Travel Air Mystery Ship by Testors

1/48 scale
Kit No. 916
Cost: $15.00
Decals: One version for winner of 1929 National Air Races
Comments: Engraved panel lines, pilot figure included

History

The Travel Air Mystery Ship was one of the most iconic racing planes of the 1920’s, designed and built in secret to take on the military-sponsored racing planes of the U.S. Army and Navy which had dominated the National Air Races during the decade following World War I. On its first test flight, the racer exceeded the projected airspeed by 15 percent. With its stunning victory over the Army and Navy airplanes at the 1929 National Air Races, the Travel Air Mystery Ship jolted the U.S. military into phasing out biplanes and embracing the low-wing monoplane for future fighter designs.

The Type R “Mystery Ships” were a series of wire-braced, low-wing racing airplanes built by the Travel Air company in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They were so called, because the first three aircraft of the series (R614K, R613K, B11D) were built entirely in secrecy. In total, five Type Rs were built and flown by some of the most notable flyers of the day, including Jimmy Doolittle, Doug Davis, Frank Hawks, and Pancho Barnes, not only in races but also at air shows across the United States, and most notably, by Hawks in Europe.

The little red and black racer, low-wing in design, engine cowled with an NACA streamlined cover, and the wheels fully enclosed in streamlined pants (spats) was a portrait of speed. During construction two other types of cowling were tried but the NACA type proved to be the most efficient. The Travel Air “Mystery Ship” not only introduced the NACA cowl and spats to commercial aviation but also contributed toward the trend of low-wing military and commercial airplanes.

The fuselage was constructed of steel-tube and plywood covered, and the wings all wood and also covered with plywood. The wing span was 29 ft. 2 in. The first famous “Mystery Ship”, NR614K – race No. 31, actually had two sets of wing panels. One set for closed course racing and the other for cross country flights and competition.  Walter Beech and Loyd Stearman had approached Clyde Cessna and asked him to join with them in Travel Air. They began work in a small workshop at 535 W. Douglas Street in Witchita, Kansas. Their enterprise remained unnamed until the company president, Walter Innes, Jr. suggested “Travel Air.”

Testors kit is a re-issue of the Hawk kit originally released in 1964. This kit retains enormous appeal despite its age.

Stearman, Cessna and Beech became a nearly unbeatable combination. Cessna was an excellent salesman, as well as a designer and pilot. Stearman, with background as an architect, had become chief designing engineer of the Swallow Co. by 1923. Beech, a highly accomplished pilot with an extra measure of daring and skill, entered competitive air meets around the country, winning numerous trophies, public approval and orders for more planes.  Competing in air meets was still the best way to market a plane. In 1925 and 1926, Beech won top honors for Travel Air in the Ford Reliability Tours. By 1929, Beech garnered 19 air trophies. Travel Air planes broke records of distance, time, endurance and altitude.  Travel Air’s big success was the Model R – commonly called the Mystery S, a racing ship designed by two of Travel Air’s engineers in their spare time. By the time Beech asked for his racing plane, ten weeks time remained in which to design and build it. The engineers, Herb Rawdon and Walter Burnham, told him they might have just the thing.

The sleek little black and red Model-R mono-plane was flown to Cleveland from Wichita just before the National Air Races and was immediately placed in a hangar and covered with a canvas tarp.This secrecy resulted in the plane being nicknamed the “Mystery Ship”.This striking red and black aircraft appeared in the grand finale race,the highlight of the closed course races, and was listed in the official program as Event No. 26 and described as follows:

(1)A free-for-all speed contest for any type of airplane equipped with any type of motor or motors. Superchargers,special fuels,or any other means may be used to increase the speed of planes entered in this race.
(2)10 laps of the five mile course.
(3) Prizes: 1st, $750 and the Thompson Trophy: 2nd $450: 3rd: $300.

The National Air Races had been dominated by the Army and Navy until the “Mystery Ship” appeared, and spectators expected a real battle between the Army’s P&W R-1340-3 Wasp-powered Curtis XP-3A, and the Navy’s Curtis D-12 powered F6C-6 Hawk. both of them biplanes. Most were mildly curious when the newcomer, a small black and red low wing monoplane, was pushed up to the starting line. Everyone quickly found out when the starting flag was dropped, that the Mystery Ship was no mere novelty – it quickly took the lead and walked away from the military biplanes.

The Travel Air Mystery Ship was piloted by Doug Davis and he actually took the lead twice. Davis cut a pylon on the second lap, recircled it, as the rules required, and because he momentarily blacked out in the tight turn, circled it again. By this time Davis had been passed by the rest of the field, but took the lead again and easily won the race at an average speed of 194.9 mph…8.06 mph faster than the Army and 41.52 mph faster than the Navy! His fastest lap was 208.69 mph and he was doing 235 in the straight aways — faster than any other civilian airplane had ever flown in the U.S.

Doug Davis’s crushing defeat of the military biplanes was a defining moment in aviation history, causing the U.S military to look past the World War I technology and concentrate on the development of state-of-the-art aircraft. This was probably air racing’s greatest contribution to society, with another world war just over the horizon. Due to the Travel Air Mystery ship’s success, most aviation historians say that the Golden Age of Air Racing began on September 2, 1929 at the Cleveland, Ohio National Air Races. Doug Davis also put on an aerobatic show that was highlighted by vertical rolls,which awed the crowd who had never seen this before.

The Kit

Testors’ kit of the Travelaire Mystery Ship a 1991 re-issue of a kit first released by Hawk in 1964. The kit is injection molded in grey and consists of 28 parts, including a pilot figure and a single clear part for the windshield. There is no cockpit, although there is a tab representing the seat on which to cement the pilot, and that tab must be cemented to the interior sidewall of the fuselage. The kit bears engraved panel lines, many of which are intended to guide the modeler in recreating its unique black-and-red paint scheme, since in life the Mystery Ship had a plywood skin. There is a one-piece engine cowling and realistic stressed fabric-over-frame effects on the rudder and elevators. The kit includes a nine-cylinder radial engine of fair detail, complete with pushrods and a two-bladed propeller.

Markings

The kit decals are for a single Travelaire Mystery Ship, the first and arguably the most famous, serial number R614K, the machine that won the 1929 National Air Races. Also included are a couple of Travelaire logos. To make this kit look truly accurate, bracing wires will be needed. These will have to be scratch-built as this modeler is not aware of any aftermarket kits addressing the need for this accessory. The instructions suggest one of three methods: stretched sprue, thread, or .008 piano wire.

References

• goldenageofaviation.org
• aircracinghistory.freeola.com