A Timeline of Hall Bulldog Drawings

Part of The Hall Bulldog Project — documenting Bob Hall's 1932 Thompson Trophy racer.

I’ve collected many drawings of the Hall Bulldog over the years. Because the aircraft existed so briefly, aviation historians and aircraft modeling enthusiasts had to rely on the few photos they could find—or their memories. The Hall Bulldog is an unusual aircraft. Today we can stare at pictures and take in every detail. But to air racing fans of the 1930s, it would have been hard to memorize the exact shape of the aircraft after just a few minutes of watching it round the pylons in Cleveland.

Consequently, controversy over the sweepback of the wings and other distinguishing characteristics began early, and is demonstrated in these drawings.

The Wing Sweepback Debate

I had a great conversation with Vern Clements about this in the early 1990s. Vern came the closest to capturing the real aircraft in his drawings. He told me he was flabbergasted at the trouble he had getting his viewpoint about the aircraft across. He said that he thought when he got written word from Bob Hall himself about the wing configuration, that this would finally settle the debate. But by then the “no sweepback” thinking had grown very popular with a number of vocal adherents who had their own set of evidences and not a lot of hard data to go on.

My conversation with Vern taught me how often our ideas of history can be completely wrong.

A Star Trek Connection

The Jeffries drawing from 1957 is particularly interesting because its creator is Matt Jefferies—the same artist who later designed the original USS Enterprise for the Star Trek television series. Before he became famous for imagining the future of space travel, Jefferies was documenting the golden age of air racing.

Future Plans

At some point I plan to release new drawings that match the shape of the aircraft perfectly, based on detailed analysis of the period photographs in my collection.

1933

Model Airplane News (June 1933)

Title: Howard Schmidt, Keywords: Earliest known drawing, published shortly after the 1932 race

1957

American Modeler (November 1957)

Title: Matt Jeffries, Keywords: By the future designer of the Star Trek Enterprise

1967

Racing Planes and Air Races (Reed Kinert)

Title: DW Carter, Keywords: From Reed Kinert's comprehensive racing aircraft reference

Unknown Publication

Hall Bulldog 3-view drawing by Hirsch, 1967

Title: Hirsch

1971

Unknown Publication

Title: Mendenhall

1980

Kerka Drawings

Title: Kerka (Drawing 1)

Hall Bulldog 3-view drawing by Kerka, 1980 - Drawing 2

Title: Kerka (Drawing 2)

Hall Bulldog 3-view drawing by Kerka, 1980 - Drawing 3

Title: Kerka (Drawing 3)

1987

Based on Correspondence with Bob Hall

Title: Vern Clements, Keywords: The most accurate drawing, based on written confirmation from Bob Hall

2006

Modern Reconstruction

Title: Gordon J. Rae

Help Us Identify These Photos

We haven't been able to determine the exact dates for these photos. If you recognize any details that could help place these photos in the timeline—perhaps from other period photographs, newspaper coverage, or historical records—we'd love to hear from you.

Hall Bulldog 3-view drawing by Kelley, date unknown

Title: Kelley, Location: Unknown Publication