Gee-Bee R-2 Super Sportster:
During the Great Depression the market for Sport airplanes was all but gone, the only thing left going was air racing, and an amazingly large sum of prize money was being offered at the Cleveland National Air Races. Robert Hall the Granville brothers engineer, convinced the Granvilles to build a racer that could win the Thompson Trophy Race. to help the Granvilles afford this project, Bob Hall got Pratt & Whitney to loan them the hopped up R-985 that the Laird Super Solution used to win the Thompson Race the previous year, and Curtiss loaned them a prop. Also the Springfield Air Racing Association (SARA) was formed to induct local civic pride and money. Shares of the association were sold to Springfield, Mass business men. So the Gee Bee-Z was built.