* Robert L. Hall; Designed Gee Bee, Other Aircraft

Robert L. Hall, 85, the aviation pioneer who got his start designing Gee Bee racers and went on to design a series of jets for Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. Hall joined the fledging Granville Brothers Aircraft Inc. as chief engineer in 1928. His revolutionary Gee Bee Model Z racer, the “City of Springfield,” powered by the first of Pratt & Whitney’s high-horsepower radial engines, took first place after sweeping the competition in every contest in the National Air Races of 1931. Later that year, pilot Lowell Bayles set an air speed record of 296.2 m.p.h. in the plane. Hall later joined Grumman, where he helped design and test a series of planes that proved a major force during World War II, including the F-4F Wildcat, the F-6 Hellcat, the F-8F Bearcat and the F-7F Tigercat. As Grumman’s chief engineer and vice president, he was instrumental in the design of several jet fighters and the Gulfstream I executive aircraft. He retired from Grumman in 1970. In Newport, R.I., on Sunday.