Thompson Trophy

The first of these events, the Thompson Cup Race, was added to the Nationals in 1929. The closed-course event for unlimited planes, sponsored by Cleveland manufacturer Charles E. Thompson, was an immediate success. Like the barnstorming events, the race provided breathtaking excitement for the crowd. In 1930, the name of the race was changed to the Thompson Trophy, but the importance of the event remained unchanged. From then until it was ended in 1939, the Thompson Trophy Race provided the climactic final event of each year's National Air Races meeting. It was also the premier closed-course race in the world.

The Thompson Trophy Race, as well as the other closed-course races, was among the most popular events with the crowds that filed into the grounds and filled the grandstands for the competitions. Although the courses varied in length and shape, the races were generally flown over a course of about 10 miles long with 50-foot-high pylons marking the turns. With their high speeds and wing-tip-to-wing-tip flying, the closed-course races were loaded with breathtaking action. Because the races were flown at low altitudes and around a closed course, the crowds in the grandstands could easily see much of the spectacle. All in all, the Thompson Trophy and the other closed-course races were spectator sport of the highest order.


The Thompson Trophy ward plaque. This one was awarded to first-prize winner Cook Cleland in 1947.

One innovation that the Hendersons brought to the Thompson Trophy and the National Air Races to make them more appealing to the crowds was the massed start for the closed-course events. Instead of taking off at timed intervals, as had been the custom at most closed-course air races before that time, the planes in the National Air Races took off together.

Lined up on the field side by side at about 100-foot intervals, the planes took off 10 seconds apart. Each cleared a staging pylon, which equalized the interval. And once the planes passed onto the course, each competitor was in his relative position on the course. The arrangement, unlike timed events, made competition wing tip to wing tip and helped make the events more exciting by allowing competitors and spectators alike to see just how daring the competition really was.

Death was not an uncommon occurrence in any form of air racing in the 1930s. Close flying, low altitudes, and high speeds, however, made the Thompson Trophy races particularly dangerous events. Death was a constant companion for the competitors, and each year the death of another competitor seemed to mar the event.

During the first Thompson Trophy Race in Chicago in 1930, a young Marine pilot, Captain Arthur Page, was leading the race and seemed well on his way to winning in his XF6C-6, an extensively rebuilt Curtiss Hawk fighter to which, among other things, an 800-hp Curtiss Conqueror engine had been added. Then, on lap 17, as Page was rounding the home pylon in front of the grandstand, his plane shuddered, went into a slow roll, and crashed. No one ever knew what happened to his plane. Charles "Speed" Holman, in a Laird "Solution" that had been completed only hours before the start of the race, went on to win. Page survived the crash, only to die from head injuries a few days later.


1934 - Roscoe Turner is congratulated by Mary Pickford after his Thompson Trophy victory

The legacy of death that was begun in that first race was to follow the Thompson Trophy for many years. In fact, death seemed to stalk the victors of the Thompson Trophy. Both 1930 winner Speed Holman and 1931 winner Lowell Bayles were killed in competitive crashes within a few months of their Thompson Trophy victories, and in 1933 winner Jimmy Wedell was killed in a non-racing crash in June 1934. On the eve of the 1934 race, only one former winner, 1932 champion Jimmy Doolittle, who had retired shortly after his victory, remained alive.

The prestige of the Thompson Trophy was, in itself, sufficient to assure the status of the National Air Races as one of the world's premier aviation meets.

Pre-war Thompson Trophy Records

Pilot Ship and Motor Prize Money Speed mph
1930
Charles W. Holman, 1st
James G. Haizlip, 2nd
Ben 0. Howard, 3rd
Paul T. Adams, 4th
Capt. Page
Erett Williams
Frank Hawks
 
Laird LC-DW-300 "Solution" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Travelair "R" "Mystery" - Wright R-975
Howard DGA-3 "Pete" - Wright Gipsy
Travelair Speedwing - Wright
Curtiss XF6C-6 - Curtiss D-12
Wedell-Williams "We-Winc"- Wright R-765
Travelair "R" "Mystery" - Wright R-975
 
$5000.00
 3000.00
 2000.00
  . . .  
Out Lap 17
Out Lap  8
Out Lap  3
 
201.91
199.80
162.80
142.64
CRASH
1931
Lowell Bayles, 1st
James R. Wedell, 2nd
Dale Jackson, 3rd
Robert L. Hall, 4th
Ira C. Eaker, 5th
Ben 0. Howard, 6th
William Ong, 7th
James H. Doolittle
 
Gee Bee "Model Z" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Laird LC-DW-300 "Solution" - Wright R-975
Gee Bee "Model Y" - P&W Wasp C
Lockheed - P&W Wasp
Howard DGA-3 "Pete" - Wright Gipsy
Laird - Wright Whirlwind
Laird LC-DG-500 "Super Solution" - P&W Wasp Jr.
 
$7500.00
4500.00
3000.00
. . .  
. . .  
. . .  
. . .
Out lap 7
 
236.239
227.992
211.183
201.511
192.821
163.513
153.049
1932
James H. Doolittle, 1st
James R. Wedell, 2nd
Roscoe Turner, 3rd
James G. Haizlip, 4th
Lee Gehlbach, 5th
Robert Hall, 6th
William Ong, 7th
 
Gee Bee "Model R-1" - P&W Wasp
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Gee Bee "Model R-2" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Springfield "Bulldog" - P&W Wasp
Howard DGA-5 "Ike" - Menasco Buccaneer
 
$4500.00
2500.00
1500.00
1000.00
500.00
. . .
. . .
 
252.686
242.496
233.042
231.30
222.09
215.570
191.073
1933
James R. Wedell, 1st
Lee Gehlbach, 2nd
Roy Minor, 3rd
George Hague, 4th
Z. D. Granville, 5th
Roscoe Turner
 
Wedell.Williams "44" - P&W Wasp
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp Jr.
Howard DGA-4 "Mike" - Menasco Buccaneer
Keith-Rider "R-2" - Menasco Pirate
Gee Bee "Model Y" - P&W Wasp C
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp
 
$3375.00
1875.00
1125.00
750.00
375.00
disqualified
 
237.952
224.947
199.870
183.206
173.079
1934
Roscoe Turner, 1st
Roy T. Minor, 2nd
J. A. Worthen, 3rd
Harold Neumann, 4th
Roger Don Rae, 5th
Art Chester, 6th
Doug Davis
Lee Miles
 
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Hornet
Brown Special - Menasco
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp
Howard DGA-4 "Ike" - Menasco Buccaneer
Keith-Rider - Menasco
Chester Special - Menasco
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Wasp
Miles & Atwood Special - Menasco
 
$4500.00
2500.00
1500.00
1000.00
500.00
. . .
Out Lap 8
Out Lap 12
 
248.129
214.929
208.376
207.064
205.358
191.597
CRASH
1935
Harold Neumann, 1st
S. J. Wittman, 2nd
Roger Don Rae, 3rd
Joe Jacobson, 4th
Lee Miles, 5th
Marion McKeen, 6th
Roscoe Turner
 
Howard DGA-6 "Mr. Mulligan" - P&W Wasp
Wittman "Bonzo" - Curtiss D12
Keith-Rider - Menasco
Howard DGA-4 "Mike" - Menasco Buccaneer
Seversky SEV-3 Amphibian - Wright Cyclone
Brown Racer - Menasco
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Hornet
 
$6750.00
3750.00
2250.00
1500.00
375.00
375.00
Out 130+ miles
 
 
220.194
218.686
213.942
209.103
193.594
188.859
1936
Michel Detroyat, 1st
Earl Ortman, 2nd
Roger Don Rae, 3rd
Harold Neumann, 4th
Marion McKeen, 5th
Harry Crosby, 6th
Leon Atwood
 
Caudron Special C-460 - Renault
Keith-Rider - P&W Wasp
Rider Racer - Menasco
Folkerts Special - Menasco
Brown B2 - Menasco
Crosby Special - Menasco
GMD R-6H "Q.E.D." - P&W Hornet
 
$9500.00
4375.00
2450.00
1575.00
1225.00
875.00
Out lap 11
 
264.261
248.04
236.55
233.07
230.55
226.07
1937
R. A. Kling, 1st
Earl Ortman, 2nd
Roscoe Turner, 3rd
F. Sinclair, 4th
S. J. Wittman, 5th
Ray Moore, 6th
C. H. Gotch, 7th
Joe Mackey
Marion McKeen
 
Kling SK-3."Jupiter" - Menasco
Marcoux-Bromberg R-3 - P&W Tw. Wasp Jr.
Laird-Turner LTR-14 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Seversky P-35 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Wittman "Bonzo" - Curtiss D12
Seversky P-35 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Schoen-Rider - Menasco
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Hornet
"Miss Los Angeles" - Menasco
 
$9000.00
5000.00
3000.00
2000.00
1000.00
300.00
250.00
out lap 17
out lap 13
 
256.910
256.858
253.802
252.360
250.108
238.411
217.810
1938
Roscoe Turner, 1st
Earl Ortman, 2nd
S. J. Wittman, 3rd
Leigh Wade, 4th
Joe Mackey, 5th
Joe Jacobson, 6th
Harry Crosby
Art Chester
 
Laird-Turner LTR-14 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Marcoux-Bromberg - P&W Tw. Wasp Jr.
Wittman "Bonzo" - Curtiss D-12
Military Aircraft HM-1 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Hornet
Keith-Rider R-6 - Menasco
Crosby CR-4 - Menasco
"The Goon"- Menasco
 
$22000.00
9000.00
4500.00
2500.00
1800.00
1400.00
out lap 10
. . .
 
283.419
269.718
259.187
249.842
249.628
214.570
1939
Roscoe Turner, 1st
Tony LeVier, 2nd
Earl Ortman, 3rd
Harry Crosby, 4th
S. J. Wittman, 5th
Joe Mackey, 6th
Art Chester
 
Laird-Turner LTR-14 - P&W Tw. Wasp
Schoenfeldt "Firecracker" - Menasco
Marcoux-Bromberg - P&W Tw. Wasp
Crosby CR-4 - Menasco
Wittman "Bonzo" - Curtiss D-12
Wedell-Williams "44" - P&W Hornet
"The Goon"- Menasco
 
$16000.00
8000.00
4000.00
2500.00
1500.00
1000.00
out lap 17
 
282.536
272.538
254.435
244.522
241.361
232.926