The Verville-Sperry R-3 was a cantilever wing racing monoplane with a streamlined fuselage and the second aircraft with fully retractable landing gear, the first being the Dayton-Wright RB-1.

[1] In 1961, the R-3 racer was identified as one of the "Twelve Most Significant Aircraft of all Time" by Popular Mechanics magazine.

The R-3 was developed by the McCook Field Engineering Division and manufactured by the Lawrence Sperry Aircraft Company of Farmingdale, New York.

And Lieutenant St. Clair Streett broke an oil line and had a forced landing, damaging his airplane.

[4] For the 1924 Pulitzer, the R-3, piloted by Lieutenant Harry H. Mills, won the race at a slow 215 mph (346 km/h).