Some old Reno pics

[BellCobraIV]

That is a cool photo -- and an important bit of Bear history. Here's aother Birch Matthews shot from that event. So is this the canopy tat departed the airplane at Reno?

Neal,
Yes, the canopy had been allowed to be rolled all the way back during the parade down the main street in Reno. Nobody checked the release mechanism before Lyle flew it back to Stead from the downtown airport. It had partially been released as he took a trip around the course on arriving back the canopy released, hitting Lyle's chin and the vertical tail.

The visibility wasn't as good as the shade it was supposed to supply.

[BellCobraIV]

1. Where did Lyle procure the drop tanks from?

2. Prior to the race, was there any c/g calculation or testing done in the various degrees of 'fullness' and the impact of pulling g's as the fuel burned off?

The exciting story would have been Lyle working with a couple of the guys from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station to secretly take four drop tanks to the hangar in Compton. Complete with bomb racks and everything needed.

However the real story is Lyle purchased one lot of drop tanks from one of the stores on "Murderers Row" in the valley. The two best ones were painted shiny white. The Bomb racks were borrowed from Walt Olrich. The four drop tanks were eventually donated along with some random wheel/brake parts to the Commemorative Air Force in Camarillo.

The bulk of the stock F8F-2 brake and wheels being sold to General Anders for the Wampus Cat.

[BellCobraIV]

Randy Difani did a nice detailed post about recovering the airplane from the New Mexico desert -- it may have been the long Bearcat thread from a year or so ago...

I have the pictures, I went searching for Randy's story. I remember reading it.

John

[Jan]

A series from the pits at Stead and one from the course. You guess the year... No doubt many of you will nail it. (photos by Eric Everill)

[Jan]

Same year....

[Jan]

Same year....

[Jan]

Yep, same year....

[Jan]

And again....

[Jan]

And once more...

[Big_Jim]

Same year....

Look how desolate the valley is. Before Red Rock was even a name on the map.

[Jan]

A fine spot for desert duels. Thirsty work.

[wingman]

Look how desolate the valley is. Before Red Rock was even a name on the map.

Compare to 2013 -- similar angle, I think...

Photo by Birgitta

[wingman]

Bakersfield was a very big deal for Dwight Thorn. This was his first real shot at the Gold in a decade. My question is: Was this an Allison rod Mouse motor? I've asked this in the past and nobody has seemed sure.

It ran really well, and finished the Gold Race. Stiletto ran equally well, for 6 laps, but apparently ran out of fluids doing so. Birch Matthews says Skip reported seeing 140 inches of manifold pressure during that race -- 110 inches is about what you'd see at Reno altitude with a high rpm Packard rod motor like Stiletto's.

So was Strega's Bakersfield motor a Mouse motor?

So nobody here knows whether the Bakersfield Dwight Thorn motor was an Allison rod "Mouse" motor?? What about Reno 1985? This is from Bakersfield...

[wingman]

Would these be T-28 propeller blades? They look pretty short...

[mdwflyer]

Would these be T-28 propeller blades? They look pretty short...

I think I can answer that one, yes aeroproducts blades from A model T-28, in either p-63 hub, or sky raider hub with adapter.