| Verville-Sperry R-3 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Role | racer |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Company |
| Designer | Alfred V. Verville |
| First flight | 1922 |
| Produced | McCook Field Engineering Division |
| Number built | 3 |
The Verville-Sperry R-3 was a cantilever wing racing monoplane with a streamlined fuselage and the second aircraft with fully retractable landing gear, the first being the Dayton-Wright RB-1.[1] In 1961, the R-3 racer was identified as one of the "Twelve Most Significant Aircraft of all Time" by Popular Mechanics magazine.[2] In 1924, an R-3 won the Pulitzer Trophy in Dayton, OH.
- ^ U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. "Retractable Landing Gear." Retrieved on November 25, 2009.
- ^ "The Twelve Most Significant Aircraft of all Time, A Portfolio of Planes that Changed Aviation History". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 115, no. 6. Hearst Magazines. June 1961. pp. 16, 96–106. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
Verville-Sperry Racer (1922). Winner of the 1924 Pulitzer Race at Dayton, Ohio, this neat ship typified an era when designers tried, with very little money, to get maximum performance from the minimum airplane. Its clean lines, thick low wing and retractable landing gear were amazingly prophetic of World War II fighters.