Before it was Rare Bear

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

My apologies, I edited my original post. People spell my name wrong all the time as well so I know how you feel.

I don't have the intimate knowledge of the airplane like others do so I'm not certain what I should be looking for. What I see is some sort of blow-by coming from the belly, a partially open gear door and maybe some oil canning in the fuselage?

Neal says that photo was taken in the valley on monday of the '97 races. That was the year Lyle got back into flying the airplane, I don't know if John Penney or Lyle were in the airplane when that picture was taken, it was a long time ago. Most of your observations are correct, except the blow-by from the oil cooler exit, it should've been a waterfall of steam, and all of that oil was normal (the first time I ever saw the airplane in person it hadn't had an engine mounted on it for over two years and it was still leaking oil). My concern has more to do with the control surface deflections on the elevators and rudder and the trim tab positions.
Edit: I forgot to mention the pocket door hanging open, an open gear door was a bad deal for that airplane. We had issues trying to find sector gears for them, I suspect the repeated higher speeds put loads on them they weren't designed for. I know the Bearcat had a gear issue a few years after I left but I've always wondered if that might've been a contributing factor.

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Interesting... If the Valley of Speed he'd be somewhat straight and level, and pulling minimal Gs. That does seem like a considerale amount of up elevator and aileron deflection. What is that thin stream of vapor coming straight out at 90 degrees from the fuselage? That's not the oil cooler exit you're talking about, is it? I have a couple other shots from that session -- one shows the stream and one seems not to.

Neal

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Interesting... If the Valley of Speed he'd be somewhat straight and level, and pulling minimal Gs. That does seem like a considerale amount of up elevator and aileron deflection. What is that thin stream of vapor coming straight out at 90 degrees from the fuselage? That's not the oil cooler exit you're talking about, is it? I have a couple other shots from that session -- one shows the stream and one seems not to.

Neal

The wing root intakes fed air to the oil cooler, and fed the carburetor, there was a big hole in the belly to let the oil cooler air exit (it has to go somewhere otherwise it would just create drag). The spay bar water nozzles were obviously just above the oil cooler, and the water would exit with the fresh air hopefully cooling down the air/oil heat exchanger as it changed from a liquid to a gas, cooling the air and oil in the process. Lot's of people way smarter than me had figured out how to do this long before I ever knew what a Bearcat was. Regarding the pissing of water out of the belly it looks like the spray bars weren't putting out the volume. There might be a few reasons for that but at this point I have no idea why, it should've been a trail of steam behind it like we've seen in some of the recent Dreadnought pictures posted here. The aileron position isn't disconcerting.
Edit: The visible flame coming out of the exhaust doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. I wonder if this picture might have been taken at a moment when whoever was flying it might have been pulling off the course for reasons we don't know.

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Interesting... If the Valley of Speed he'd be somewhat straight and level, and pulling minimal Gs. That does seem like a considerale amount of up elevator and aileron deflection. What is that thin stream of vapor coming straight out at 90 degrees from the fuselage? That's not the oil cooler exit you're talking about, is it? I have a couple other shots from that session -- one shows the stream and one seems not to.

Neal

Would you mind posting the other images?

[L.E.D.]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Wonder if that shot just happened to catch the Bear as it started to roll into pylon 7-8-9.

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Wonder if that shot just happened to catch the Bear as it started to roll into pylon 7-8-9.

That's quite possible -- I shot from several places along the old fence line over the years. These look right for a location where all the older houses are in that development. I remember racers being pretty level there, but it's also not real far from pylon 7.

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Would you mind posting the other images?

Not at all -- this is interesting. I'd never thought much about the oil cooling arrangement, in terms of where the air went.

First shot is blown up and enhanced from the already posted image. The next is similar but with less visible flow. The last seems to be pulling off the course with no visible flow. My guess is that this was a test run on moderate power -- he seems to be running fairly high.

Neal

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Not at all -- this is interesting. I'd never thought much about the oil cooling arrangement, in terms of where the air went.

First shot is blown up and enhanced from the already posted image. The next is similar but with less visible flow. The last seems to be pulling off the course with no visible flow. My guess is that this was a test run on moderate power -- he seems to be running fairly high.

Neal

Third shot looks like a more normal spray pattern, if you look closely in shot 4 you can see the bottom of the oil cooler just above the exit. There wasn't much room for stuff in that portion of the airplane and it was crowded. I've worked on a lot of airplanes and that is still the most difficult, sometimes I'd question my sanity. But it came with a lot of satisfaction, friends and odd scars on my arms that I get to explain to my nieces and nephew. Look at the photo in your own post #112 in this thread with regards to cooling the oil.

[Lon Moer]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

This morning Ezell Aviation posted a 9sec video on their fb page with the comment:
"Be watching Texas... she?s headed South!"
You can see both four and three bladed props also on the trailer.

[ZacYates]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

This morning Ezell Aviation posted a 9sec video on their fb page with the comment:
"Be watching Texas... she?s headed South!"
You can see both four and three bladed props also on the trailer.

Another thread has been started on this here. Mostly discussion about whether or not the three-blader's on there...despite it seeming obvious that it is!

[Bigger Al]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

This morning Ezell Aviation posted a 9sec video on their fb page with the comment:
"Be watching Texas... she?s headed South!"
You can see both four and three bladed props also on the trailer.

Maybe there's a record attempt in her future?

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Maybe there's a record attempt in her future?

Where would they do it? I doubt Joe Clarks ranch will still be available, but I don't know if that's true. We can try to start a rumor that Rear Bear and Voodoo are going to finally figure it out once and for all in the high desert of Idaho. Of course that would be complete nonsense right..






(Two periods isn't an ellipse.)

[Bigger Al]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

We can try to start a rumor that Rear Bear and Voodoo are going to finally figure it out once and for all in the high desert of Idaho. Of course that would be complete nonsense right..






(Two periods isn't an ellipse.)

Jeez, talk about getting some knickers in a twist.

No clue where they'd try it. Just some off-season speculation.

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Jeez, talk about getting some knickers in a twist.

No clue where they'd try it. Just some off-season speculation.

I was trying to make a joke, sometimes these threads get a bit dark. My sense of humor isn't always funny to a lot of people, I meant no offense.

[Bigger Al]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

I was trying to make a joke, sometimes these threads get a bit dark. My sense of humor isn't always funny to a lot of people, I meant no offense.

I got the joke and chuckled quite a bit. There are a lot people who would take it as gospel. You didn't offend me in the least.