1947 National Air Races

        1 Bailed out over Arizona
2 Landed in Michigan
               3 Landed at Pueblo, Colorado
       4 Did not start, fuel leak

Paul Mantz                                                              DeBona

Bruce Gimbel Ed Lunkin

William Eddy Tom Mayson

Jane Page Hlavcek Jim Ruble

Dianna Cyrus Joe Kinkella

Place	Pilot	Aircraft	Speed	Time
1	Col. Leon Gray	FP-80A	507.225	402:10
2	Maj. Clay Albright	P-80A	486.280	1
3	Capt. W.S. Patterson	P-80A	463.968	2
	1st Lt. E. A. Klapel	P-80A		3

1 & 2 Landed in Dayton OH due to weather
3 Landed in Kansas, engine problem

(Lucabaugh) Kevin Grantham Collection
Col. Leon Gray

                   SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio) sponsored the $5,500 P-38 race.Sohio provided
               the fuel  for most of the air racer's, they also provided the fuel for the Wright
                              Brothers first flight in 1903. No time trials,  limited to 12 racers due to the
                          racehorse start. Outcome of the race depended largely on flying skill, especially
on rounding pylons and the ability to improve the aircraft's speed.

               Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier who helped develop the P-38 "Lightening" that
                                      proved itself in air battles over Germany and in the Pacific theater made the
                    Sohio a one man race. Tony in his bright red No 3 took the lead in the first lap and
           finished the race two miles ahead of the field. J.D. Reed Of Houston Texas
                                        entered two P-38's, Charles Walling flew No 14 "Sky Ranger" to second place
                                        and Ivis Hill flew No 66 "Green Hornet " to third. John Thompson's No 27
                  was forth and Sonny Hlavacek was a rather slow fifth flying a tired No 63 that his
   wife flew in the Bendix "R" Division.

SOHIO Trophy Race

105 miles 7 laps of a 15 mile course

Place	Pilot	RaceNo	Aircraft	Speed
1	Tony LeVier	3	P-38L	360.866
2	Charles Walling	14	P-38	351.785
3	Ivis Hill	66	P-38L	347.391
4	John Thomson	27	P-38	328.739
5	Sonny Hlavacek	63	*F-5G	270.197
	John Saun	64	P-38	1
	William Lear Jr.	25	*F-5	2

*Photo version of the P-38
1 Out 1st lap
2 Disqualified

Tony LeVier Charles Walling

            Ivis Hill                                                                    John Thompson


      Sonny Hlovacek                                                       John Saun

William Lear Jr.

Did anyone fly lower than Tony LeVier ?.

Also new this year, The Kendall Oil Co. sponsored $5,500 P-51 Race. Kendall Oil
Company had been a generous supporter of air racing for many pre-war years.
Kendall Oil Co. reportedly offered a 10% bonus to winning flyers using Kendall Oil.

Woody Edmundson was first off the field and first to turn the scatter pylon, not far
behind was Steve Beville flying No 77 that took forth place in the 1946 Thompson.
On lap four, Edmundson's engine began to fail allowing Beville to take the lead.
Believing he had enough altitude to bail out Edmundson removed his shoulder
straps, but the A-36 was loosing altitude too fast to jump. Sliding across the ground
the plane hit a tree, the impact caused serious injury, from which he later recovered.
Jack Hardwick was out in lap three and Anson Johnson in lap 5, both with engine
problems. Beville went on to win the first Kendall race at a record closed course
speed of 384.6 mph.

Kendall Trophy Race

105 miles 7 laps of a 15 mile course

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Steve Beville	77	P-51D	384.602
2	Kendall Everson	44	A-36A	377.926
3	Woody Edmundson	15	A-36A	372.392
4	MW Fairbrother	21	P-51D	367.035
5	William Murray	31	P-51D	357.084
	Jack Hardwick	34	P-51C	1
	Anson Johnson	45	P-51D	2

                  1 Out 3rd lap
                2 Out 5th lap

          Steve Beville                                                                   Kendall Everson


   Woody Edmondson                                                  MW Fairbrother


     William Murray                                                         Jack Hardwick


                 Anson Johnson

                        The Tinnerman Company started out as a local west side Cleveland manufacture of hi-end kitchen ranges, when the
                        National Air Races came to Cleveland they were one of many companies eager to add their support. The Tinnerman
                        name appeared on some Benny Howard’s racers. Albert Tinnerman, son of the founder created a spring steel
                          fastener known as the "SPEED NUT". This speed nut was used on all aircraft manufactured in the USA for WW II.
                       Air Race Veteran Steve Wittman led the pack for the first four laps but engine trouble caused Steve to reduce power
                      on lap four. Ken Knight, 21 year old former Air Force fighter pilot moved into first place and Charlie Tucker moved
                       past Steve into second place on lap six. Unable to bring the power back up, Steve had to settle for third place. Ken
                        developed a slight leak in the water-alcohol line sending fumes into the cockpit. He was lucky to be able to finish.

Tinnerman Trophy Race

105 miles 7 laps of a 15 mile course

Place

Pilot

Race No

Aircraft

Speed

1
   Ken Knight
51
P-63A 352.168

       2    Chas Tucker 30 P-63C 347.657

       3    S J Wittman 4 P-63C 367.035

       4    A T Whiteside 87 P-63 313.513

       5    William Bour 55 P-63A 254.913

Ken Knight                                                            Charlie Tucker


       Steve Wittman                                                           A T Whiteside


               Wm Bour

Allison Trophy Race

500 mile Cross Country dash from
Cleveland to Indianapolis and return

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Capt. Bernor	8384	FP-80	494.297
2	Capt. Bishop	8302	P-80A	480.425
3	Lt Col. Schilling	5464	P-80A	478.227
4	1st Lt. LaRose	8355	P-80A	471.523
5	Capt. Wisner	8303	P-80A	457.588

Goodyear Trophy Race

The new light plane race sponsored by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Akron Ohio
was an immediate success, most of the 2.2 mile race course was in view of the stands.
The idea for the midget-plane was thought up at the 1939 pre-war Cleveland National
Air Races but did not go beyond the idea stage due to the war in Europe. The rules for
this race were written for the "back-yard mechanic" without a lot of money to spend.
The design had to be built around a stock 85 hp engine, fixed pitched propeller and
a non-retractable landing gear. Due to the large number of entries the race was run in
elimination heats of 10 laps, semi-final heats of 15 laps and final race consisted of 25
laps around the short rectangular course.

Final race of the Goodyear Series.

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Bill Brennand	20	Buster	165.857
2	Paul Penrose	5	Swee' Pea	165.393
3	Fish Salmon	4	Cosmic Wind	158.798
4	Tony LeVier	3	Little Tony	157.851
5	Warren Siem	44	Loose Siem	151.270
6	B F Robertson	19	Brown Spec	143.865

Bill Brennand Paul Penrose

Fish Salmon Tony LeVier

Warren Siem BF Robertson

The up-scale Halle Department Store again promoted women in aviation by supplying prize
money and a great trophy for the women-only Halle Race. Limiting the race to AT-6 and SNJ
aircraft, the ladies had modified each one. Absent was Marge Hurlbert, winner in '46, killed in
a air show accident in July. Jane Page who was a very close second in the 1946 race was
considered a favorite to win. One new entry this year was Dori Marland, a Hollywood actress
and former WASP squadron commander in WW II Marland's AT-6 was modified with a Ranger
inline engine and carried a very attractive red, white & blue paint job. Another new entry was
Edna Whyte, a veteran of many air races. Another new entry was Ruth Johnson who took the
lead on take-off followed very close by Dori Marland. The Ranger engine was not up to the task
and Marland was forced to put the AT-6 down in a field with little damage to the plane, she was
not injured. Ruth Johnson led the five laps of the fifteen mile race course to win the Halle Trophy.

Halle Trophy Race

75 miles 5 laps of 15 mile course

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Ruth Johnson	75	AT-6 Spec	223.390
2	Grace Harris	44	AT-6 Spec	215.090
3	Edna Whyte	42	SNJ-2 Mod	210.789
4	Jane Page	83	AT-6 Mod	209.356
5	Anna Logan	65	AT-6 Mod	186.851
	Dori Marland	49	AT-6 Mod	1

1 Crashed not injured

    Ruth Johnson                                                       Grace Harris


     Edna Whyte                                                                            Jane Page


Anna Logan                                                                 Dori Marland

The Thompson Trophy Race

Thompson "R" division
300 miles 20 laps of a 15 mile course

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Speed
1	Cook Cleland	74	F2G	396.131
2	Dick Becker	94	F2G	390.133
3	Jay Demming	11	P-39Q	367.625
4	Steve Beville	77	P-51D	360.840
5	Tony LeVier	3	P-38L-5	357.488
6	William Bour	55	P-63A	357.465
	Ron Puckett	18	F2G1	1
	Woody Edmundson	15	P-51A	2
	Paul Penrose	37	P-51D	3
	Tony Jannazo	84	F2G1	4
	Joe Ziegler	82	P-40Q	5
	Chas Walling	14	P-38J	6
	Jack Hardwick	34	P- 51C	7

                                                    1 Out 19th lap, engine problems
                                                              2 Crashed 11th lap, injured
                                                              3 Out 6th lap, engine problems
                                                              4 Crashed 7th lap, fatal
                                                              5 Bailed out 14th lap, injured
                                                              6 Out 2nd lap, engine problems
                                                              7 Crashed 1st lap, uninjured

Cook Cleland acquired four surplus Navy
Goodyear built F2G Corsairs, three to be
flown and one for static display or parts.
Cook flew # 74 which had a distinctive
experimental air scoop. The sub-rudder
was removed and the flaps were secured
in the up position. Cook was a dive bomber
pilot in the South Pacific, retired from the
United States Navy as a Captain.

            The second Cleland Corsair No 94 was flown
            by Cook's close friend Dick Becker. Also a
            ex-Navy pilot, Dick learned to fly at Pearl
            Harbor on week ends and became an enlisted
            pilot. Retired from the Navy as a Lt. Jg. He
            spent a thousand plus hours in flying boats in
            the South Pacific theater. Dick was also a test
            pilot for the Navy.

   Last year's winner Alvin "Tex" Johnson, test pilot
   for Bell Aircraft Co. was restricted from flying in
   this years National Air Races by Bell. Another
   Bell test pilot, Jay Demming had to resign his job
   to enter the Thompson Trophy Race. With all the
   modifications Cobra II was a rather un-stable
   aircraft requiring a pilot with great skill like a test
   pilot to control it.

(Bill Meixner collection)

         Steve Beville, winner of the SOHIO Trophy
         Race managed a very respectable fourth
         place against some pretty great odds as
         his P-51-D was a basically stock aircraft.

   Tony LeVier's P-38 L-5 was outclass by the
   big-bore Corsairs and the highly-modified
   Bell P-39-Q winner of last years Thompson.
   Tony had to depend on his years of racing
   experience and skill of a test pilot to place
   fifth. He beat Bour's P-63-A by only three
   hundred's of a second.

            Bill Bour also flew his P-63 A No 55 in the
            Tinnerman Trophy Race for P-63's only
            a short time before Thompson Trophy,
            placing fifth in the Tinnerman.

Ron Puckett another ex-Navy pilot was also able to
acquire a F2G Corsair. this one had very few
modifications, note the sub-rudder still attached.
Ron retired from the United States Navy as a
Commander and went to work for the FAA.

          Woody Edmundson was back with an A-36
          "City of Lynchburg" placing third in the Kendall
          Trophy Race. On lap No 11 somewhere south
          of the airport the engine exploded, Woody
          release his harness in order to jump free of
          plane but discovered the plane was too low.
          When the plane hit the ground, without his
          shoulder harness his head struck the instrument
          panel knocking him unconscious for a few
          moments.

Paul Penrose was pilot of J.D. Reed's P-51-D
painted in a beautiful bronze metallic finish.
The aircraft's name was chosen by J.D. Reed's
daughter in honor of her father. A broken oil line
sprayed oil on the upper part of the fuselage
including the windscreen, Paul had his head
partially out of the cockpit coming over the fence.

   The third Cleland Corsair was flown by Naval Reserve
   pilot Tony Jannazo. No 84 was a stock airplane and
   still had it's sub-rudder. Jannazo crashed South of the
   airport and was killed instantly. Suspected cause of
   the crash was carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jean "Skip" Zeigler was able to purchase a
on-of-a-kind Curtis P-40-Q. The P-40 was one
of the fighters we entered WW II with and
popularized by the volunteer group The Flying
Tigers. Spectators had trouble identifying him
as he was not listed on the program.

     Chas. Walling, another J.D. Reed pilot flew one of the
     two P-38's entered by Reed. It was a highly modified
     P-38-J with a very attractive paint job. An engine failure
     in the second lap forced him out of the Thompson.
     Walling placed second in the Sohio Race behind
     Tony LeVier.

    Jack Hardwick possibly never forgot those first
     four or five minutes of the Thompson when he
     was turning the scatter pylon while trying to avoid
     all the traffic the engine exploded. with very few
     options left, Jack had only seconds to decide how
     to avoid a field of parked cars. Crashing into some
     trees to avoid spectators he was uninjured but
     needed help freeing himself from the wreckage.

Thompson "J" division
180 miles 8 laps of a 22.5 mile course

Place	Pilot	Race No	Aircraft	Av. Speed
1	Lt. Col. Pedit	PN 388	P-80-A	500.704
2	Lt. Howard	PN 331	P-80-A	497.943
3	Lt. Col. Dunham	PN 309	P-80-A	494.656
4	Capt. Gates	PN 474	P-80-A	484.878
5	Lt. Col. Preston	PN 342	P-80-A	443.169
6	Capt. Powers	PN 334	P-80-A	430.234

The four pylon race course used for the SOHIO, KENDALL, HALLE
TINNERMAN, and The THOMPSON 'R' TROPHY in 1946, '47 '48.

Photos are from the Hansen collection unless otherwise noted.

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Updated Thursday, May 29, 2014