new racers

[matt]

ya, and i'm the crew chief

[Peashooter]

Originally posted by speeddemon
I heard Russ Wicks is going to be the pilot...

Can he turn up the wick? (mea culpa )

[Victor Archer]

Do-335 facts

The Do-335 was one of a small group of aircraft marking the pinnacle of international piston-engined development. It was the fastest production piston-engined fighter ever built, attaining 846 kilometers per hour (474 mph) in level flight at a time when the official world speed record was 755 kph (469 mph). Powered by two 1800-hp engines in a unique low-drag configuration and weighing 7,400 kg (16,314 lb.) empty.
The NASM aircraft is the second Do-335A-0, designated A-02, with construction number (werke nummer) 240102 and factory registration VG+PH. It was built at Dornier's Rechlin-Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, plant on April 16, 1945. It was captured by Allied forces at the plant on April 22, 1945. After checkout, it was flown from a grass runway at Oberweisenfeld, near Munich, to Cherbourg, France. During this flight, the Do-335 easily outclimbed and outdistanced two escorting P-51s, beating them to Cherbourg by 45 minutes. Under the U.S. Army Air Force's "Project Sea Horse," two Do-335s were shipped to the United States aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS "Reaper" together with other captured German aircraft, for detailed evaluation. This aircraft was assigned to the U.S. Navy, which tested it at the Test and Evaluation Center, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland. The other aircraft, with registration FE-1012 (later T2-1012), went to the USAAF at Freeman Field, Indiana, where it was tested in early 1946. Its subsequent fate is unknown. (All test aircraft at Freeman Field had registration #’s starting with FE
So why was the registration changed to T2 and where did it disappear to?)
Following Navy flight tests in 1945-48, the aircraft was donated to the Smithsonian's National Air Museum in 1961 but was stored at NAS Norfolk until 1974. It was then returned to Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, where the Dornier company restored it to original condition in 1975.

Go Team Octo-Threat [a spoof] Nice try Bill, but we know it really exists.

[Skyracer]

Hmmm...Somewhere deep in the cobwebs of the grey matter I recall seeing an article a few years ago about a DO-335 replica project starting up. Seems like there were accompanying photos of fuselage frames in a jig, etc. Perhaps???

[Unregistered]

there no reason they couldn't just use allison engines.....

[Peashooter]

What prop for a pusher application, though?

[Skyracer]

Just use the backwards turning prop from a P-38 and turn the blades around.

[matt]

theres a few problems with using allisons, the daimler-benz 603 engine was much larger than the griffon engine, which itself is 2,240 cu. in. this was a massive engine. the size difference isn't the only problem, getting their respective systems to match and fit and the problem of a new shaft and mount would make it very difficult, and expensive to do.

[stuntflyr]

Oh, brother!
Chris...

[Skyracer]

There is no problem so large or complex that it cannot be solved with dollars in orders of magnitude.

[matt]

also, i believe the mount for the rear engine was built into the frame.

[Lowell]

Those other would be racers

Maybe the Do-335 rumors can trace their roots to clouded memories of the long promised push-pull racer of Dave Garber. Way back in the Winter of 1974 we started seeing little clips about the racer, a photo of Dave with some prelimary sketches, and lots of big hopes. Air Progress June 1975 had the first good overview. Sport Aviation March 1976 had an in-depth 4-page article. The "DG-1" was even in Jane's All The World's Aircraft in at at least the 1976, 1977, and 1979 editions. Little N10E had its first flight on July 25, 1977 with its two 330-hp Maxda RX-3 rotary engines. Jane's said there were many flights. The racer never made it to a race but did sit for a time in the museum in Lakeland, Florida. Sport Aviation February 2002 p.44-49 had a current photo published and news that the project hadn't died. Haven't heard anything since then, however.
There was another push-pull racer that never made it near this far off the drawing board. In 1974 race veteran Art Williams, released a three-view of a sleek elliptical winged-with dual push/pull 450-hp (airplane-engines) design. See Model Aviation Aug 87 article with three-view drawing on page 75 and mention on p. 76.
Speaking of two engines we also were hearing for some time about a new-technology flying replica of the Bugatti Model 100 being built. That project also has not had recent press that I know of. Very exciting prospect I think.

What about some of the other promised Unlimited Custom-builts? Where to start?
There was the Lowers-Minges LM-1 that got a promising start and much early press (see Air Progress July and August 1971, and National Aeronautics July-Aug. 1974 ) but the loss of one of the partners in a tragic racing T-6 crash in 1971 ended the plans for race #66.
Jim Wilson had a similar Ranger V-770 design, "Snoopy II" in the works in the 1973-74 period (Model Aviation Aug. 87; Western Flyer Jan. & Aug. 1973) but this race #34 vanished before the hangar door ever opened. Even Critical Mass crew chief Jim Flanagan was rumored to be building a V-770 powered racer according to Air Progress August 1971, page 68.
There were other short-lived rumors as well:
Steve Wittman in 1965 had an Allison V-12 design idea for Bill Stead before he died. (See: Air Progress July 71 p.10) (How might that have changed Reno Unlimited racing's history books...?)
Lee Mahoney had a Cadillac V-8 design as briefly mentioned in an Air Progress article July 71 p.10.
Anson Joihnson's Delta Pusher (N.A.G. rag Nov. 1975).
Orion Technologies "The Streak" (Western Flyer late 1980's advertisements).
Jim Carter, an ex-fighter pilot from Mill Valley, CA was building a P-51D fiberglass replica that he felt would be a Reno winner using a V-8 engine. see: Air Racing Winter 74 p. 41 and Sport Aviation Dec. 1969 p.23; Western Flyer 2-4-74 John Tegler's column "THE HOME PYLON." He sold the poorly engineered and very heavy-winged project way before it got close to turning a propeller let alone a fast lap.
In 1977 there were many rumors of a custom Unlimited coming from Mira Slovak complete with a Chrysler Hemi but nothing ever flew, though his P-39Q "Mr. Mennen" was potentially just as exciting while it lasted..
"Skip" ahead to1992 and find none other than Skip Holm/ American-Russian Industries going public with a twin V-8 pusher in Pacific Flyer and some mention in Sport Aviation March 1994 p. 98-100. Some similarity to the "Team Wang" info is noted but that's another story.
In 1994 "retired Lockheed employees" were cooking up a 1,002 cu. in. Reno Unlimited. All we have is the much publicized sketch from a tablecloth at the Reno Awards Banquet but... This might possibly be the result of the Richard Scherrer R-114-C4 design being exaggerated through the rumor mill. There are many similarities between the reports seen on the two so look for these references in: Pacific Flyer Oct. 74 p. A30, and NAG rag Nov/Dec 94 p.5 for starters. Of course the fully-mocked up Scherrer design got us very excited when the Sport Aviation March 1994 issue hit our doors. See pages 96-101. What ever happened to this one???
In1998 Hal Daltone gave us a glimpse of the "Intrepid", a V-1650 Merlin powered beauty that maybe Wayne's July 1998 aafo.com archives still has. It was a nice article on this proposed design. Tom Giertz, in the Houston, TX area was contacted to build the racer but no money was available.
Then we must mention the 1999 design of David W. Hall (?), Epps Model 2000 "Millennium Swift." Said to have been designed in the late 1980s, this 925 hp V-8 pusher racer had an
extensive (53-page) conceptual design write-up done in late October, 1999 which can be found at: http://homepage.mac.com/aerodesign/.Public/Case1.pdf
Then "NB Racing" was the subject of rumors only with some spurious posts on pylon1.com in the 1999-2000 period. No real info here.
In 2002 Paul Lamar's dual Mazda Cosmo design sketch was shown in his Sport Aviation February 2002 p.44-49 article on Rotary engines for aircraft. The concept envisions three-rotor engines of 1,000 hp each.
Any others you ask?...I recall seeing mention of an all composite new racer (Robbie Grove design) with Pratt & Whitney R-2800 being developed in the early (?) 1990s. Also, Greg Morse was said to have a composite Unlimited Homebuilt in the works in the mid-90's. References to both rumors have been lost.
Okay no more right? Well there were a few that you may have forgot all about...
Tony D'Allesandris actually made it to the Reno Unlimited ramp on race week with his JT-SP, race #3, N51TD, (previously N71RH with Howard Goddard.) No it didn't beat any Mustangs around the pylons but it DID show up. See Reno 1982 program and Air Classics Feb. 1983, page 82. Also once seen at Oshkosh (Sportsman Pilot , Fall 1982, p.11.)
More famous and certainly sleeker was John Parker's wonderful JP-350-1, race #350, and N350JP which also shared elbow room with the Big Iron at Reno in 1989. It's 400-hp Lycoming TIO-540 was tightly wrapped in a long cowling. This one deserves a whole story...How about it Wayne, or Bear? For now see: Pacific Flyer (come on we know you save your 15-year old papers) March & September 1989; Sport Aviation (beautiful color) April 1989; Here's one everybody kept: Reno_Gazette Journal September 15, 1989; okay how about Sportsman Pilot Fall 1989? The "American Special" was the beginning. See John for a three-view sketch of the next-generation JP-351 sometime...No, it's not the Thunder Mustang #351...
Ralph Wise had a design similar to J.P.'s called the WM-1 so go out to the garage and find your copy of The Reno Gazette-Journal, Sept. 9, 1986 on page 8A. Someone must have a photo of this one in the building stages…???
Hamilton Aerospace was said to be thinking of racing their HX321 but did the gorgeous pusher ever make it past the mock-up stage? Hamilton told me once in 1992 that it had already flown. I don’t think so. Pacific Flyer June 1990; Kitplanes September 1994, Dec. 1995 and Dec. 1997 to give some idea.
Then there was the George Pereira GP-5. Wow, it looked fast even in the building stages but then its slated (and experienced) race pilot had a serious accident on the Salt Flats and I guess it went into storage. Some ads for its sale in Trade-A-Plane (see your First May 1996 issue (somewhere under the bed, page 116A) were run. But you must find the debut article in Sport Aviation May 1993 page 59-63. Or you could dust off your Pacific Flyers from September and November 1993 too.
Daryl Elam’s dual-turbo fuel-injected 500-bhp V-8 “Viper” was an Unlimited entry rumor that never washed, but you gotta see the photos of N18VX in one of the mid-90s Sport Aviations or on the back cover of a same era Wick’s catalog. Pretty! I’d root for it in a Bronze race anyday. Needed help in the tailwheel area though!
I won’t mention Wildfire, Mach Buster, Shockwave, the Dart, John Marlin’s MB.5, Brad Sherk’s Red Baron recreation, Murdo Cameron’s ideas of an Allison-powered Grand 51, the recreation of the Neuffield-Napier-Heston racer, or the American Spirit because they are all “well known,” right?
But in closing I could tease you with a mention of Mark Hirt’s MK-7 (Sport Aviation June 1995, March 1996, or June 1996. USA Aviator July 1996 and Pacific Flyer May 1996 also showed us some of it.) Maybe a good Sport Class racer today. Ditto many of the above nowadays.
Finally (now that you have half of the Library of Congress spread out on your living room floor)…“Team Wang”. What is up with you… and that little twin pusher of yours???? We know your’e reading this! Your pylon1.com message board postings of August 5-14, 2002 have not been forgotten. PRS this year right? Don’t tell us your’e sharing a pit with Double Threat either. We know better!

How DO YOU say Goodnite in Japanese anyway?

Lowell Thompson

[W J Pearce]

Ah..... damn! That's a little scary Lowell, but so damn cool! Thanks for the history lesson. The link did not work for me however. I'm speechless now.

Bill Pearce

[Lowell]

Sorry about the link

The link on the Epps model 2000 may be long gone. I didn't think to try it before posting and it was a year or two ago when Ilast brought it up. Sorry!
I re-read my post and saw a couple of spelling errors also but it is too late to fix tonight.

Lowell

[AAFO_WSagar]

Originally posted by W J Pearce
Ah..... damn! That's a little scary Lowell, but so damn cool!

LOL... Lowell's level of knowledge, as well as his ability to archive history, *IS* a bit scary

How you been Lowell??

Wayne