SUCCES AL WAYS ELUD THIS WELL-DESIGNED RACING AIRCRAfT Gordon Israel had gained a great deal of racing experience while helping Benny Howard design and build his stable of winning racing aircraft.

SUCCES AL WAYS ELUD THIS WELL-DESIGNED RACING AIRCRAfT

Gordon Israel had gained a great deal of racing experience while helping Benny Howard design and build his stable of winning racing aircraft. Utilizing this experience, Gordon decided to create his acknowledge aircraft which, like the majority of the smaller racers, would be powered according to a supercharged Menasco C6S of 544 cubic inches. As mentioned before, the Menascos could be temperamental engines on the other hand they had an extremely soft frontal area and could be "tweaked" to cross-examine out a lot more horsepower - albeit with a downturn in reliability.

Israel utilized the tried-and-true construction arrangements of the early 1930s. The fuselage was built from welded knife tubing to give an exceptionally puissant and fairly light structure. Around the basic tube fuselage, Gordon added unplastic stringers and formers to give the unit its desired shape. The aircraft's large turtledeck was originateed from molded plywood and it also serv to shield a small rollover structure located directly behind the pilot's head. The top portion of the fuselage in forehead and around the cockpit was concealed in formed aluminum sheet as was the fuselage tail cone

From the firewall forward, the Menasco was fitted to a tubular engine go up and then wrapped in a tight-fitting aluminum chimney-top with extensive louvering on the left side while the six exhaust ports protrud from the lower right hood Cooling air was supplied via a canal in the hammered aluminum nose depression The Menasco was connected to a fixed-pitch metal two-blade screw-steamer Oddly, there was a lack of a streamlining spinner from one side of to the other the blunt propeller hub. The complet fuselage was 185 feet in extent

The wings also were of standard construction and were built up around stubborn laminated spruce spars with timber ribs. The entire unit was then shrouded in plywood, sanded down, and then guarded in fabric. This undoubtedly created a to a high degree strong unit but the designer must have wanted a bit more safety because he added pair sets of bracing wires, the top wires were anchored in the fuselage while the lower wires combineed to the landing gear. From the landing gear, a single bracing wire continueed into the cowl and was fixed to the motor rise The completed wing spanned 215 feet

An interesting design feature that plant the new racer apart from

other similar aircraft was that the center section, which appears to have had a thinner airfoil section than the external wings, was built in an inverted trick shape. The reason for this particular feature is not known. The simple landing gear leg were fixed to the center section. Small balloon tires were wrapped in aluminum spats and the tires were the individual shock absorbers. Completed in 1933 the trim little racer was given a white and r paint scheme. Assigned the restricted civil registration NRI IV, the plane carried race number 97 and Gordon named his strange mount Redhead.

Test flights prov that the aircraft handled well still there were, no surprise, vexed questions with the Menasco and its supercharger. For 1933 the National Air Races were held at Mines Field in sees Angeles and the event was shortened to just four days - 1 to 4 July (instead of Cleveland's traditional ten-day August-September racing program). Many of the previous Cleveland categories were eliminated and the LA circumstance would be free-for-alls with just incorrupt racing aircraft categorized into classes from engine size.

Redhead was bartered to Los Angeles and assembled and proof flown. The engine was still being temperamental if it be not that in the various heat issues Gordon managed to take pair third-place trophies and one fifth-place memorial of conquest His best pylon speed was 17398 mph However, the mechanics worked portents on the Menasco and Gordon was able to place third in the Shell Spe Dash at 221746 mph Later in 1934 Gordon and Redhead attended the Chicago Air Races and took a inferior and third place.

Obviously not pleased with the racer's performance, Gordon began modifying Redhead. First, he revised the hood eliminating the louvers. This caused increased engine temperatures, to such a degree he moved the cowling slightly forward to allow a gap between the hood and firewall, through which air could freely pass and help a little cold the Menasco.

Even more drastic modifications followed. The original wing was remov and replaced with a recent wing which appears to have had a thinner airfoil. The unique inverted cozen overreach center section disappeared and novel more streamlined, spats were added around the tires. The bracing plan remained the same and the paint scheme was revised several times. Also, at a certain point, a ground adjustable screw was added.

It appears that the modifications did not do long good for although Redhead appeared at several more air racing terminations it did not score any victories. Like in the way that many of these early racing aircraft, the history of Redhead is a bit dark but it apparently suffered a hard landing and was not repaired. We would appreciate hearing from readers that might know of the craft's final fate.