orders: build an aircraft that will beat the military and have it done in time for the 1929 racing season...and a legend was born (the Travel Air Type R "Mystery Ship"). The construction of the aircraft was kept a (closely-guarded) secret prior to the 1929 Cleveland Air Races, with the builders even going so far as painting the windows on the factory to keep the curious press from getting a look at it. The local Wichita (KS) paper, however, picked up on the scent of the secret program, with one reporter even going so far as to use a ladder to try to peek into the vents in the factory roof. So, the paper dubbed it the "Mystery Ship" and the name stuck....

For the upcoming race, Walter Beech chose, an hitherto unknown pilot, Doug Davis, to fly the Mystery Ship in the first (1929) Thompson Trophy competition. Doug Davies had previously volunteered in WW I, serving as a pilot, and had been since performing "barnstorming" displays throughout the U.S., in a Curtiss Jenny. On that eventful day of September 2, 1929, during the first part of the race, due to a technical fault on Doug Davis's part (he accidentally cut a pylon), per the prevailing rules, he had to redo the circle, while the military fighters passed by him and went ahead of him. But, by the time, the afternoon drew to a close, Doug Davis had done more than won a race. As he and his (underdog) Red & Black Mystery Ship came from behind and roared across the finish line first, he had re-written racing history, against all odds, beating the best of the Army and Navy fighters, previously considered invincible! His civilian airplane was the first ever to defeat a military aircraft in air-racing! His recorded speed was 194.5 mph. Also, unknowing to him, his triumph had re-directed the thinking of the U.S. military, away from the mindset of biplanes, towards totally new re-designs based on the monoplane concept, to be of (future) significance in preparation for (the yet unforeseen) WW II, that was about to descend on the mankind within about a decade! This remarkable aviator, Doug Davis, would, however, die young, in 1934, during one of his many record-breaking speed attempts. He was later inducted into Aviation Hall of Fame.

So, please find below the Travel Air Mystery Ship R, in the same Red and Black color scheme, on a short (leisurely) ~100 miles sight-seeing trip from (Seattle) KSEA to Vancouver (CYVR) - one of my favorite short hops in the SIM. Look for a picture of Doug Davis, with his Thompson Trophy, thoughtfully placed by GAS, in one of the cockpit shots below. I hope you'll enjoy these images of this classic trend-setter of a (very fast) "monoplane" design. Only five were built, and one example, Texaco Travel Air, is now preserved at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (if you wish, you can look it up on-line on their Exhibit list), which I'd a chance to see, during my visits to the Museum, many years ago. [Final Note: I'm not into "Racing", but, if you're, this (SIM) plane will surely not disappoint you]. Thanks for reading and viewing. [GAS(Mystery Ship)/Orbx(PNW)/REX]

Travel Air Mystery Ship... "Sticking it to the Man" 90 years ago! Great history lesson P-7878 and lovely screenies.

***Love those Old Radials*** 

Very interesting history lesson again, P_7878! And great screenies too

Is that Pancho Barnes in there!?! 🙂

 

Folks: Thanks for the comments!

Patrick:

Yes, those (Big) Radials were something! Surely, not suitable for the leisurely sightseeing "stroll" my images seem to convey...🙂...whether in RL or in the SIM....Of course, my FSX sound is muted here...!

And, I, just now, felt like looking up e.g. the Pratt & Whitney series radials a bit: starting from the Wasp Junior that featured in the (tiny) Gee Bee Z (subsequent to Mystery Ship), through the Twin Wasp that went on the venerable DC-3, to the Wasp Major that powered the famous B-50 Superfortress...it was quite a fascinating evolution...!

[And, Rightseat:...🙂...With the (archaic) photographic techniques, in practice, in 1929, yes, you never know, it's probably hard to tell...]

Great post 78!

Geez it's been about 13 years ago but I did some paintwork on a real Mystery Ship built by Jim Younkin.

Jim was a genius and easily among the smartest people I've ever know and he scratch built many vintage aircraft.

He recently passed away and it was a great loss to the EAA community and aviation in general.

I'll have to see if I can dig the pics up from my old computer.

Skully:

Wow! Painting on a RL Mystery Ship....I initially thought, maybe, you'd done a (SIM) repaint for the GAS Mystery Ship!

And, I know (I've read many such accounts), rebuilding or restoring classic aircraft is very hard work (requiring a tremendous amount of patience and love for what one is doing), also, often, at great personal sacrifice. So, kudos to those, who do that kind of thing, including the gentleman you've mentioned here...must have been a great honor to know him...

BTW, Skully, I separately, just posted, a set of textures (may not be fully exhaustive) of the (various) R-Type Mystery Ship colors, along with some Stewart (BC) scenery. Maybe, those aircraft-colors would remind you, which one you had touched 13 years ago, during the restoration work, you've mentioned...Anyway, thanks for this (priceless) remembrance!