Some old Reno pics

[RAD2LTR]

Anyone know what happened to this airplane? Is it still around?

I believe the remaining Whittington brother still has it. It hasn't flown in years to my knowledge, but its my understanding that it could fly. Its the only other flyable H model in the world as far as I know.

Will

[wingman]

It did fly some about ten years ago before Bill Whittington passed away. I've seen photos of it at an Arizona air show. I've heard nothing since.

Another question is what has happened to that P-51G propeller...

[Big_Jim]

It did fly some about ten years ago before Bill Whittington passed away. I've seen photos of it at an Arizona air show. I've heard nothing since.

Another question is what has happened to that P-51G propeller...

So that propeller is actually off of the XP-51G Mustang. Last I know Don still had the prop in storage. The guy who is slowly restoring the XP-51G airframe (https://www.facebook.com/p/Project-X...0063102015456/) tried to buy it from him several years ago, and Don turned the offer down. When asked why, Don's comment was "I figure I'll outwait the guy and buy the project from him."

[BellCobraIV]

So that propeller is actually off of the XP-51G Mustang. Last I know Don still had the prop in storage. The guy who is slowly restoring the XP-51G airframe (https://www.facebook.com/p/Project-X...0063102015456/) tried to buy it from him several years ago, and Don turned the offer down. When asked why, Don's comment was "I figure I'll outwait the guy and buy the project from him."

Correct! When my Dad still had his Bearcat I would negotiate parts for the race plane with Don. John Morgan asked me to approach Don regarding the propeller, so I did. Don told me that he would "wait until Morgan died and then buy the project".

[wingman]

That airplane just looked good with the 5 blade. It went a lot faster, too, though it was not an apples to apples comparison.

[MRE]

Notice the one piece windscreen. They did this on the D racer as well. John, didn't Don have a large supply of Bearcat props.

[Big_Jim]

Notice the one piece windscreen. They did this on the D racer as well. John, didn't Don have a large supply of Bearcat props.

That was actually a Darrell Skurich thing. He did two different size wrap-around windscreens for Precious Metal. One for the H. One for the Aussie Mustang he rebuilt for Gary Levitz (which became "Jeannie Too"), one for "Georgia Mae", and one for the Whittington TF-51. Don't forget that part of the package deal with the wrap-around prop was the maroon red leather upholstery.

I believe that for a long time, Brother Don had the largest inventory of spare Bearcat EVERYTHING in the world. If you wanted anything, you almost had to go through him.

[wingman]

That was actually a Darrell Skurich thing. He did two different size wrap-around windscreens for Precious Metal. One for the H. One for the Aussie Mustang he rebuilt for Gary Levitz (which became "Jeannie Too"), one for "Georgia Mae", and one for the Whittington TF-51. Don't forget that part of the package deal with the wrap-around prop was the maroon red leather upholstery.

That low profile version was REALLY low profile. I think the -H version was simply the stock P51-H canopy, though. The Coutches airplane looks the same.

How did this airplane cool its oil? Was the cooling system stock?