CROSBY SPECIALS

Air Classics, Oct 2004 by O'Leary, Michael

THESE INNOVATIVE LITTLE RACERS NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO FULLY PROVE THEMSELVES

During the mid-1930s, Harry Crosby of Pasadena, California, had started dreaming of a racer - a very high-speed racer. Fortunately for Crosby, Pasadena was (and still is) home to the California Institute of Technology and the wind tunnel of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Foundation (portions of the tunnel are now in the Kermit Weeks collection). The wind tunnel and the expertise of the CIT staff would help the young designer mold the form of his racing aircraft.

Going against the trend of other race plane builders, Crosby decided to make his racer out of aluminum. At that point in time, most of the aircraft were being built out of wood or were of composite construction using a steel tube fuselage, wood wing, and fabric covering.

The first aircraft went together fairly rapidly. Designated CR-3 (Crosby Racer, number three - the first two were apparently paper designs), the new aircraft was a bit unusual looking with a long, narrow fuselage (19-ft 6-in) that was fitted with a Menasco C-6S4 Super Buccaneer capable of 350-hp when everything was going right.

Crosby handled all the flight testing for the CR-3 and entered the aircraft in the 1936 Thompson event. The race for 1936 was to be held at Mines Field, Los Angeles, on 4-7 September. When Crosby arrived at Mines, the racer had a rather unfinished appearance since it had made its first flight just a week earlier! Now registered R260Y/Race 52, there had not been time to finish a spinner for the propeller hub. Also, a crude windshield was fitted since the enclosed canopy structure could not be completed in time. Crosby had experience several minor landing mishaps during the test flights and the plan to make covers for the retractable landing gear had to be dropped. The Thompson course this year was a 15-lap 150-mi event.

There were only seven aircraft entered in the Thompson which was good news for Crosby. The bad news was that one of them was Michel Detroyat's elegant and superbly prepared Caudron C-460. When the race started Detroyat immediately took the lead and stayed there. One racer dropped out with engine problems which left Crosby and the CR-3 to finish in sixth, and last, place with an average speed of 226.075-mph.

Not discouraged, Crosby took his aircraft back to Grand Central Air Terminal and continued work to improve the CR-3. However, on a test flight the aircraft crashed and Crosby received serious injuries including a broken back. With the CR-3's low fuselage profile, the pilot literally sat on the floor and, as can be seen in the photograph of the damaged airframe, crash forces passed almost directly through the cockpit.

While recuperating from his injuries, Crosby began to plan an aircraft that would greatly exceed the performance of the CR-3. he had been examining new powerplants and was impressed by the performance specifications for the Ranger V-770. This engine was an inverted V-12 that was air-cooled and promised 450-hp (520-hp on takeoff). Intrigued by this engine and eager to get rid of the unreliable Menasco, Crosby began sketching a new plane that, while looking a great deal like the CR-3, would be a pretty much new and greatly improved design.

With the help of his friends at CIT and use of the wind tunnel, the recuperating Crosby decided to go for a design that was streamlined as possible. The airplane would be completely flush riveted while a much improved retractable gear design would be incorporated. Once again, the fuselage profile would be extremely narrow with the pilot sitting on the bottom of the fuselage. The wing would be a very interesting unit, spanning just 16-ft and having fairly extreme sweep on the leading and trailing edges. Built for extreme strength, the stressed aluminum skin wing would have three main spars along with angle stiffeners to withstand high G-loads.

A set-back took place when Crosby could not obtain a Ranger V-770 and had to go back to the Menasco C-6S4. In the long run, it probably would have been a toss up as to which engine was more troublesome - once in production, the Ranger V-12 picked up a reputation for extreme unreliability.

Construction was carried out at the Aero Industries Technical Institute in Los Angeles and work proceeded fairly quickly and the new craft was designated the CR-4 with the registration NX92Y/Race 52. The fuselage and tail surfaces were left in natural metal while the wing was painted a rich aqua blue. Flight testing proved satisfactory with Crosby once again at the controls and the plane was entered in the 1938 Thompson Trophy. This year, the race had moved back to Cleveland and was a 30-lap 300-mi event.

Before the Thompson, Crosby entered the CR-4 in the Greve Trophy race and the aircraft was the only all-metal racer in the event. Problems plagued the craft and the exhaust manifold departed the engine. Flames pouring from the engine, Crosby pulled off a safe landing during the 14th lap.

Repairs quickly undertaken, Crosby and the CR-4 got off to a good start in the Thompson., the aircraft taking a long roll for takeoff. However, once in the air Crosby began experiencing problems. On laps one and two, the pilot cut the No. 2 pylon and then dropped out on the tenth lap - nearly overcome by gas fumes. Once again, Crosby had nothing to show for all his effort and he had barely escaped the grim reaper twice.