I thought people might be interested in a sequence I did many years ago at the Race in Moose Jaw. Jim Beasley had a new Zeuschel race motor that quit cold at a bad time, low and slow....
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Thanks for sharing! Very cool pics. -
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Heart in your throat moments for sure....It's hard enough to watch and pray and then be taking photos at the same time......oh...and breathing too.....and you are standing on the ground not in the pilots seat.....good tribute to a good pilot!!!
Went Fast, Forgot to Turn Left, Saw God!Comment
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WOW….. Look how flat those blades are. It must have felt like he had a drag shoot hanging off the tail.Jason SchillereffComment
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This series of pics are hanging on the wall in our hangar at Chester County PA where we keep Bald Eagle.
Its a wonder when you see good outcomes to bad situations.
Jim Beasly Sr was test flying a Z racing motor out of Chino when the mixture linkage broke shutting off the engine. He did his best imitation of a glider pilot and almost made it back in one piece, crashing through the fence at Grove and Merrill Ave and basically stopping on the numbers at the end of the runway. There were several small holes, a few dents and the nosecase broke off of the engine. Today if you look close at the top leading edge of the belly scoop you will see a slight impression evey couple of inches from the chain links of the fence.
RichComment
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Great series of shots Neal. I find that when something like that happens
the spectator in overcomes the photographer in me and then I spend the rest of the day kicking myself.
JohnNAG
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51fixer -- I posted the sequence over on WIX a few days ago and Jim came up and mentioned that they were still up on the wall of the hangar. Pretty neat -- especially as I'd forgotten after all these years that I'd sent those to his Dad.
Today he emailed me a scan of a post card I'd made and sent to Jim Sr. back in 1984! He found it while going through some of his Dad's papers and pictures. A cool artifact for me! Amazing what a lawyer will keep...
Here are a couple more from the Beasley foray into air racing long ago:
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John -- I'm actually pretty impressed that I actually stood there and kept shooting with that thing headed straight for me like that! I'd say young and stupid, except that I wasn't that young.
Also, not bad for a manual focus and manual exposure camera, if I do say so myself...
NealComment
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Awsome shots! Thanks for posting them.
TonyComment
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Neal,
Just this past weekend Jim Jr bought about 10 boxes of stuff from his dad's and he has enjoyed sorting through the books, pics and videos.
He has posted some photos at airshowbuzz.com under Jim Beasly on the members photos page. http://www.airshowbuzz.com/forums/in..._album&album=9
RichComment
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Nice pics, Neal.
I'd love to see anything more you have out of Moose Jaw. What a race. I think the final had more pylon cuts than any other single Unlimited race in history. Skip only won in The Healer because he had the LEAST amount of cuts of any of the front runners (Dago, Habu, Tipsy Too, etc...)Comment
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I liked the shot of the nappy headed kid in the cockpit of 51JB! I remember first seeing Frenesi at Oshkosh in 1991 I think, must have been shortly after she first came back from Latin America -- I do love Mustangs in Olive Drab...Comment
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Most certainly. And if the plane ever gets sold, it aparently must go to someone with the initials JB!Originally posted by wingmanComment
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This was taking by my Dad i belive Reno 1977 is this the same mustang form the album Shawn
Attached FilesComment
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Speed -- Maybe I will -- the race was a lot of fun -- the only race I've ever been to that was sponsored by a beer company! Lots of free beer in the evenings, and pretty good beer, too -- not like all this American cow pee. Due to miscommunications, the Unlimiteds started one race right through the middle of a formation of dancing helicopters -- now that was scary! Skip set the course record in Z's F-86. Gary Levitz mad as Hell -- telling Sandberg "You're too nice to your crew!" Bud Granley in Miss America as pace plane. A demo by the only F-101 Voodoo I've ever seen fly (and loudly too!).
Ah -- seems like only yesterday! But over two decades ago -- almost a quarter century -- I must be getting old...Comment
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