page_title: Roscoe Turner
section_title: Air racing
hierarchical_section_title: Roscoe Turner / Air racing
caption_attribution_description: 1934 Thompson Trophy Plaque
context_page_description: Roscoe Turner was a record-breaking American aviator who was a three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy air race and widely recognized by his flamboyant style and his pet Gilmore the Lion.
context_section_description: At the 1928 National Air Races, Turner started air racing, in a Timm Aircoach sponsored by Shell Oil Company, and at the 1929 event he raced a Lockheed Vega (NC7954) of Nevada Airlines. On August 21, 1929, Turner made his first attempt to beat the two transcontinental airspeed records set by Frank Hawks. He piloted a Lockheed Vega of Nevada Airlines, with Harold Gatty as navigator, plus two passengers. The flights failed to break the records, but brought publicity for Turner, Nevada Airlines, and the concept of transcontinental passenger services.  Later that month, Governor of Nevada, Fred B. Balzar, appointed Turner to his staff as a military aide de camp with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and Governor of California James Rolph then did likewise. From then and for the rest of his life, Turner adopted the title of "Colonel" in all his public activities.  However, Nevada Airlines failed to achieve enough viable services, and ceased operations in February 1930.
  In early 1930, Turner persuaded Gilmore Oil Company to purchase from General Tire & Rubber Company the Lockheed Air Express (NR3057) that Henry Brown had flown in the 1929 races. Turner replaced the Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet with a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp, fitted with an NACA cowling. The aircraft was painted cream with red and gold trim, plus matching lion head logo, advertising Gilmore Red Lion products. (Gilmore Oil Company was later absorbed by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, later renamed Mobil). Turner took on Lockheed employee Don Young as his mechanic, in a working partnership that lasted over 20 years. 
  Turner saw a lion cub advertised for sale in California, and persuaded the owner Louis Goebel to donate it to him in return for promoting his lion-breeding farm. He named the cub 'Gilmore', raised him at home in Beverly Hills, and gave him familiarization flights in the Air Express. Thereafter, and fitted with a Turner-adapted parachute, Gilmore accompanied Turner on many publicized flights and events until about 1935, when he became too heavy and unmanageable in the aircraft. After retirement with Louis Goebel, Gilmore died in 1952. The lion's body was stuffed, mounted, and put on display in the Turner home. In 1976, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
  On May 27, 1930, Turner flew the Air Express from Roosevelt Field to Grand Central Airport in 18:42:30 hours, breaking the east–west transcontinental airspeed record.
  At the National Air Races at Cleveland in September 1931, Turner was impressed with Jimmy Wedell and his Wedell-Williams Model 44 that achieved second place in the Thompson Trophy race. After obtaining a grant of $5,000 from Gilmore Oil Company, Turner commissioned Wedell to build a new version of the Model 44 with a 525 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engine to replace the 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior. That aircraft (NR54Y) crashed while Wedell was testing it, and a replacement was built with a redesigned wing.
  At the National Air Races at Cleveland in September 1932, Turner came third in the Bendix Trophy cross-country race from Burbank, California to Cleveland in his Wedell-Williams Model 44 (NR61Y, race number 121), after Jimmy Haizlip followed by Jimmy Wedell, both also flying Model 44s. On November 14, 1932, Turner flew the Model 44 from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, to Burbank in 12:33 hours, breaking the east–west transcontinental airspeed record set by Frank Hawks.
  For the National Air Races at Los Angeles in July 1933, Turner entered his Model 44 (NR61Y, race number 2), fitted with an 800 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp, painted in a combined Gilmore and 20th Century Fox Pictures scheme. On July 1, 1933, he flew in the Bendix Trophy race from New York to Los Angeles, gaining first place, ahead of Jimmy Wedell in his Model 44 (NR278V, race number 44). Turner's time was 11:30 hours, that also broke his own east–west transcontinental airspeed record. Wedell went on to win the Thompson Trophy circuit race, despite finishing behind Turner, who was disqualified after a pylon rules infringement. In 1933 Turne
caption: 1934 Thompson Trophy Plaque
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