Vendetta

[rje71]

Hello All ...

Can someone post a photo of the P-51 " Vendetta " I believe race # 19 ...

RJ

[CG51]

Re: Vendetta

Here is a nose shot, if i find more I will post them. There is also photos in the RacePlane Tech book on Griffon Mustangs.

[jarrodeu]

Re: Vendetta

Beautiful airplane! Thanks for sharing the photo with us.

Jarrod

[rje71]

Re: Vendetta

Thank's CG !! I also found that there are some pics 3 view drawings on the Warbird Aeropress site ..

RJ

[taichi]

Re: Vendetta

I've made five views. Taichi, Japan

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Vendetta

I've made five views. Taichi, Japan

Taichi,

Welcome and thanks so much for joining the message board community here! I think I missed a chance to meet you at Reno a year or so ago and have regretted it since. I am a huge admirer of your work and it's an honor to have you here!

Wayne

[Curt]

Re: Vendetta

Guess i need to break out my Vendetta kit @ Get to work

[KB Adkins]

Re: Vendetta

Did Vendetta ever race at Reno? It does not show up in the race result archives on the RARA site? Thanks!

[jarrodeu]

Re: Vendetta

Did Vendetta ever race at Reno? It does not show up in the race result archives on the RARA site? Thanks!

It's qualified at Reno.

Jarrod

[Shawn Aro]

Re: Vendetta

Here are some my dad took shawn Enjoy all the best

[speeddemon]

Re: Vendetta

Did Vendetta ever race at Reno? It does not show up in the race result archives on the RARA site? Thanks!

It was at the 1988 Reno races, and on Monday of qualifying they wanted to go out on the course, but the Champion Spark Plug rep was not on site yet. So they took the plugs that had been used the year before on Lou IV, and installed them in Vendetta's engine.

Dilley took Vendetta out on the course for practice only and turned an unofficial lap of 435 at very moderate manifold pressure, but when he pushed the engine up, one of the mags went sour and the engine started running very rough.

Overnight they fixed the mag, but in the mean time forgot about changing out the 'old' spark plugs for a brand new set for their qualifying run, so when they wet out on the test flight on Tuesday to check out the new mag, as soon as they went to power, the engine blew...and the culpret turned out to be one of the 'old' plugs that had cracked.

So the race engine was ruined. They installed a second 'ferry' engine, but still had mag problems with it as well, and were only able to turn a very slow 302 mph qualifying lap on Wednesday afternoon. While it put them in the field, they were last....and '88 was the year that there were 44 entries, and 35 'qualified' Unlimiteds. No racing for Vendetta.

It crashed the following year in May during a test flight outside of Fort Wayne following an in-flight engine fire when a rod failed.

[MRussell]

Re: Vendetta

Wow, I was there in '88 but never really heard the back-story on Vendetta. What a sad story for one of the best looking, best-named racers.

[T. Adams]

Re: Vendetta

Page 43 & 44 at this link.

http://www.enginehistory.org/Convention/2006/Presentations/LawPete/UCAR(5)%20-%20Mustangs.pdf

[hg2992]

Re: Vendetta

As a corporate pilot in the 80's I flew to Fort Wayne many times,
I always talked to John about the airplane while it was being built, I asked him many questions about the concept including "do you think it will fly?"
After Reno he told me that during practice he could hardly keep the aircraft on the course because the roll was too sensitive. They then disconnected on of the two aileron servo tabs and it was OK. Ironically the only reason he used the horizontal stab is because it came with the Lear wreck that a hangar fell in on, but the trim system and fuselage fairing became one of the most difficult parts of the project.

[speeddemon]

Re: Vendetta

How about THIS pic?