The Cessna CR-3 was a follow on racing aircraft to the Cessna CR-2 that raced in the 1932 National Air Races .
9-458: The CR-3 was ordered by air racer Johnny Livingston in response to the performance he saw when competing against the Cessna CR-2 in the 1932 National Air Races . The CR-3 was of shoulder-wing design. The CR-3 was a mid-wing radial engined taildragger racer with manual retractable landing gear and a tail skid. The propeller was from a clipped wing Monocoupe racer #14. The tail surface
18-409: A Monocoupe 110 (NC-501W) to use in air racing. He modified the landing gear, engine cowling, engine output, streamlined struts. In 1932 the aircraft went back to the factory to have the wings clipped from 32 feet to 22 feet in length becoming a Monocoupe 110 Special. Livingston would fly the aircraft through rain storms with whitewash paint to find areas of drag. His modifications increased the speed of
27-588: A Pitts Special at the age of 76. he was inducted into the Iowa aviation Hall of Fame in 1995. His Waco taperwing has been donated to the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where it has been restored. John Livingston is considered to be the inspiration and namesake for the 1970 novel and 1973 film Jonathan Livingston Seagull by author and pilot Richard Bach . Livingston-Betsworth Field, as well as
36-410: Is still flying. By 1933, Livingston had won more air races than any other pilot. After losing to a pilot flying a Cessna CR-2 racer, he commissioned an even faster Cessna CR-3 racer. His aircraft only lasted 61 days before he had to bail out over Ohio. In that time he won every race he entered with the aircraft. After the season, he went to work for WACO as a test pilot, and was also sponsored in
45-507: The Baby Ruth Aerobatic Team featuring aircraft tied together with ropes. In 1939, Livingston returned to air racing in a Monocoupe. Livingston managed Chapman Airport in Iowa with his brother throughout the 1930s into World War II . He managed a cadet training program with over 1500 students completing basic training. He retired at Pompano Beach, Florida . Livingston suffered a heart attack and died shortly after test flying
54-522: The CR-3 was destroyed in its ensuing crash. Data from Sport Aviation General characteristics Performance Related development John H. Livingston (aviator) John H. Livingston (1897–1974) was an American aviator and air race pilot of the 1920s and 1930s. He placed first in 80 national air races. John Livingston was born in 1897 in Cedar Falls, Iowa . His first profession
63-496: The monocoupe from 160 to 200 mph. Out of 65 races entered, he placed first 41 times in this aircraft. He sold his aircraft in 1933, and it was entered in the MacRobertson Race flying from England to India where it dropped out. The rebuilt airplane returned to America, killing its next owner Ruth Barron in a 1936 Omaha, Nebraska crash. Livingston's first Monocoupe racer was restored over ten years between 1996 and 2006 and
72-470: Was as an automobile and motorcycle mechanic. He first soloed an aircraft in 1920 and started work with The Iowa Airplane Company, later purchasing and managing it as Midwest Airways Corporation. Iowa's first airline with service starting in 1928. In 1928 Livingston won first place in the Transcontinental Air Derby, flying a Waco 10T from New York to Los Angeles. In 1930, Livingston purchased
81-481: Was designed to be neutral, without downforce in flight. The elevators experienced significant vibration in test flights without the wing root fairings installed. The CR-3 lasted 61 days, winning every event it competed in: En route to an airshow in August 1933, the CR-3 experienced a failure of both the tail skid and a landing gear weld that would not allow the gear to lock. Livingston bailed out over Columbus , Ohio and
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