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New page 27 August 2014
Speed Week!
Personalities
Air Racing
Celebrities and Characters
from Speed Week History
Q: "How do you find out when there is a pilot in the room?"
A: "She will make sure to let you know."
(Old airport joke, via Mauricio Tavares, 2008 - with a modification)
** Pilot Marie leSalle - "The Quebec Comet" - by Jerry Collins **
Larger file here (766 KBytes)
The Sorensteen Sisters canoe-race, Euro-style, in the "S.S. Hot Pepper"
by Warren Hutch - (Larger file here - 2.3 MBytes)
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/warren/ - warrenhutch@yahoo.com
The Sorensteen Sisters
Link to the portraits, action images, pin-up pictures, and biographical sketches.
as reported by Warren Hutch
Triplets who do aircraft design, manufacturing, & test-piloting -
Active in promotional air-racing.
(Also doing business as 'The Sorenstein Sisters')
"Sorensteen sisters clean up the 'Chili Pepper'..." - by Warren Hutch
Lady Katie MacArran
as reported by John Urie
Katie MacArran in a flight suit (Larger file here - 1.9 MBytes)
art by KatieKat (Katie Lezotte) - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/katiekat
Character by John Urie - Commissioned by Walt Reimer
Anglo-American Pilot, Aircraft Designer, & Industrialist.
John Urie's serial novel, "Pursuit!", covers major events in her life,
including her entry in the Speed Week seaplane races.
The inter-woven chapters from the novel offer views of
how lively Speed Week racing can be.
Some selected chapters:
(Parts may be Mature for language & situations.)
Chapter 7: Someone has hi-jacked Katie's hangar space!
Chapter 25: How hard could it be to get a water-taxi ride?
Chapter 45: A visit to the French racing hangar, and later,
Katie introduces her racing seaplane to a guest pilot.
Chapter 47: The guest takes Katie's racer up for a go-round.
Lady Pamela Fenwick
as reported by R. J. Bartrop
English industrialist and supporter of British air-racing.
Portraits and biographical sketch.
In John Urie's "Pursuit!" Chapter 29, Katie MacArran
meets the formidable Lady Fenwick in the crowded lobby of
a Spontoon Island hotel during Speed Week....
In E. O. Costello's collection of stories of Reggie Buckhorn,
pokes by Lady Fenwick (for a contribution to British air-racing)
result in a personal boat-racing wager between the two: "Around the Bend"
(Further stories of Reggie & friends may be found: here)
Sophia (Casadonte) Bianco
as reported by Stuart McCarthy
Italian pilot, aircraft designer, and actress.
Sophia Bianco air racing - art & Sophia via Stuart McCarthy
(Larger file here - (1.8 MBytes)
"...inspired by the work of Tullio Crali (1910-2000)"
http://duraluminwolf.deviantart.com/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/duraluminwolf/
http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Duraluminwolf/
A Bianco biography with portraits
(Sophia also visits in some chapters of Pursuit!
and in recent chapters of The Lady of Nimes)
Sophia Bianco sunbathing - by Stuart McCarthy
http://duraluminwolf.deviantart.com/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/duraluminwolf/
Sophia Bianco race photo 1932 (adjusting chinstrap) - by Stuart McCarthy
Ilsa Klensch
as reported by R. J. Bartrop
German test pilot & racing pilot
known as the "She-Wolf of the Luftwaffe"
R.J. Bartrop's webcomic "The Air Pirates" has
portraits of Ilsa and her racing aircraft, on the opening page.
Ilsa is a major character in the webcomic.
German poster for Speed Week 1937 - by Stuart McCarthy
http://duraluminwolf.deviantart.com/
Mechanics
"Bloop!": Racing floatplane tune-up (Roy D Pounds II)
The McCradden family
(Superior Engineering)
as reported by Steve Gallacci
Owners, managers and head mechanics of this famous
design, maintenance, & repair firm in the Spontoon Lagoon.
"...the hot oil leaving the engine traveled down one side of the fuselage,
was then carried to the top of the (tail)fin where it ran down the inner
surface of the skin under the control of ribs and gutters, before collection
in a tank and filter system at the base of the fin. From there it traveled
back down the other side of the fuselage to the engine."
(The Supermarine S.6, 1929. The Schneider Trophy, by David Mondey, 1975 - page 223)