Travel
Air Mystery Ship
Travel Air’s Model "R" possessed beauty, speed and
aeronautical design that paved the way for a new era in American aviation.
The legend of the "Mystery Ship" lives today . . . a legend started by
one man’s desire to build a winning racer.
Herb Rawdon sat patiently as Walter Beech paoor, pipe in hand. The
president of Travel Air wasn’t too happy about the past racing season’s
success.
Walter
Beech was always out to win. But Travel Air hadn’t won much in 1928.
There were victories, but there were defeats, too. Defeats handed down by
the military and competitors’ airplanes. Defeats that Beech didn’t
like.
Both
men knew that the hottest thing at Travel Air was a J-5 Model 4000 with
Speed Wings. Good, but not good enough. The subject turned to company
affairs and the 1928 racing season faded away.
Perhaps
Walter Beech let it fade away, but Herb Rawdon didn’t. Within his
engineering, innovative mind an idea was forming: a concept for victory on
the race circuit in 1929. Rawdon remembered Beech’s lament. There was a
solution, an avenue to success, which Travel Air could pursue. Rawdon
believed an airplane could be designed, built and flown that would defeat
the crop of souped-up, slicked-up biplanes being raced by the military
establishment. And, he believed his "concept racer" could be a winner
without 600 hp and the usual aerodynamic refinements employed by the
competition.
One
thing Herb Rawdon knew for certain: the genesis of such a ship was now,
not two months before the 1929 racing season started.
He
could expect little or no company assistance. The Travel Air production
line was humming with activity, cranking out Model 6000 monoplanes and the
ubiquitous biplanes at the rate of nearly 25 ships per week!
One
year separated defeat and victory for Travel Air, and Rawdon knew every
bit of those 12 months would be needed to make his concept a reality. But
he also knew he couldn’t do it alone. Help was found in Walter Burnham,
another engineer at Travel Air who Rawdon trusted and enjoyed working
with.
Burnham
listened to Herb’s idea to build a racer. It was certainly a challenge
both men wanted to tackle, but they agreed to keep the project quiet and
work on it at home. From that evening forward for the coming year, both
the Burnham and Rawdon families saw much less of their husbands and
fathers.
A
pattern of design was emerging from Rawdon’s mind. He had always admired
the sleek, powerful float-equipped Schneider racers, particularly Reginald
Mitchell’s Supermarine designs. The Schneider ships set the pace for
others to follow in speed and sheer power.
But
it was aeronautical design that Rawdon believed could turn the tide in
Travel Air’s favor. A carefully planned and executed airframe, utilizing
minimum frontal area and possessing low drag and light weight could, when
mated to an engine of sufficient horsepower, provide excellent
performance.
Monoplane
configuration was essential, as was fixed landing gear and room for only
the pilot. Wire bracing . . .
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Travel Air Mystery Ship N614K
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