Hi!
I have been flying R/C for 31 years now and been competing in nearly every aspect of the hobby besides heli's and I too have fallen in love with those charming racers of the thirties. I have read a lot and gathered a lot of information about them from books and magazines through the years and I started building a Henry Haffke GEE BEE R-1 in 1/4 scale in 1985 (not completed...yet). This love for those big GEE BEE racers (and others fast racer airplanes)got me interested in pylon racing in the late seventies. And I started competing in 1980. First it was Quarter Midget powered by .15 and then .21 engines and later Q-500, sport 40 and F3D racers. I even tried importing 1/4 scale pylon racing models from Ohio from a fellow named Quay Barber.But interest for those big scale, Formula 1 racers among Swedish pylon racing competitors was sparse...so I continued competing in F3D and Q-500.
This love for fast flying airplanes have continued since then. Over the years I have constructed many airplanes of my own, both twin, pylonracers and sportmodels, having published many articles in Swedish model magazines.

Two years ago I was very pleased when Great Planes came out with their big GEE BEE R-2 ARF racer (sister model to more famous GEE BEE R-1 flown by Jimmy Doolittle in 1932).
I therefore contacted the Swedish Great Planes distributor and made a deal with him and wrote an article for one of the Swedish airplane model magazines.
Having flown many fast pylonracers before with speeds up to 375km/h and many two engined airplanes both my own constructions and kits and several WW 2 fighters, I thought that I had enough experience to handle even that GEE BEE R-2.
So When I got it together and stood there on the landing strip, ready to take off , I was a bit little nervous.

I had test flown the smaller Kyosho GEE BEE -Z some years earlier for a friend in my club and that plane flew just fine...in the air...if you flew it at full power. But it was a bit hairy to land due to it's high wing loading (he had it powered by a big Saito 1.82 cc twin engine, swinging a 16x8 APC prop...I just shook my head prior to take off....).But I did manage to land it in one piece without stalling it, coming in at nearly full speed.

When I finally dared to take off , the R-2 just lumbered away on the grass strip and after just 30 meters took to the skies. I was relived!
It was so nice in the air, it was responsive and could climb real good though I had it powered only with a 15cc MVVS two stroke engine (14x6 APC)which was well muffled using two separate silencers (custom made).
The R-2 handled every maneuver real nice, inverted flight, knife-edge, stall turns, 4 point rolls, loops you name it..., The GEE BEE R-2 could handle it all . But ...there was a BUT.
Even though I had lightened it so the airplane now only weighted 5000g (Great Planes recommends a weight between 5150-5600g)...it still was a handful to land.
I first noticed this when I tried too fly real slow, high up.
At a certain speed it just snapped...and it began to spin....it took 1.1/2 turn to get it out of that spin but did recover easily when I released all rudders.
I did the test several times...same thing happened every time; snap and spin.
I knew this snap would happen because although I had made it lighter, the airplane was still too heavy for it to behave real good.

I was cautious when I took her in for landing the first time and made a long flat landing run expecting the worst to happen. I felt I didn't have 100% control when speed started to drop off...It felt like balancing a piece of butter in a hot sauce pan.
I managed to bring her in and she set down safe on the ground but I was not satisfied with how she handled. I thought that I just had to learn more about her, by flying here more.
I have since that time flown her about 10 times, but I still regard her as being a real tough girl to handle at landings and don't recommended her for any flier just leaving intermediate level.

What's the conclusion of all this...never fly a GEE BEE R-2 before you have flown for at least 30 years?!
No! Perhaps not. But consider it vital that you have tried at least 7-10 different airplanes and flown at least 3-5 years before you attempt that first GEE BEE flight. It's also good if you have pylon racing experience as you then know how to handle and trim out fast flying airplanes.

As has been said before in this forum about today's world of instant gratification and ARF models .Move slowly and you'll perhaps learn one or two things along the way. Move fast and you risk loosing everything and never find out what this thing; Model-flying is all about.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden