Before it was Rare Bear

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Originally Posted by knot4u

I'm not sure that the exhaust system in that photo is the version that was installed during the Bearcats glory days but I'd be happy to be corrected. The good exhaust was a nightmare to work on. I can recall questioning why anyone would put together a puzzle that cantankerous and being told it was "tuned", the pipe from each cylinder would join the pipe from a cylinder preceding in the timing order to help exhaust gas scavenging and contribute a small amount of thrust. The exhaust exits also worked as a venturi (exhaust augmenter), the exhaust actually helped to cool the engine (unless part of it failed) by motivating the air under the pressure cowl to exit. That system had gone through so many heat cycles that it was almost beyond repair and anytime it was disassembled it was a nightmare to reassemble because nothing fit, nothing would line up and you'd have to start taking it apart again. With all of that said, it should've been replicated not scrapped.

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Lyle had flown on TWA trips with George Byard's brother. That is the initial way that Lyle got to meet George and start the most beneficial support that the Bearcat racing project would ever have. George Byard owned Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine a major player in the radial engine business in Southern California. The first rodent infested, trash covered engine that the team received came from AC&T and George Byard. They didn't have any exhaust, not did anyone else have exhaust for an R-3350 in a Bearcat QEC, however AC&T did have several crates of exhaust that had been removed from R-3350 engines for Constellation and DC-7 aircraft. Lyle bought a complete engine mount and exhaust from a Skyraider, those parts didn't even think about fitting on the Bearcat!

So one of the crates was brought down to the Compton hangar F8 (the first hangar Lyle had) and was used by Cliff Putnam to build the first somewhat crude but effective 2 into 1 exhaust set on the Bearcat. Over the years that exhaust that Cliff had built was maintained on ocassion as it would break often out of those parts that were in the crates of exhaust.

One of the things that Dave Cornell brought to the table was his history in motorcycle racing. Dave as he became more involved in the Bearcat decided that a complete revamping of the exhaust system was going to be necessary. Cliff's original system while designed to be two cylinders down to one exhaust pipe which was good didn't take into account pairing of the cylinders by firing order in order to maximize the scavenging effect of the cylinders paired to achieve two to one exhaust pipes. Dave went back to AC&T who still had crates of exhaust pipes for the Turbo Compound engines picked up more pipes and started over. He was having Rich Donahue take the pipes from the crates and by cutting and fitting the Dave and Rich fitted the pipes in the pairing of cylinders to provide the optimum effect of scavenging.

The next and most secret part was to optimize the back pressure to exhaust outlet velocity by machining rings that were shaped and sized in a manner that would make the best use of the pressure cowl design that Dave and Bill Prewitt were installing based on the DC-7 cowling. Bill was an excellent sheet metal fabricator and was able to bring to reality the design Dave envisioned.

The spinner off a Bristol Beverley was adapted to the four blade propeller and we were able to close down the gap between the spinner outside diameter and the cowlings inside diameter to a ridiculously small looking dimension. Without proper exhaust augmentation the engine simply would not have had enough air going through the cowling to cool the engine. A metal plate system was developed to increase the venturi effect between the higher velocity exhaust gasses and the slower cooling air. Ultimately flight tests showed that at speed the "flat plate" area between the gap of the cowling and spinner was negated to near net zero. The spinner afterbody that was fabricated by Prewitt under Cornell's direction shaped the airflow to get the maximum use of the air going through the cowling. To finish the package the baffles were installed using silicone sealer to control the airflow better. High temperature rubber pieces were installed to manage the airflow at the cylinder base gaps.

Torque meter readings showed that the augmented improved exhaust system was good for close to 300 horsepower, the engine cylinder head temperature was reduced and flight test numbers showed a significant speed increase due to the reduced drag.

So a really good system started by Cliff Putnam was perfected and included in a package of air/engine management thought up by Dave Cornell brought to life by the metal shaping magic of Bill Prewitt. Rich Donahue gets credit for training the exhaust pipes to fit as needed. Lief was correct, working on the exhaust was a Bearcat kinda deal.

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

Lyle had flown on TWA trips with George Byard's brother. That is the initial way that Lyle got to meet George and start the most beneficial support that the Bearcat racing project would ever have. George Byard owned Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine a major player in the radial engine business in Southern California. The first rodent infested, trash covered engine that the team received came from AC&T and George Byard. They didn't have any exhaust, not did anyone else have exhaust for an R-3350 in a Bearcat QEC, however AC&T did have several crates of exhaust that had been removed from R-3350 engines for Constellation and DC-7 aircraft. Lyle bought a complete engine mount and exhaust from a Skyraider, those parts didn't even think about fitting on the Bearcat!

So one of the crates was brought down to the Compton hangar F8 (the first hangar Lyle had) and was used by Cliff Putnam to build the first somewhat crude but effective 2 into 1 exhaust set on the Bearcat. Over the years that exhaust that Cliff had built was maintained on ocassion as it would break often out of those parts that were in the crates of exhaust.

One of the things that Dave Cornell brought to the table was his history in motorcycle racing. Dave as he became more involved in the Bearcat decided that a complete revamping of the exhaust system was going to be necessary. Cliff's original system while designed to be two cylinders down to one exhaust pipe which was good didn't take into account pairing of the cylinders by firing order in order to maximize the scavenging effect of the cylinders paired to achieve two to one exhaust pipes. Dave went back to AC&T who still had crates of exhaust pipes for the Turbo Compound engines picked up more pipes and started over. He was having Rich Donahue take the pipes from the crates and by cutting and fitting the Dave and Rich fitted the pipes in the pairing of cylinders to provide the optimum effect of scavenging.

The next and most secret part was to optimize the back pressure to exhaust outlet velocity by machining rings that were shaped and sized in a manner that would make the best use of the pressure cowl design that Dave and Bill Prewitt were installing based on the DC-7 cowling. Bill was an excellent sheet metal fabricator and was able to bring to reality the design Dave envisioned.

The spinner off a Bristol Beverley was adapted to the four blade propeller and we were able to close down the gap between the spinner outside diameter and the cowlings inside diameter to a ridiculously small looking dimension. Without proper exhaust augmentation the engine simply would not have had enough air going through the cowling to cool the engine. A metal plate system was developed to increase the venturi effect between the higher velocity exhaust gasses and the slower cooling air. Ultimately flight tests showed that at speed the "flat plate" area between the gap of the cowling and spinner was negated to near net zero. The spinner afterbody that was fabricated by Prewitt under Cornell's direction shaped the airflow to get the maximum use of the air going through the cowling. To finish the package the baffles were installed using silicone sealer to control the airflow better. High temperature rubber pieces were installed to manage the airflow at the cylinder base gaps.

Torque meter readings showed that the augmented improved exhaust system was good for close to 300 horsepower, the engine cylinder head temperature was reduced and flight test numbers showed a significant speed increase due to the reduced drag.

So a really good system started by Cliff Putnam was perfected and included in a package of air/engine management thought up by Dave Cornell brought to life by the metal shaping magic of Bill Prewitt. Rich Donahue gets credit for training the exhaust pipes to fit as needed. Lief was correct, working on the exhaust was a Bearcat kinda deal.

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Thanks for confirming my memories John, I hope I wasn't sharing too much. Now regarding my question about Juniors, have you given it any thought?

So the story is even more complex than I thought. The end result did sound like to a large degree like Cornell thinking but I had no idea how complex the balancing of air coming in and air going out with the exhaust system could be. No wonder the Texas guys seemed to get lost in it all.

Here are a couple of shots from 2002 that show the developed system (or at least another stage in its evolution).

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Originally Posted by wingman

In the meanwhile I'll post another Pete Behenna photo or two. So back in 1969 Lyle had an airplane shell, a remarkable crew coalescing, and parts coming in from around the country. He still needed an engine. According to Dell Rourk, Lyle went to see George Byard at Aircraft Cylinder and Turbine in Sun Valley, Ca.

AC&T had an old R3350 in the open out back of the shop -- it was scheduled for salvage and had been sitting back there in the weather with no plugs or stacks and rainwater in the cylinders. George donated the engine to Lyle's project. George Putman cleaned out the sticks, birdsnests, and other crap and with some help from the mechanics at AC&T managed to rebuild the motor.

John -- what was the timeline of all this? When did Lyle move the kit into the hangar? When was the fuselage more or less complete? When did Putnam get his hands on the engine and when was it actually hung on the airplane?

Neal

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Neal,
I the second picture below in this thread some of the background pieces tell a lot of the story. On the floor straight behind the welding bottles is a surplus Skyraider engine mount. Hanging from the wall above the engine mount on the airplane is a brand new F8F engine mount, the shiny front nose bowl of a Bearcat cowling is hanging from the ceiling attached to the cowl framework. Those new Bearcat parts came from Palley's Surplus. Palley's Surplus was a business that had tons of brand new and salvaged warbird parts. Had a collector been more visionary than the scrapman that bought a lot of the inventory they would realize the treasure of the ages. But alas most of that was scrapped in the early eighties....sad.

Cliff was in the process of building the original exhaust which was a very good system, Cornell just put together and tuned the final package so we'll.

So this photo?

There's also this one -- during the original buildup of the exhaust system?

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Originally Posted by wingman

So the story is even more complex than I thought. The end result did sound like to a large degree like Cornell thinking but I had no idea how complex the balancing of air coming in and air going out with the exhaust system could be. No wonder the Texas guys seemed to get lost in it all.

Here are a couple of shots from 2002 that show the developed system (or at least another stage in its evolution).

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I don't know how many times Fred, Gil and myself took that apart and reassembled it (after work, we all had full time jobs) in a t-hangar at Van Nuys (in the summer at night when it was still 100F, or when it was 30F in the winter, in the hangar). It was all inconel, and as John said fabricated from another application. I recall Greg Shaw brought in an oxy-acetylene setup to look for cracks, he'd take each piece (while it was disassembled) and heat all of the joints up looking for cracks, the cracks were apparent when the part was red hot and we'd send it out for repair. Every time we took it apart we always tried to remember how we'd done it, unfortunately most of the time half of the pieces would just fall out after we loosened a bunch of clamps. This was not uncommon, that airplane would fight you every inch of the way if you were working on it. So despite our best efforts and recent experience trying to reassemble it was always a challenge. Like I said, you'd think you were 1/2 to 3/4 of the way to the finish and nothing would fit and you'd have to almost have to start over. The key was to assemble everything loosely (Hang On Loosely, .38 Special, look it up) but some of the tubes would require tightening before they were made impossible to access by the rest of them, and then it wasn't just left and right because it was a round motor so eventually top, bottom and left and right had to join. And you better not pre-stress any of these pieces because they'd be sure to at least crack, or at worst fail at the worst possible moment and making sure none of them were rubbing each other the wrong way was always a challenge and another reason to start over. Like I said before it was a challenge (nightmare) but once it was installed it worked. It should have been replicated, not replaced.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFUi8Wa03hc

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Originally Posted by wingman

There's also this one -- during the original buildup of the exhaust system?

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That was the photo I was referring to in my last post, yes.

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Originally Posted by wingman

So this photo?

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That photo shows the brand new QEC sitting on the ground to the left of the plane.

Removed

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

The folks that took over the "The Beatles instruments" never understood why different people couldn't make the same music. Cornell understood where the music came from and was able to produce good results. When the airplane went to Texas they didn't understand what they had, so they went flock shooting and slowed down the Fastest Piston engined airplane in the World. They prioritized a new exhaust system, they prioritized adding 3 additional dyna-focal engine mounts to the existing engine mount. A mount that was consulted on with not only the engineers that had designed the early Constellation engine mounts, but they brought in the original Dyna-focal engineers that understood exactly what was required. So they went from the six mounts we had always used to nine mounts which unbeknownst to them was most likely too rigid. But maybe that's necessary when you truck the airplane between Reno and Texas instead of flying it? I don't know?

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You're trying to break my heart right? Sure seems like it. I wonder if I'll ever get to lay hands on that airplane again, even if it's just (preferably) to say hello. If it's in a museum I can travel. It was never a mystery where or when we were working on it, the circus of the rodeo used to show up almost constantly. I'm not sure if it was Fred, Gil or Bill that finally put their foot down and made the door opening the deadline. That didn't seem to dissuade anyone, they just set up lawn chairs outside of the hangar and watched us work. That was actual entertainment for some people on weeknights or weekends. After we were done for the evening it wasn't uncommon for us to join the people outside of the hangar and take advantage of their libations and chairs as we'd all sit and look at it in horrible fluorescent lights in the middle of the night and ponder. I'm not sure what we were pondering but we did plenty of it so I suspect I'm an expert ponderer these days.

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Originally Posted by wingman

Stuff like this makes me glad not to be a mechanic.

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When I was in my late teens, early 20's, I entered a government program called MDTA at the time, short for Manpower Development Training Act.. They offered the going unemployment weekly stipend if you committed to and kept your grades up in a training program.. I chose auto mechanics. I learned so much from that year in Community College that it affected the rest of my life. Virtually everything I've done since then has had mechanical knowledge involved..

Yes, it can be EXTREMELY frustrating at times, but ultimately satisfying when you solve a problem or even better, come up with a "Make it better than before" solution to a problem...

I've gotten along pretty well with most of the mechanics/crew on air racers partly due to I know about what they do..

You should try it sometime Neal... LOL!!!!

I certainly know how to do it -- I grew up seriously poor and for many years never had jobs that paid much. I worked on my motorcyles and I worked on my cars. I hated it! One of the happiest days of my life was when I figured out that I had enough money to pay other people to work on my cars. I really prefer taking pictures, and luckily I'm a lot better at that than I am at fixing cars...

Neal

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Originally Posted by wingman

I certainly know how to do it -- I grew up seriously poor and for many years never had jobs that paid much. I worked on my motorcyles and I worked on my cars. I hated it! One of the happiest days of my life was when I figured out that I had enough money to pay other people to work on my cars. I really prefer taking pictures, and luckily I'm a lot better at that than I am at fixing cars...

Neal

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From the first time I ever had the opportunity to get to know Neal, it was in Jack and Sylvia Sweeney's motorhome at a race. But early in the week before things got going I looked forward to visiting and talking to Neal. I never felt like in our conversations that there existed a disconnect between us and always felt he understood the depth of the work we were doing. It's one of the reasons I ALWAYS enjoy the game of show and tell with you Neal. I always feel you understand.

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Originally Posted by wingman

I certainly know how to do it -- I grew up seriously poor and for many years never had jobs that paid much. I worked on my motorcyles and I worked on my cars. I hated it! One of the happiest days of my life was when I figured out that I had enough money to pay other people to work on my cars. I really prefer taking pictures, and luckily I'm a lot better at that than I am at fixing cars...

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Grew up poor as well, pretty much on my own from 11 years old on... Lived with my dad, but he was more of a very good OLD friend who guided me, rather than aimed me at anything.

The MDTA thing was just a way to get some "government money" back then for those of us who did not finish high school.. but truly, the lessons learned in that one year of education totally changed my life.

I pay someone sometimes to do stuff but invariably, they do not do it to my standards! Particularly with fiberglass body work...

**sigh**

Anyway, I hope you did not think I was diminishing you in any Neal!! I know you have great depth of mechanical knowledge about the racers... you were the fly on the wall then after all!

I'm very fortunate to have been that fly a couple times myself, very fun spot to be!

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

From the first time I ever had the opportunity to get to know Neal, it was in Jack and Sylvia Sweeney's motorhome at a race. But early in the week before things got going I looked forward to visiting and talking to Neal. I never felt like in our conversations that there existed a disconnect between us and always felt he understood the depth of the work we were doing. It's one of the reasons I ALWAYS enjoy the game of show and tell with you Neal. I always feel you understand.

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Hey John, as I said in my response to Neal, for sure I know he knows LOL.... I was just talking about how much I like fixing stuff and even more, keeping stuff new! My old Silverado is a pretty good example of how, with a little care, you can buy a vehicle new and pretty much drive it till you're dead!!

Thanks to both of you for keeping this thread alive... John, I think you know how much my time with the Bear and knowing Lyle means to me... I have to pinch myself that I could call Lyle and he actually knew who I was and usually made time for me... In my mind, that man was the greatest air racer EVER.. it was in his blood. Hard to describe but you just felt it being in his presence and mind you, I only knew him in his golden years! God, I wish I could have met him in his prime...

Special man!

I'm sure glad the thread is still moving along. Probably a bit slow and meandering for the Millenials among us, but working pretty good in Geezer time...

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

The next and most secret part was to optimize the back pressure to exhaust outlet velocity by machining rings that were shaped and sized in a manner that would make the best use of the pressure cowl design that Dave and Bill Prewitt were installing based on the DC-7 cowling. Bill was an excellent sheet metal fabricator and was able to bring to reality the design Dave envisioned.

The spinner off a Bristol Beverley was adapted to the four blade propeller and we were able to close down the gap between the spinner outside diameter and the cowlings inside diameter to a ridiculously small looking dimension. Without proper exhaust augmentation the engine simply would not have had enough air going through the cowling to cool the engine. A metal plate system was developed to increase the venturi effect between the higher velocity exhaust gasses and the slower cooling air. Ultimately flight tests showed that at speed the "flat plate" area between the gap of the cowling and spinner was negated to near net zero. The spinner afterbody that was fabricated by Prewitt under Cornell's direction shaped the airflow to get the maximum use of the air going through the cowling. To finish the package the baffles were installed using silicone sealer to control the airflow better. High temperature rubber pieces were installed to manage the airflow at the cylinder base gaps.

Torque meter readings showed that the augmented improved exhaust system was good for close to 300 horsepower, the engine cylinder head temperature was reduced and flight test numbers showed a significant speed increase due to the reduced drag.

So a really good system started by Cliff Putnam was perfected and included in a package of air/engine management thought up by Dave Cornell brought to life by the metal shaping magic of Bill Prewitt. Rich Donahue gets credit for training the exhaust pipes to fit as needed. Lief was correct, working on the exhaust was a Bearcat kinda deal.

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Originally Posted by wingman

I'm sure glad the thread is still moving along. Probably a bit slow and meandering for the Millenials among us, but working pretty good in Geezer time...

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In the picture with the cowling removed on the left two things come to mind, the first is how well the fit of the spinner and the afterbody was. There were the distributor caps that protruded, the lower sump protruded as well, keep in mind all those little access panels were sealed with a sealant to control the airflow leaks. Notice the extremely nice fit of the little plates around the propeller blades.

The second item is that is Rich Donahue working on the exhaust system at the races. Rich had helped Dave cut and shape the exhaust pieces and quite often could see a particular pipe and know better than most where it went and what order they fit in.

At this point I think that it is really important to point out that in actuality Greg Shaw was a much better Crew Chief than Dave was. Greg was not quite the idea person that Cornell was but he could handle a group of people extremely well. I had the privilege of working under Bill Hickle, Dave Cornell, Greg Shaw, Bill Kerchenfaut and L.D. Hughes among others in a crewman relationship among others. All of those mentioned were exceptional, however "Kerch" and "Shaw" knew how to get the best out of the people on the team.

Greg Shaw and Dwight Thorn -- Reno 1989

In another thread a comment was made about Sea Fury's and three blades. I thought it was important to answer the question both there where the original question was asked and here because of the history continuity. So please forgive the double posting;

QUESTION FROM RAD2LTR
"I'm still curious why none of the Sea Fury guys tried running a 3 blade like Bears. I'f I'm not mistaken, there is one hanging in Sanders shop on the back wall. Yes it was a handful on a Bearcat, but a Sea Fury is a whole lot more airframe to absorb the harmonics ect. I can only wonder how fast September Fury would have been with it. (It would have looked awesome as well.)

Will"


ANSWER;
"Will,
Quite simply there never was a "3 Blades R Us" store. The design wasn't a resurrected World War 2 development program. It wasn't an experimental NACA program. The 3 blade propeller was designed in the minds of Carl Friend and Dave Cornell. Dave left the team the day after the surplus P-3
Orion blades were purchased for the project. We still had the research notes for the project and Carl Friend's input.

The 3 blade propeller modifications were proprietary, we took the modifications to the propeller shop. California Propeller Service did not come out and say, "Hey, we have this really great idea and are you interested?" No in fact when we approached them to build a propeller consisting of modified P3 blades with modified cuffs to clear the cowling based on using a 3 blade Constellation hub with specially created spacers so the blades would fit the hub Cal Prop thought about it quite deeply.

Finally Barry agreed to build and maintain the 3 blade for a fee with a planned ongoing inspection program. Part of the agreement required every one of my Lyle's closest living relatives to sign a release of liability in case of failure. They didn't want to be in the 3 Blade racing propeller business, plus it wasn't theirs to offer copies of. It was ours exclusively we assumed the risk, we got the rewards. Lyle never complained of the handling when he raced the plane. Point of fact as the crew we didn't have any inkling until John Penney brought the situation up. Lyle just used it because it went faster for the same power.

Bill Prewitt made the spinner backing plate out of billet aluminum and the carbon fiber spinner was made in-house by one of the fabricators of the B-2 Spirit prototype team. (We didn't know that then because nobody knew what a B-2 was) both the spinner and backing plate were designed to match the 4 blade diameter because the cowl opening and the afterbody were considered by now to be optimum.

Keep in mind to keep from cooking ignition coils and other items under the cowl a blower setup was devised for forcing air through the cowling after a run once the engine was shut off on the ground.

So in short the Sea Fury guys weren't ever offered one."

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

Keep in mind to keep from cooking ignition coils and other items under the cowl a blower setup was devised for forcing air through the cowling after a run once the engine was shut off on the ground.

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Huh. I wonder why Rod Lewis' bunch never utilized that idea?

OH, that's right, they were offered. But...."We think our way works just fine".

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Originally Posted by wingman

Greg Shaw and Dwight Thorn -- Reno 1989

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I didn't know Greg Shaw in 1989 and for as long as I did know him he didn't have a nickname. If you look at his jacket in that photo apparently he did. What was it? I miss that guy.

After work...

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Originally Posted by Big_Jim

Huh. I wonder why Rod Lewis' bunch never utilized that idea?

OH, that's right, they were offered. But...."We think our way works just fine".

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You know Big Jim that was a super frustrating experience. I took the phone call from "He who will not be named" asking me to arrange to get the airflow on the ground system setup during raceweek as it had become a concern to him. I took the time from my duties at Mystery Aire to make the calls asking you to make the parts necessary for the system. I tell "HWWNBN" that it is all set up, by the time you arrive after getting direction they tell you "Thanks but no thanks."

Let's just go back to positive things about the Bear...


Que the next picture to discuss.

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Originally Posted by wingman

After work...

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Thanks. Do you have a picture of Greg smiling? I saw it plenty but I think most people thought he was always on edge and super serious, which he was but sometimes...

I'll have to look but I don't think so.

I don't have a lot of Greg. I have a couple of the opposite mood that I hesitate to post as he's clearly telling people things they don't want to hear when they're exhausted and things are not going well. That's the side of crew chiefing one does not show.

Neal

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

You know Big Jim that was a super frustrating experience. I took the phone call from "He who will not be named" asking me to arrange to get the airflow on the ground system setup during raceweek as it had become a concern to him. I took the time from my duties at Mystery Aire to make the calls asking you to make the parts necessary for the system. I tell "HWWNBN" that it is all set up, by the time you arrive after getting direction they tell you "Thanks but no thanks."

Let's just go back to positive things about the Bear...


Que the next picture to discuss.

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Regardless of the losses of so many team members over the years there are still a few kickin'. The fact that people always want to talk about it has cemented your dad and the airplane in history as a legend. I suppose in the future someone might go faster, but not with that style. The small airframe with clipped wings, a small canopy and a big engine (it took a lot of people a lot of time and personal sacrifice) seemed to be something that excited people. And then the three blade prop was installed, the airplane instantly became extraordinary. It was photogenic, and it was fast. It was the Oso Raro, King of the Valley, and it shook your insides when it went by and it was on it.

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Originally Posted by knot4u

I didn't know Greg Shaw in 1989 and for as long as I did know him he didn't have a nickname. If you look at his jacket in that photo apparently he did. What was it? I miss that guy.

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Wikipedia, look for Rodan. Cornell came up with a nickname for everyone, and every other race plane... example Stiletto was "Butter knife", the Super Corsair was"Mattress Wings"

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Originally Posted by BellCobraIV

Wikipedia, look for Rodan. Cornell came up with a nickname for everyone, and every other race plane... example Stiletto was "Butter knife", the Super Corsair was"Mattress Wings"

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I know what Rodan is, why was that Gregs nickname?

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Originally Posted by wingman

I'll have to look but I don't think so.

I don't have a lot of Greg. I have a couple of the opposite mood that I hesitate to post as he's clearly telling people things they don't want to hear when they're exhausted and things are not going well. That's the side of crew chiefing one does not show.

Neal

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I told Greg I?d never go racing without him. I?ve kept that promise.

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Originally Posted by knot4u

The small airframe with clipped wings, a small canopy and a big engine (it took a lot of people a lot of time and personal sacrifice) seemed to be something that excited people. And then the three-blade prop was installed, the airplane instantly became extraordinary.

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John will correct me if I'm wrong It may well be possible that there was only one pilot who had the natural instinct, years of experience, knowledge of the systems and confidence in his machine and control of or complete lack of fear to extract all the airplane had to give. It can never be argued that the Rare Bear is an extraordinary machine created by amazing people but would it ever have been the racer that it is without Lyle Shelton flying it?

The circumstances that brought Lyle to where he was, military training, years of experience with the engine. innate ability to feel what was needed. and I'm sure I mentioned complete lack of, or control of, FEAR!

I just don't think you can discuss the accomplishments of that airplane and extraordinary crew without factoring in the extremely rare skills and determination of Lyle Shelton!

The combination did work...

Lief -- Here's one where Greg is part way to a smile. It's Sunday morning after a long evening and he's not thoroughly awake yet.

Later that day he's not smiling. Three interesting and identfiable characters in the background -- anybody want to guess them?

The last shot is 4 years later. He's officially crew chief by then, and is not smiling.

Neal

Everybody so loved that three blade...

This is an AMAZING thread! I'm glad it's active again.

I'm curious about the canopy and how that developed. From photos, it looks like it was a stock canopy until '71-'72 when a lower profile one shows up with sheet metal in the back. Then in 1973 the famous low profile one shows up.

I'd love to hear if there's any stories about the development and decisions there.

Thanks!
Connor

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Originally Posted by CJAM427

This is an AMAZING thread! I'm glad it's active again.

I'm curious about the canopy and how that developed. From photos, it looks like it was a stock canopy until '71-'72 when a lower profile one shows up with sheet metal in the back. Then in 1973 the famous low profile one shows up.

I'd love to hear if there's any stories about the development and decisions there.

Thanks!
Connor

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Connor,

The stock canopy was used until the 1971 era, after that the first canopy modified was the "cut down shaped canopy" with the fibreglass rear section. Lyle didn't really like how much that canopy interfered with cockpit lighting and shadows, but it's what we had so no priority was set for it's replacement.

Lyle always supported the Reno National Air Races downtown parade. For Reno 1972 the Bearcat was flown from Stead to the Reno Cannon airport to be towed in the parade through the town, if I'm recalling correctly Clay flew his Mustang down for the parade as well. Lyle stood in the cockpit during the parade and the canopy was rolled all the way back, we had noticed at that point in history that when the canopy was rolled all the way back the emergency jettisoning mechanism would strike part of the structure for the overturn brace, so a pre-flight item was added to check that the mechanism was secured. The next day after the parade when Lyle was flying back to Reno Stead, the item was missed. Lyle got back to Stead and flew around the course kind of high to look at it. Suddenly the canopy released from the airplane catching Lyle by surprise and striking his head as it went. So as a result we borrowed the stock canopy from Bud Fountain and left his Bearcat covered in plastic. When we got back home after the races Lyle, Myself, and my Mom with out dachshund Susie all piled into the F250 and returned the canopy to Reno and installed it back on Bud's Bearcat. We didn't have an extended cab truck and it was a manual transmission so after a while Lyle would say what gear he wanted, push in the clutch and I shifted. I always remember that horribly crowded ride to Reno and back from Orange County. It was fun.

So after Reno 1972 the new all plastic canopy was made using the same windscreen as the previous one.

The shape was made by making a plaster piece and basically removing plaster where it didn't look right. There was one of the aerodynamic guys I think from Douglas that came by the hangar to look at it and he said that everyone had done a good job, he commented that the fineness ratio was ten times better than Darryl's little bubble canopy so we were all happy and the guy that made everybody else's canopies made that one as set from the plaster mold.

We would eventually in the 1980s replace that canopy due to age and sun damage from when the airplane sat outside after the belly landing in Mojave. That new canopy had an integral antenna on the inside rear surface which allowed us to remove the wire antenna and their resultant drag. At that point the area behind the canopy on the fuselage was built up slightly and the rear of the canopy frame modified to match, also at this point the rollers were replaced with Teflon slides that reduced the amount of rocking and play the canopy had making the whole assembly really tight. There was of course still air gaps around the canopy that allowed a slight bit of resultant drag. There were thought of taping the canopy closed for the 3Km record but ultimately the runway was too narrow to line up on Lyle tried lining up with the canopy closed but aborted the landing when transitioning from the slip to the landing. (Side note: this point of the landing when you are slipping to line up with the runway and transition to the nose up 3 point position, the tiny ailerons would momentarily loose effect and the airplane if you didn't stay on too of it would like to roll onto it's back, not a problem as long as you know it's coming and knew how to avoid it.)

That is the canopy story.

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Originally Posted by wingman

Lief -- Here's one where Greg is part way to a smile. It's Sunday morning after a long evening and he's not thoroughly awake yet.

Later that day he's not smiling. Three interesting and identfiable characters in the background -- anybody want to guess them?

The last shot is 4 years later. He's officially crew chief by then, and is not smiling.

Neal

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The people in the background in the second photo are Lyle, BCIV and Clay Lacy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wingman

Lief -- Here's one where Greg is part way to a smile. It's Sunday morning after a long evening and he's not thoroughly awake yet.

Later that day he's not smiling. Three interesting and identfiable characters in the background -- anybody want to guess them?

The last shot is 4 years later. He's officially crew chief by then, and is not smiling.

Neal

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It's sad that many people remember Greg as that guy in the third photo. I think he felt he had enough friends and with a few exceptions he wasn't looking for any new ones. He had a huge heart that would melt occasionally, evidence enough would be seeing him around a puppy or a young child. But not many got to see that side of him. Oh well, water under the bridge

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wingman

Lief -- Here's one where Greg is part way to a smile. It's Sunday morning after a long evening and he's not thoroughly awake yet.

Later that day he's not smiling. Three interesting and identfiable characters in the background -- anybody want to guess them?

The last shot is 4 years later. He's officially crew chief by then, and is not smiling.

Neal

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I originally wrote a response to the pictures, that started in Van Nuys and ended the last time I saw Greg face to face. It took me over an emotional hour to write. I met Greg when I was a 14 year old kid, Greg was Bob Guildford's 16 year old Crew Chief on his Corsair. We became friends, I'd say for the rest of his life we were friends. We raced airplanes and cars together. It was a great journey, lots of water under and over the bridge of time.

Thank you Neal for pictures that bring back thousands of memories of my friend.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by knot4u

It's sad that many people remember Greg as that guy in the third photo. I think he felt he had enough friends and with a few exceptions he wasn't looking for any new ones. He had a huge heart that would melt occasionally, evidence enough would be seeing him around a puppy or a young child. But not many got to see that side of him. Oh well, water under the bridge

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Funny I wrote my response without having read yours.