E-flite/Horizon Hobby UMX Gee Bee R-2

An unforgettable design that pushed the boundaries of aviation

The Gee Bee racers are one of the most recognized and unique aircraft ever built. Known for their difficult flying characteristics, the Gee Bees were ahead of their time. When flown by a modern pilot, the Gee

Bee R-2 is an aerobatic wonder that dispels its undeserved reputation. Delmar Benjamin and Steve Wolf built a Gee Bee R-2 replica in the early 1990s, and Benjamin flew this amazing aircraft at airshows across the country for about 10 years before retiring it in 2002. I had the pleasuring of seeing it fly at an airshow once, and it was a sight to behold!

I have enjoyed flying E-flite’s amazing lineup of micro UMX models, but the Gee Bees were discontinued before I could get one. Luckily for us, E-flite has recently rereleased the everpopular model, and it is better than ever. The UMX Gee Bee

R-2 now has more power (read: speed), and it has AS3X and optional SAFE Select technology that make it even easier and more enjoyable to fly.

The UMX Gee Bee R-2 is a one-piece airframe molded out of lightweight foam, and it’s ready to fly right out of the box. You only need to bind it to your DSMX- or DSM2-compatible transmitter and supply a 2S

200 to 280mAh LiPo. The Gee Bee has a very scale outline and has some really cool features, such as scale flying wires in the wings, a painted classic red-andwhite trim scheme, a steerable tailwheel, and airfoil-shaped flying surfaces. The landing gear have very scale wheel pants, and the front tip of them is molded out of hard plastic to avoid damage. The tip of the vertical fin is also made out of molded plastic—for those tipovers that are bound to happen. The cockpit even has a neat pilot figure. I really like the box the Gee Bee comes in as it serves double duty as a portable hangar to keep it safe from damage during storage or when taking it to your favorite flying site.

UNIQUE FEATURES

This cute racer has a lot going for it that you normally don’t see in a model of this size. When you first take it out of the box, you ask yourself, “How can this large, round, barrel-shaped model fly?” Well, just like a bumblebee: very well! The molded-foam fuselage, wings, and tail feathers have ribs and other details