Warbird Information Exchange

I recently acquired a collection of photos from the estate of Kenneth A Ritchey's wife. Ritchey got his private pilot license in 1934 and his commercial pilot license (#44001) in 1936. Early in WW2 he was on the staff of the British Flying Training School #3 in Miami, OK which was run by Spartan School of Aeronautics from Tulsa, OK. He taught during classes 1 through 10. Early in 1943 he became assistant chief test at the Republic Aviation P-47 assembly plant in Evansville, IN. He was awarded his Private Pilot Examiner License on Oct. 18, 1945 and the Commercial Pilot Examiner License on Feb. 6, 1947. He died of a heart attack on Feb. 12, 1964 in Belleville IL. His wife died in 2007.

There are photos in the collection from all eras of his life. I have posted two photos at home.ionet.net/~rocket/Racing001.jpg which show his interest in early Air racing. The one on the left is Roscoe Turner's Pesco Special from 1938 ("Roscoe Turner Test Job" is written at the bottom) and the one on the right APPEARS to be the Floyd-Bean Special from 1939.

I have a couple questions. Does anyone recognize the name of Kenneth A Ritchety? And is my identification of the Floyd-Bean Special correct?

Thanks,
Paul R

I've forwarded your question to a buddy of mine who's pretty knowledgeable about the old racing history. I'll let you know if he's able to help.

Gary

You are 100% correct on the Floyd Bean "BEAN SPECIAL" NX97Y. The airplane was powered with a Menasco B-6S engine. It never did get to race.

Thanks. The Ritchey photo appears to have been taken after the Floyd-Bean Special was retired. Any idea where or when the photo was taken?

Paul R

Just FYI...my contact didn't have any info for you. Sorry about that.

Gary