Some old Reno pics

[MRE]

It was Bob Reiser who had the airplane after Mike Smith. After that it went to England and was destroyed.

[Jukka]

The King Cobras looked like natural born racing planes. The first time I saw this airplane was with my Dad at Long Beach Airport. We had dropped by Pylon-Air to see Vern and Don. I saw that airplane and was just in love with it. I asked Lyle if he thought Larry would trade it for the Bearcat. Lyle thought it was just bullet waiting to be fired. Lyle had gone over to Phoenix and looked at Darryl's group of P-63s, I think this one was one of those. It was stunning the last time we saw it all white and sitting in the sun on the ramp.

In later years Lefty told me that the nose would move over about 3/4" at full power and that Larry's rebuild of the fuselage could have addressed that with the whole structural change on the top.

Very cool racing plane. I've always been partial to the Cobras.

Move over....to where ?

Does it have a laminar flow airfoil ...Kingcobra ?

[BellCobraIV]

Move over....to where ?

Does it have a laminar flow airfoil ...Kingcobra ?

Horizontally off to the left, as the result of the structure of the nose being designed for the armament. Lefty indicated that as a result of the lack of the weight in the nose from the lack of a cannon and guns there was a need to carry weight. In addition he discussed keeping expendable fluids towards the rear of the weapons area because the CG moves pretty bad as you use anything around that far forward. My thoughts were that if you had your spray bar water in the rear, and ADI in the front and could co-ordinate the feeding of the tanks you could control somewhat the center of gravity as the weight could be shed somewhat evenly from the front and rear.

However if we are going to dive deeper into modifying a KingCobra that is not available to us, for a sport that is just as endangered as the KingCobra then we should start a different thread to do that in. The P-63 had a laminar flow wing. The first two prototypes were ordered by the USAAF to be powered by Allison engines, the third prototype was to be a P-63B powered by the Merlin engine which indicates to me that consideration was given to making room in the package for the better engine. The third prototype was later built with an Allison due to the inability to get a Merlin engine for development.

Probably in my opinion because the government didn't want to supply Merlin engines to the Russians.

[wingman]

I'm glad this thread is rumbling along in my unexpected and entirely unintentional absence. I've enjoyed the thread and it would be a shame if it went away...

I always have thought the P-63F was one of the most beautiful Warbirds. It had a 35 year racing history, though it was never raced frequently or hard. Actually its beauty was not perfect -- there were some bad angles.

Neal

[wingman]

I lusted after that airplane for a while -- pretty and reliable go a long way. Then I got a chance to sit in the thing and realized that even if I could afford it (Ha!) It would never be at all comfortable. A P-63 is quite small and narrow and I really didn't fit. There is also a lot of metal around the canopy and visibity was wretched.

Still a very cool airplane and racer, though.

Neal

[BellCobraIV]

I lusted after that airplane for a while -- pretty and reliable go a long way. Then I got a chance to sit in the thing and realized that even if I could afford it (Ha!) It would never be at all comfortable. A P-63 is quite small and narrow and I really didn't fit. There is also a lot of metal around the canopy and visibity was wretched.

Still a very cool airplane and racer, though.

Neal

Funny as a skinny 16 year old I fit just fine,

[stuntflyr]

I’m still jealous you got to ride with Lefty. Did you ever get that ride with Bob Hoover, I recall your mom was mad because we got dirty wiping the Bearcat off at Torrance that time!?
Chris…

Funny as a skinny 16 year old I fit just fine,

[wingman]

Just a pretty picture...

I like bad weather for photography -- shadowless light, dramatic skies. This was Reno 1978, before Race 13 was White Lightning.

[Jan]

Nice shot Neal. Looks like White Lightning might have seen some actual lightning from that T-storm. Also looks like the airplane was getting a top-up with Quaker State.

[Jan]

A brand new, clean RB-51 at Chino in 1975 (Steve Addis photo)

[Jan]

In action at Mojave 1975 - still clean for the moment, airframe-wise. (David Esler photo)

[Jan]

Mojave 1975 on the course with fin added. (David Esler photo)

[Jan]

RB-51 and Flying Undertaker in 1975 (Windsinger Photography photo)

[wingman]

Quite a difference in just over a few days -- Those guys must have been pretty frantic that week.

Esler was good -- actually a lot better than that ground shot shows. I think your Dad took me on at least partly because Dave left looking for somewhere where he could actually make some money. Air Race photography has never been lucrative.

And a very nice air to air -- Who was "Windsinger Photography"? An internet search turns up nothing.

Neal

[wingman]

The Red Baron a couple of years later.