I thought you were offended. I'm not.

I guess the point that I keep trying to make is that almost any lightly loaded plane can be set up to fly well. Look at what the 3D guys can do with a bit flat foam.

A model Gee Bee is not a full scale Gee Bee. (the models are much smaller) I'm willing to bet that they even handle differently. For example the model does not snap out of high g manouvers (like a real pylon racer??) nor do its ailerons reverse at low speeds and high angles of attack.

Loading enough bricks inside the best airplane ever devised will make it fly bad with no changes whatsoever to the aerodynamics. (it's still a good design...it just weighs too much) That said, you are quite right that Gee Bees are not for beginners. They are easy enough to fly but at some point you're going to want to land. Washout eliminates tip stalling but all the aerodynamic tricks in the world won't shorten those gear legs....you really need to know how to land a tail dragger. Landing into a good breeze will make things much easier. How many times have we waited and waited for a dead calm day to test fly our new planes? This is definitely counter productive on a plane with a high wing loading and/or long gear legs.

I do not want to offend anyone...just point out that because something is presumed to be so does not make it so. That is to say "Gee Bees look funny so they must fly funny." It ain't neccesarily so.

Adrian