1939 National Air Races

Early arrivals at the hangar line on a race day.

Program cover

!939 attendance broke all records, the 30,000 car parking lot was almost full,
  even though the total prize money for the three day event was cut by $17,000.
The only new design for the 1939 races was the Floyd-Bean special, but it was
damaged on landing in an early test flight and did not appear at the races.
Steve Wittman's "Chief Oshkosh" which crash landed in the 1938 Oakland race
was not rebuilt.  Benny Howard's "Ike" & "Mike" now painted yellow by their new
owner were prevented from racing by numerous mechanical problems.
The Brown "Miss Los Angeles" which had it's wire braced wing and fixed landing
gear replaced by a cantilever wing with retractable landing gear was restored to
it's original wing and gear after the change was found to be ineffective. The Keith
Rider R-6 "Eight Ball" returned with a new elliptical wing and no spinner on it's
propeller. The "eight ball" graphic no longer appeared on the sides of the fuselage.
 The situation in Europe  exploded into war, the Henderson brothers decided to
retire  from managing the National Air Races for other business interests.
It was obvious this would be the last air race for an unknown period of time.

Bendix Trophy Race

Seven aircraft  were entered but  Jacqueline  Cochran decided  not  to  launch
into a heavy fog. One new pilot entry was Arlene Davis flying her new Spartan
Executive 7W, the other, William Maycock  flying a Beechcraft D-17s.The three
engine  Bellanca was back, flown by Arthur Bussy. Frank Fuller  returned  with
his Seversky , Paul Mantz in his Orion and Max Constant in a Beechcraft D-17.

                                     Frank Fuller Seversky                                                                                Arthur Bussy Bellanca 

                         Paul Mantz Lockheed Orion                                                                             Max Constant Beechcraft D-17

                     Arlene Davis Spartan Executive 7W                                                             William Maycock Beechcraft D-17S

                                                           2 Out lap 11
                                                           3 Out lap 12
                                                           4 Not able to start
                                                           5 Crashed fatally

      
                               Chester "Goon"                                                                                                   "Firecracker"                                                      

Crosby CR-4

                                                                               Thompson Trophy Race

The race course remanded the same 30 laps for 300 miles.
There  were  no new  racers entered for  this year. Earl Ortman had installed
a new three  blade constant speed propeller hoping to beat Turner who had
recorded a lap at 299 mph. Tony LeVier's "Firecracker's" engine had been
 soup up  to over 500 hp, estimated capable of 350 mph. Due to heavy rains
the races were postponed to Tuesday which kept attendance down. Seven
planes  were off and headed to the scatter pylon, Turner was fourth off  and
Tony  LeVier moved into the lead by lap five, followed  by Art Chester in the
 "Goon".  Earl Ortman was next in his Marcoux-Bromberg. Turner had a slow
take-off and was in fourth place. Steve Wittman cut the scatter pylon and was
penalized a full lap. Turner came up from forth to take the lead from LeVier in
the ninth lap. Art Chester who was in third place developed engine trouble in
the  eighteenth lap and retired.  Earl Ortman took over third place and  Harry
Crosby finished forth with Steve Wittman only able to take fifth place after a
great effort to get back in the money.  Joe Mackey flying Turner's old Wedell
 William's finished last.  Days before the Thompson was run, Hitler marched
into  Poland  and  World War II was beginning.  Also  the Thompson  Trophy
deed of gift  had expired and  here was no more prize money or plaques.

 
 Turner Laird #29                                                                                     LeVier Firecracker  

               
                 Earl Ortman's Marcoux-Bromberg                                                                               Harry Crosby CR-4                          

                        
Wittman Bonzo                                                                                                     Joe Mackey

Chester Goon

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Turner	29	Laird-Turner	282.536
2	Tony LeVier	70	Schoenfeldt	272.538
3	Earl Ortman	3	Marcoux	254.435
4	Harry Crosby	52	Crosby CR-4	244.522
5	Steve Wittman	4	Wittman Bonzo	241.361
6	Joe Mackey	25	Wedell-Williams	232.926
DNF	Art Chester	5	Chester Goon	1.

1. out 18th lap

 

Photo's are from the Likovetz and Hansen collection unless otherwise noted.

 

 

 

 

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You are the th person to pop in on us since October  06, 2007.  Thank You for landing, please  go-around and land again later. C A V U

Updated Tuesday, January 17, 2012