Madison Historical Society Presents “The Granville Brothers and their Gee Bee Airplanes”
The Granville children, five boys and two girls, were all born in a small farmhouse in Madison, New Hampshire. Zantford (“Granny”), was the eldest, and the first to leave home. At age seventeen (1918) he arrived in Boston, Massachusetts and began working at a Chevrolet factory. In two years he saved enough money to open his own Economy Shop, an auto repair service in nearby Arlington. Soon it was designated as a Chevrolet franchise. In 1922 he married the love of his life, Alta McIntire.
Airplanes flying overhead from the Boston Airport lured his interest. After his first flight in a Curtis flying boat at Revere Beach, he was hooked! He asked his brother Tom to come down from the farm to help run the Economy Shop so that he could spend time at the airport. At age 22, against the worried objections of his new wife, he arranged for flying lessons. Because a one-hour student lesson cost a whopping $25.00, he bartered to exchange his mechanical expertise for lessons. By estimating his work to be worth $1.00 an hour, Granny had to work twenty-five hours to pay for one lesson. (Ten lessons were needed for a pilot’s license.) After the third lesson, Granny soloed and then spent the remaining seven hours in advanced training. It took eight months, but he did acquire Certified Pilot License 450.
While repairing airplanes Granny noted many design weaknesses, and he began to put his corrective ideas on paper. After a couple of years, he had gained enough experience in aircraft maintenance to start his own aircraft repair service. His service was unique. He offered “road service”. He revamped a seven-passenger car into a twenty-eight foot vehicle with an expansion roof that allowed the height necessary for a six-foot tall mini-workshop. Tom helped him make a generator from a car engine to run the necessary electrical tools. Once it was fully supplied, their service truck drove right to the scene of a mishap. Small repairs could be made on the spot, and larger jobs, such as a broken wing could be hauled back to the Economy Shop for repair. This business soon thrived and young Ed (age 16) came from the farm to help Granny. Another Madison friend, Hiram Jones was asked to help Tom run the automobile business. He would eventually marry the youngest Granville sibling, Gladys.
Soon, Granny wanted to build an aviation repair shop at the East Boston Airport, but no new building permits were being granted until the future of the airport was determined. Granny circumvented this problem by presenting his plan for a mobile repair shop. When that was approved, Granny found an old oil truck, stripped it to the chase and built a sizable repair shop upon it. Granville Brothers Air Service began in 1928. Now, Mark joined his brothers. Both the auto and aircraft businesses were doing so well that Granny decided he could afford to build an airplane of his own design. To do this, he rented the first floor of an old shoe factory and called his last farming brother, Rob, to join the team.
Before daybreak, on May 3, 1929, Granny took off in the lightweight biplane (MA permit number 3086). Granny had purposely chosen the early hour because he had not so many people tell him that his innovative ideas would not work. If there were any problems, he did not want those “nay-sayers” to have the chance to say, “I told you so.” To allow for easier conversation between the pilot and passenger, seating had been made side-by-side rather than the normal tandem (front and back) arrangement. No joysticks came up through the floor of this plane. Two independent controls protruded from the dash. Breakaway landing gear protected the fuselage from landing damage. The top and bottom wings were interchangeable. It was the first Boston built airplane. It was the first Gee Bee.
In July 1929, two months before his 28th birthday, Granny successfully negotiated an agreement with the Tait brothers who owned the Springfield Airport, now Springfield Shopping Plaza. Granny took his little crew with him, hired a couple of college engineers and a few more workers from Madison, NH and opened Granville Brothers Aircraft, a manufacturing company. From this airport came a succession of Gee Bee planes: biplanes, Sportsters, Senior Sportsters, and racers. All were a contribution to the advancement of aviation during a period in history when civilians made The Golden Age of Aviation.
The first biplane is now at the New England Air Museum at Bradley Field, Connecticut. There, you may also view a replica of the 1932 Gee Bee #11 (R1 Model) in which Jimmy Doolittle won the World’s Land Speed Record.
The story of the Granville brothers really stretches ones imagination. Who would have thought that five rural farm boys who once plowed their fields with oxen would become young aeronautical artisans capable of building the fastest airplane in the world!
To find out more, come to the Madison Historical Society’s August program on August 17th at 7 p.m. at the James Noyes Hall at the Madison Elementary School when June I. Dankin, Tom Granville’s daughter, along with her cousin, Norma Granville will present, “Farmers Take Flight”, which is based on June I. Dakin’s book. Dakin’s book tells a humanistic story about the five brothers and not only proclaims her family triumphs, but reveals their heart-breaks. Dakin’s book will be available for $29.95.