Wildfire?

[alaskaracer]

Has anyone heard any new news on the Wildfire project? It looks pretty close to complete on their site, but they haven't updated the site in awhile.

[jarrodeu]

Re: Wildfire?

They said its not going to be there this year but next year for sure.
I hope so.
Jarrod

[speeddemon]

Re: Wildfire?

They said its not going to be there this year but next year for sure.

Wow. Deja Vu'.....

For a second there, I thought it was 1983 again.

[jarrodeu]

Re: Wildfire?

What do you mean?

[alaskaracer]

Re: Wildfire?

Jarrod,
Evidently from what I have read Wildfire has been a work in progress for like 20 years with every year they say next year, it finally looked like this might have been the year it finally emerged from the hangar to race. I am not sure if the plane has even ever flown.

[dj51d]

Re: Wildfire?

Widlfire has flown at least once, and the CG was way off so the flight was interesting to say the least.

[Race 29]

Re: Wildfire?

I've heard the story about the "first" first flight, and that the pilot walked away commenting that he felt lucky to live throughout the flight. Does anyone know who that pilot was? I think it might have been before Skip Holm was on the scene testing just about all the airplanes first flights.

Also, has Wildfire flown recently? With all of the Skunk works folks working on the problems of that design, I'm sure they'll find the solutions. Whether it's "race winning" fast or not.

I'll be driving to Las Vegas in a couple weeks, and plan to stop by Mojave. I've got a cheap digital camera that I plan to take with me to get whatever shots I can there. But, if anyone wants to loan me their spy satalight quality, mega pixel, took all the equity I posses to buy, digital camera. I'll post said pictures here. Oh, and I'll TRY to keep from spilling beer on it during the week!

Race 29

[matt]

Re: Wildfire?

i think the pilot might have been greenameyer for some reason, i'm very probably wrong though.

[speeddemon]

Re: Wildfire?

No, the pilot's name was Joe Guthrie. He was a test-pilot from Flight Systems, the drone company from Mojave. It was the fall of 1983, and as I recall, he wasn't even supposed to take off...it was supposed to be a high-speed taxi session on the main runway....and instead, the plane took off. It was all he could do to wrestle the thing back around and get it on the ground. Walked away, vowing never to fly it again.

Some time after that, it is reported that Skip took it up once, but I've never confirmed that. And by that time, Skip was already 'the man' as far as racing/testing goes.

But then the plane was just 'parked', due to some conflicting stories about the Statler team.

So, Jarred, to hear the optimism, it sounds just like 20 years ago. The best laid plans of mice and men, you know.....