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Formula Air Racing Hits Europe
By: Don Berliner
More than 70 years ago, American air racing was in trouble. Serious, long-term and potentially fatal trouble. There might still have been time to correct its problems, but there was no time to waste in endless meetings and committees and studies.

In the late 1930’s, the Cleveland National Air Races still ranked as the supreme event in the sport, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators and world-wide press coverage. The Los Angeles-to-Cleveland Bendix Trophy Race and the slam-bang Thompson Trophy Race around the pylons continued to inspire thousands of young men (and a few women) into flying careers, and far more of them into the model airplane hobby.

But a few old timers who were willing to step back and take an objective look at the way things were headed saw some depressing trends developing. A few well-financed teams were winning so regularly that the “little guy” had become discouraged. The once-steady flow of new designs and new ideas had been reduced to a mere trickle. In the final two pre-World War II Cleveland Air Races, the only significant new racer to make its debut was Art Chester’s “Goon”.

It was becoming clear that if nothing were done to reverse the course on which history was headed, aviation’s classic public spectator event might have no more than two or three years left. The sport that had begun with an explosion of enthusiasm at Reims, France, in 1909, was on its way out.

The organizers of the Cleveland spectacle got together with the leaders of the Professional Race Pilots Association (PRPA) after the 1939 National Air Races and came up with a single unanimous proposal: small, low-powered “midget” racers that would be guided by strict regulations to improve safety and close competition and hold costs down. Short race courses and short, quick heat races would add to the spectator appeal. All of this might even lead to a series of regional elimination races, culminating in a true national championships at Cleveland.

Then fate stepped in. On the same weekend that the 1939 National Air Races held forth at Cleveland Airport, Nazi tanks crashed across the Polish border and the world quickly became engulfed in its second World War. Any thoughts of air racing were overwhelmed by the need to throw everything aeronautical into a massive effort to defeat this attempt to destroy civilization.

Once the war had ended and the Allies had won, it was time to return to Cleveland and the National Air Races. The problem of shrinking entry lists vanished with the sudden availability of superbly designed surplus U.S. Army and Navy fighters that were far faster, safer and cheaper than the old style of raceplanes. Scores of them were bought by ex-military pilots who wanted to put their skills to a new test. Not a custom-built racer could be seen at Cleveland in 1946.

The new planes—Mustangs and Lightnings and Cobras and Corsairs—were gloriously fast and glamorous and noisy. What they weren’t, however, was personal. The old Chester and Wittman and Keith Rider and Wedell-Williams racers were one-of-a-kind machines, many of them built in garages by one or two men who might have had to mortgage their homes to pay for a good engine. These new ones had been built in huge, impersonal factories. After a couple of days of racing, they began to look alike to most of the crowd, and many were seen walking out during the finale Thompson Trophy Race.

The old answer was brought down from the attic, dusted off, polished up and modified to fit the available engines. In a matter of weeks the plan was approved by the PRPA and then by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), sanctioning body for all American aviation sports. The solution was called the 190 Cubic Inch Class, but more often referred to as the Goodyear midgets, and eventually Formula One

If enough “midget racers” could be designed, built and tested in time for the next in the annual series of multi-class air racing meets, there was a chance that the decline could be halted or at least slowed. Nothing like this had been tried before, and so it was clearly a very risky experiment. The pool of experienced builders was shallow, as the flying of amateur-built airplanes was illegal in America. Except for air show and racing airplanes.

Amazingly, by the start of qualifying time trials on the west side of Cleveland in late August, 1947, 13 racers were ready, having been created in just seven months after the rules were formally approved. Almost half were re-engined and re-winged reincarnations of small 1930’s racers, and several other completely new designs were the products of designers and builders having pre-war experience. Still, preparing airplanes for the first class in air racing history ever to have an elaborate set of do’s and don’t’s was a daunting challenge.

In the past, the most popular events were “free-for-alls” in which there were absolutely no limitations on design, construction or power. Even in minor classes, little more than the maximum size of the engine was prescribed, with everything else left up to the individual’s creativity and common sense. It was in this atmosphere of almost complete freedom that air racing had prospered since its debut in 1909, and had produced major advancements in the art and science of aeronautics, especially in streamlining, engines and fuels.

It remained to be seen how air racing people would respond to absolute minimums (wing area, empty weight, pilot visibility), absolute maximums (engine displacement and modifications) and tough pre-race flight tests. The minimum wing area was set at 66 sq. ft. (6.1 sq. m.) to keep take-off and landing distances reasonable. Stock engines using standard aviation gasoline were expected to be more reliable than modified ones, and thus of lower long-term cost. The minimum empty weight of 500 lbs. (227 kg.) was established to discourage builders from dangerously cutting corners in order to reduce weight. And the requirement for good pilot visibility was to reduce the chances of running into another airplane that was in a pilot’s blind-spot.

But respond, they did. Twelve of the 13 airplanes passed all the measurements and tests and were ready to enter the Eliminations Heats, Semi-Final Heats and the Finals. The 13th suffered catastrophic wing damage during mandated flight tests, but the pilot was able to bail out safely, thanks to the new rule that required him to wear a parachute.

The airplanes ranged from Steve Wittman’s “Buster” (a re-build of his 1930’s “Chief Oshkosh”) with its squared-off wings and classic construction of steel tube, plywood and fabric, to Art Chester’s more exotic “Swee’ Pea”, which took its cooling air in through a hole in the center of its propeller spinner and used a two-element V-tail like the still-new Beechcraft Bonanza. Alongside them were the twin Cosmic Winds of Lockheed test pilots Tony LeVier and Herman “Fish” Salmon which had been designed by professional engineers and built entirely of aluminum on a miniature assembly line. While there were alternatives available, every builder chose (and long continued to choose) the 188 cu. in.(3.08 liters), air-cooled, four-cylinder, horizontally-opposed Continental C-85, which developed 85 hp at 2,550 rpm, and more hp and rpms with a special racing propeller.

The wide variety of colorfully-painted 500-600-lb. (227-272 kg.) racers sped around the historically short oval course (only 2.2 miles or 3.5 km. vs. 20 miles or 32 km. for what are now called “Unlimiteds”) and not one pilot dropped out of any of the eight heat races for mechanical or any other problems. The final race, for 15 laps around the rectangular course, was won by 18 year-old, 105-lb.(48 kg.) Bill Brennand at 165.9 mph (267 kph), barely 100 yards (90 m.) ahead of Paul Penrose at 165.4 mph (266 kph). The winner flew veteran Steve Wittman’s “Buster”, while the runner-up flew veteran Art Chester’s brand new V-tailed “Swee’ Pea”.

The class was an immediate hit with the fans, the participants and the air races management, all of whom reveled in the close competition in truly individual and personal airplanes. Each heat race was short and decisive, completed before it could become a boring parade. The idea quickly spread to Miami’s mid-winter All-American Air Maneuvers and soon spawned regional and local races from California to New York. By the second race for Cleveland’s Goodyear Trophy, the entry list had doubled and speed records jumped. The midgets of the new 190 Cubic Inch Class had proven completely safe, highly competitive and the most economical vehicles in motorracing.

The class soldiered along after the end of the Cleveland National Air Races in 1949, and of its replacement Continental Trophy Race in Detroit after 1952, with small meets in such obscure locations as Dansville, New York, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin (before the Experimental Aircraft Association settled there and made it famous). When big-time, multi-class air racing finally returned in the barren desert near Reno, Nevada, in 1964, the midgets were the only existing class upon which to build a new era. And it was the midgets that were chosen by the Royal Aero Club in London to introduce true class racing to Europe in 1970.

In 60 years of midget racing, some 350 pilots have raced 240 different custom-built airplanes in 250 race meets in seven countries. Despite the obvious risks involved in pylon racing, there have been but 12 fatalities during actual competition, equal to just one every five years.
About Don Berliner:
Don Berliner is the president of the Society of Air Racing Historians, and an experienced air racing journalist and practioner.
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