Now that the Museum’s Washington, DC, location has reopened with eight reimagined galleries, both familiar and new artifacts are on display. The new Nation of Speed exhibition for instance features the Turner RT-14 Meteor, Roscoe Turner’s 1930s racing airplane.

The Meteor, which has been in the collection since 1972, was given a thorough inspection in preparation for the new exhibition. Museum restoration specialist Robert Weihrauch was tasked with getting the airplane ready for display, and I was made his helper as my first assignment for the Museum.

As we examined the airplane, we were aware that the basic design had evolved somewhat during the manufacturing process, but we started to notice quite a few features that might have been rethought. Well-designed airplane parts usually have a look of simplicity, but those that are redesigned or made to fit in a reworked structure can look oddly complicated. By this standard, the internal elevator balance weight installation looked like a redesign, as did the flap actuation system. The wing ribs were all 9 inches apart except for several at the tip. The fuel system seemed unnecessarily complicated, and the structure seemed unusually robust. These oddities made us curious about what was going on when the airplane was being built.

We found some information on the development of the airplane in the extensive records kept by the Museum. A story published in the 1974 issue of Wings magazine by Kenneth Wilson brought the cast of characters to life. Carroll Glines biography of Turner was also very helpful. Other material, some of it unpublished, revealed that the gestation of the design was more complicated and more interesting than we’d imagined. 

In 1934, Roscoe Turner started planning a new racing airplane. Being, as Turner biographer Carroll Glines put it, “unabashedly unrestrained in thought and deed,” Turner wanted a showstopper of an airplane that would be powered by the new fourteen-cylinder R-1830 Twin Wasp engine from Pratt & Whitney. Turner scored something of a coup getting the cutting-edge engine, but Pratt was confident they would get something out of the deal too—good publicity. With over 1,000 horsepower, the speeds envisioned would require a sophisticated airplane. Many racing airplanes of the time were designed by experienced amateurs, but Turner went to an aeronautical engineer to design his new racer. Howard Barlow, an engineer and professor at University of Minnesota, had previously done some detail design work for Turner, making existing race planes faster and safer. He and his associate John Akerman drew up a new design incorporating the latest aerodynamic research and tested a model of it in the university’s wind tunnel. It was called the RT-14, which referenced Roscoe Turner and the awesome fourteen-cylinder engine. The structure was based on up-to-date stress analysis techniques, and some bright engineering students, many of whom would go on to distinguished careers, were employed to flesh out the details. The landing gear was designed by a young Robert Gilruth who would become a driving force in the U.S. space program. Barlow’s team produced a complete set of blueprints and a full-size mockup, which amazed Turner when he saw it. For the task of building the airplane, Turner sent the drawings to the experienced race plane builder Larry Brown.

Brown was a self-taught airplane builder and racing pilot, starting his career as a mercenary flying against Pancho Villa’s forces in Mexico in 1915. In the mid-1930s his elegant looking race planes were competitive, and his success with his Miss Los Angeles racer must have encouraged Turner to hire him as builder of the Meteor. But as construction progressed, the airplane became longer and heavier and, in some ways, began to look more like Brown’s own designs. Some changes could have been motivated by concerns about the big engine—few single engine airplanes had flown with this much power. Although Turner respected Barlow, it appears that Turner encouraged at least some of the changes Brown made. Barlow didn’t know about the changes and likely would have objected if he had.

After much of the airplane was built, the relationship between Turner and Brown broke down, and construction came to a halt. Turner may have encouraged Brown to change the airplane, but he wasn’t ready for the weight and cost to escalate so quickly. Turner’s trusted mechanic Don Young said the airplane had already gained 800 extra pounds by this time. The project was moved out of Brown’s shop, and other builders were considered until the project was taken to Matty Laird in Chicago. Laird had a distinguished racing career, but he also manufactured production airplanes and had a well-equipped factory. Laird, who was also a self-taught designer, made further changes, adding taper and span to the wing (apparently at Turner’s insistence), and altering the control system. Laird was able to get the project done, flying for the first time on August 28, 1937. The airplane raced in 1937, 1938 and 1939. During pylon races, the speeds approached 300 mph, and during the 1937 Thompson Trophy cross country race, on a straight-line leg from Albuquerque to Cleveland, the airplane averaged 333 mph. Soon after, Pratt & Whitney modified the engine supercharger for more boost, and streamlined fairings were added to the landing gear. In this configuration, if Turner had made a straight line speed run with a light fuel load, he probably would have reached 350 mph.

It’s hard not to wonder what made the self-taught racers want to second guess the trained engineer’s design. Many of Barlow’s blueprints still exist, and they helped us see how far the design evolved. The internal elevator balance weight is detailed in the blueprints, revealing that it was envisioned as a simple device. It apparently had to be moved to make room for a redesigned rudder balance mechanism. The original straight wing was built with a simple flap actuation system, but when Laird redesigned the wing with more area, the flap hinge line moved aft necessitating a revised actuation system. The wingspan was increased just over a foot by adding to the wing tips, and the oddly spaced ribs of that modification are what caught our eye. Since Larry Brown’s upgrades somehow added 800 pounds to the airplane, some of that must have gone into reinforcing the fuselage structure. This is probably why it looked so robust to us.

It is striking to see how daring Barlow’s design was. The short fuselage and aft cockpit recall the daunting Gee Bee model R which had a reputation for being hard to fly. The airplane that Turner got was larger and heavier than what the engineers had envisioned, perhaps one and a half times the weight by one estimate. Many aircraft gain some weight during development, but this is far more than usual. In addition to the increased weight, Brown added over 5 feet to the length, and Laird increased the wing area by roughly 25%.  

Would the original concept have flown the same? Probably not. According to pilot and aeronautical engineer Randy Hultberg of Newport News, Virginia, who investigates aircraft handling professionally, the lengthened fuselage would have resulted in increased directional stability, helping the airplane track straighter, and it also would have increased pitch control power. Perhaps making the airplane easier to fly was the goal. Perhaps Turner, who may not have had the piloting skills of some other race pilots, was intimidated by Barlow’s design and its resemblance to the contemporary Gee Bee racers.

Whatever the benefits might have been, the modifications certainly contributed to a slower top speed. Barlow’s concept would have been amazingly fast, though possibly harder to fly. Turner may have given up a considerable amount of speed tinkering with his design, but we can be certain of this: with that big engine, his airplane still won races, made the fans cheer, and made racing history. Roscoe got his showstopper.