The resurrection of Benny Howard's Pete had long been a dream of Bill Turner's, one he gave up on before he built the Brown B-2 replica "Miss Los Angeles." Since Benny was small (just slightly over 5 feet tall and slightly built), Bill figured his 6'5" frame wouldn't fit. Years later, he was able to acquire what was left of the racer, which had been neatly rebuilt into a pretty little sportplane by a fellow from Mil waukee named Poberezny. Paul's "Little Audrey" used a pair of Luscombe wings and the remains of the fuselage of Pete, which had long since been modified from its original form. Restored to its former glory, with a complete new set of wings and a rebuilt fuselage, painted a gleaming white with gold and black trim, Pete looks ready to bring home the hardware from the races. Recently flown, it was piloted by Robin Reid. A replica Pete has long been the dream of engineer and aviation journalist Budd Davisson, who has been slowly making head way on his project over the years. "Pete's" stablemates, "Mike" and "Ike" also still exist, owned by Joe Binder over the past 30 plus years.
Bill Turner, EAA 26489, was one of the lucky men who grew up a teenager during the 1930's. He also had a father who was a Naval aviator d uring WW I and avid aviation e n thusiast for the rest of his life. Bill was fortunate enough that his dad made sure that he and his son wo uld head off to the National Ai r Races each year in e ither Los Ange les or Cleveland, and he was old enough to remember many of the details that made the racers so appealing. (Sitting in Benny Howard's Pete, making airplane noises until he was uncere moniously hauled ou t of the cockpit by Benny and Gordon Israel certainly did much to keep his recollections strong!) As an adult, he couldn't shake the tho ught of flying one of the hairy chested raci ng beasts t hat had thrilled his chi ld hood. The few racers that remained were not for sale, so he was left with only one choice - build his own! The Gee Bee sure had lots of sex appeal to Bill, but o h, its reputation. Perhaps something a little more easy(!) to fly. Here's how he described his search in the November, 1972 issue of Sport Avia tion:
Miss LA was bu il t by Bill and master restorer/custom builder Ed Marquart and his shop craftsman at FlaBob airport in Los Angeles. The racer showed u p to thri ll the crowds at EAA OSHKOSH '72, and its appearance seemed to spark a resurgence in interest in racing airplanes. Power was a Ranger engine, instead of the 6-cylinder Menasco - it was easier to find and much easier to get parts for the Ra nger than the 290 hp su percharged Menasco. F lying Miss Los Angeles gave Bi ll q uite an education, one that has stuck with him as he and Ed Marquart have gone on to bui ld up more replica racers: the Gee Bee model Z "City of Springfield," and the Miles and Atwood Special. They've also restored Benny Howard 's Pete, with their most recent achieve ment the construction of a replica DH.88 Comet, " Grosvenor House. " None of the airplanes has been considered by Bill to be easy to fly - they require constant attention, and many have a particularly sharp break at the stall. Keeping in mind their primary mission, to go fast, helps keep their flight characteris tics in perspective. B ill is once aga in organ izing the Golden Age of Air Racing re union at EAA OS H KOSH.
For a list of events and special guests that are planning on at tending EAA OSHKOSH '95 as part of the "Golden Age of Air Racing" celebration, please see the Ale News on page 2. ...
"The image of one racer kept popping into my head. As a young boy I had taken a fancy to it because of its graceful lines. It was a craft which was always in there performing year after year. It bore a strong resemblance to the famous Howards (Pete, Mike and Ike) but was bigger. Also, it had flaps to help bring the landing speed down to something less than the wild strafing run approach so common to most of its contemporaries. Besides, it was crimson, with gold letters and I like any color as long as it's red. It was, of course, the 1934 Brown B-2, Miss Los Angeles." VINTAGE AI RPLANE 21