Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

[ChrisMX105]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Rod Lewis bought it about the same time as the Rare Bear.

And yes, it is a crying shame that it will not get to prove itself.

Hopefully someone will buy it and finish it, I do know the work that was being done was nothing short of amazing.

[rforslund]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Rod Lewis bought it about the same time as the Rare Bear.

And yes, it is a crying shame that it will not get to prove itself.

Is it never going to be finished because of the limited prize money or are there questions of the performance capability?

[knot4u]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Rod Lewis bought it about the same time as the Rare Bear.

And yes, it is a crying shame that it will not get to prove itself.

What does Howard Keck think about the situation? His riches far outweigh the substantial fortune Lewis has built. Does he still have a stake in it, I'm pretty sure he provided a lot of the initial funding.

[GRNDP51]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

What does Howard Keck think about the situation? His riches far outweigh the substantial fortune Lewis has built. Does he still have a stake in it, I'm pretty sure he provided a lot of the initial funding.

Haven't heard that name in awhile, never knew he was a part of the project either. I wish he would get more involved with air racing, bring his Invader around the pylons! Like you said he has a little bit of cash that could be spent on the sport, but there are probably a few better options than racing at Reno.

[knot4u]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Haven't heard that name in awhile, never knew he was a part of the project either. I wish he would get more involved with air racing, bring his Invader around the pylons! Like you said he has a little bit of cash that could be spent on the sport, but there are probably a few better options than racing at Reno.

Lyle did it on his own dime, as ugly as it got it was still his airplane until the day he sold it. We're having a bit of a heat wave here in the LA area and I'm happy I'm not in a t-hangar at KVNY working on an airplane designed in the forties, modified in the sixties, and further modified through the seventies, eighties and nineties.

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Any old photos of "American Spirit" to post again?

[toldjaso]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Any old photos of "American Spirit" to post again?

Here are some racer pics

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Thanks for the photos. It looks like it could have been fast if it could of handled a PW-4360.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Could still be some cool chit someday... I fear the era of guys with megabux trying to break records might be gone...

What we need is an air race fanatic to win the biggest lottery ever!

Who's ready to step up and buy that darn ticket!!

[toldjaso]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Could still be some cool chit someday... I fear the era of guys with megabux trying to break records might be gone...

What we need is an air race fanatic to win the biggest lottery ever!

Who's ready to step up and buy that darn ticket!!

The next time someone does something like this, (and they eventually will), I expect it will be carbon fiber and Kevlar layed up over cnc machined blocks of foam glued together. That way you could get compound curves a lot easier than you could with sheet metal, like Jon Sharp did with Nemesis.

This was the last of the scratch-built sheet-metal radial engine powered racers that Bruce Boland helped design, and very may well be the last serious attempt to get to the 600 MPH mark with a piston engine. It also had the best wing to be able to do it.

[boomtown]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

The next time someone does something like this, (and they eventually will), I expect it will be carbon fiber and Kevlar layed up over cnc machined blocks of foam glued together. That way you could get compound curves a lot easier than you could with sheet metal, like Jon Sharp did with Nemesis.

This was the last of the scratch-built sheet-metal radial engine powered racers that Bruce Boland helped design, and very may well be the last serious attempt to get to the 600 MPH mark with a piston engine. It also had the best wing to be able to do it.

Is that a T-2 wing or a custom airfoil?

[GRNDP51]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

I among all of you would've loved to see it fly, but in another sense I'm somewhat relieved that they moved it out of the hangar to make room for the worlds fastest sea fury to have a roof over its head. 232 has a chance to fly and race again unlike the Cornell racer and it's good to know that it won't be sitting outside rotting away especially when winter rolls around again. That plane doesn't deserve to be outside and it's nice to know that the decision was made to put it inside for the time being.

[IcePaq]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Is that one of Larry's 3350 mounts on "American spirit"?

[toldjaso]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Is that a T-2 wing or a custom airfoil?

T-2 wing with non-funtioning flaps, reflexed and fixed in position.

The fuselage aft of the cockpit is T-2, with 2 feet clipped off the top of the vertical fin and rudder, and also rounded out on the bottom where the engines and exhaust were on the T-2. And a raised turtledeck added to the top.

In the long run, it is easier to do the whole thing from scratch, (like Tsunami), than it is to try to "cut and paste" sections and pieces and parts from existing airframes and make them work. The load paths can get real screwy, for one thing. Then you end up adding more weight, to beef it up, so it will stay together in the air under load.

[RichH]

Re: Been out of touch - would anyone please update me?

Paul Varga posted on FB that the engine is "done" and should be en-route to Stead. Also that they have been working on the engine since last November...