Conquest I Pictures

[Samuel]

These are cool!

https://www.facebook.com/warbirdpubl...30970940256930

[CJAM427]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Wicked cool!

I've always loved this one!

[supercub]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

I always loved the way Conquest I looked with that tiny canopy. One of my books said when it first arrived with the tiny canopy that it was made from some kind of light cover, maybe off of a Neptune? Anyone have the know the history of the cockpit/canopy mods?

Brian

[CJAM427]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

I always loved the way Conquest I looked with that tiny canopy. One of my books said when it first arrived with the tiny canopy that it was made from some kind of light cover, maybe off of a Neptune? Anyone have the know the history of the cockpit/canopy mods?

Brian

I've read that as well. This is the best rundown of its mod history that I know of. It states that the 1964 canopy was the modified Neptune searchlight. Then in 1965 it returned with a smaller canopy off of an F1 racer, which is the canopy it still has I believe.

https://modelingmadness.com/review/civil/mesnerf8f.htm

I have a better photo of the '64 version on my home computer, but you can see the difference in this one.

[Harley909]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Years ago I read somewhere that the canopy came from a Cosmic Wind.

Jim

[CJAM427]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Years ago I read somewhere that the canopy came from a Cosmic Wind.

Jim

I read over that link I posted above, it says the canopy was from a Cosmic Wind as well.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Wicked cool!

I've always loved this one!

Bill Johnson took that photo at Reno '69. A large print of it is in his book AIRSHOW! and he comments about the flying attitudes of the two planes in the shot. The Bearcat has a pronounced tail-down angle of attack, while the Mustang is tail-up.

[Fence Sence]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Bill Johnson took that photo at Reno '69. A large print of it is in his book AIRSHOW! and he comments about the flying attitudes of the two planes in the shot. The Bearcat has a pronounced tail-down angle of attack, while the Mustang is tail-up.

Later to be discussed because of this photo.

Who's photo is this? Mr. Big Jim Sir, I get the feeling you know.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Later to be discussed because of this photo.

Who's photo is this? Mr. Big Jim Sir, I get the feeling you know.

That's a shot of two airplanes not at speed. At speed the Bearcat is tail high. Even though the thrust angle was corrected on Rare Bear.

[Fence Sence]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

...the thrust angle was corrected on Rare Bear.

I did not know that. When was that done?

[toldjaso]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Later to be discussed because of this photo.

Who's photo is this? Mr. Big Jim Sir, I get the feeling you know.

The three dark shadows on the side of the fuselage on the Bear behind the cockpit in this pic are where the metal gets hot from the exhaust trail and expands getting some big puckered areas and wrinkles there. I saw this when Dave was running it up on the ground one day, it looked horrible standing there watching it get more saggy looking the more he ran it. Then, when it cooled down after shut-down, the wrinkles all went away and the area was nice and smooth again.
The sides were also damaged once when Lyle tried to stir-up some nutrients in the fuel (that they forgot to do on the ground) by kicking the rudder back and forth (so the story goes).

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

I did not know that. When was that done?

Prior to her first flight, when Lyle realized that the R-3350 was going to require a completely different engine mount Bill Hickle was tasked with designing a new mount. Since a new mount was required the thrust angle was reduced to align more closely with the centerline of the airframe. If you look at a picture of the Bearcat when Lyle had the stock Bearcat cowling on it you can see the filler piece that physically shows the difference in angle between stock and where we went with the new mount.

John

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

The three dark shadows on the side of the fuselage on the Bear behind the cockpit in this pic are where the metal gets hot from the exhaust trail and expands getting some big puckered areas and wrinkles there. I saw this when Dave was running it up on the ground one day, it looked horrible standing there watching it get more saggy looking the more he ran it. Then, when it cooled down after shut-down, the wrinkles all went away and the area was nice and smooth again.
The sides were also damaged once when Lyle tried to stir-up some nutrients in the fuel (that they forgot to do on the ground) by kicking the rudder back and forth (so the story goes).

The Lyle mixing fluids and wrinkling the airframe story is a just that, a story. It combines two different things that happened at the Bakersfield race. But the heat was the major issue.
John

[toldjaso]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

I did not know that. When was that done?

The F6F Hellcat had 3 degrees down thrust to help have better forward visibility out the windshield (by lowering the engine and cowling). I think they carried that over into the F8F Bearcat design, too. I can't find any documentation. The cockpit was also raised up to help the pilot have better visibility in the Hellcat design. This was from input from Navy pilots, requesting better visibility for the new design (F6F).
The Rare Bear no longer has offset in the vertical fin or motor mount (I think). Go-fast race mods.
Don't know about the horizontal stab incidence compared to stock on the Rare Bear. I think they change that one on the fast Mustangs? And maybe the wing incidence, too, on the fast Mustangs.

[Triple-B]

Re: Conquest I Pictures

Later to be discussed because of this photo.

Who's photo is this? Mr. Big Jim Sir, I get the feeling you know.

I know for certain that the photo was taken at the Nellis Air Show in 2004 during the Reno Air Racing Demonstration flight. I would venture to guess that the photo was taken by our very own Victor Archer, but I am not completely certain. I welcome others inputs.

Leaving for Reno in ~30 hours

Safe Travels, everyone...

Take care,
Bob