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Bear On The Move!

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  • #76
    Re: Bear On The Move!

    Originally posted by Big_Jim View Post
    C'mon, John...this is me you're talking to here. Admit it. You were just too young to know what you couldn't do. So you went out and did it.
    Well mah boy, it went like this. We had blowed the engine up real good the year before in Mojave. Some slick engineer type used a slip on type hose fitting, and some screw type hose clamps. On a high pressure oil line, well she let go and quick as you can say hold on to yer ass all the oil ran out the engine. Mah dad wasn't able to get the gear down, and she coasted to a stop on two prop blades and the tailwheel.

    So thar she sat fer a year. No engine, no money, and believe it or not no crew full of guys willing to do all the work for free. So during the ensuing year lots of fellers with big ideas get jaw-jackin' to mah dad and some of these fellers, Ralph Payne, Randy Scoville, Wally McDonnell well they tell Lyle "just tow it on the highway from Mojave to Van Nuys". So eventually Lyle figures out nobody is going to camp out in Mojave and put the plane back together so he says. "Well guys how are WE going to do that?" Crickets mah boy, crickets. So April rolls by, then May rolls by then June. One day I graduated High school, Lyle says "congratulations, now go fetch man airplane from the desert. Here is the car keys to both El Caminos, modify the Chevy truck get all the permits, don't spend any money, and don't get caught or arrested. So mah best friend and the balance of the Spirit of 77 race crew Tim Reilly and I put about 5,000 miles on the 1973 El Camino, and about 2,000 miles on his new 1977 El Camino figuring out how to move the plane. One fine day at the end of summer we snuck out of Kern county on an unimproved back road. Avoided the Kern county sheriff car, and made it into Los Angeles county by the skin of our teeth.

    Well the answer is yep we were too young to know better. But we were following orders.
    John Slack

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    • #77
      Re: Bear On The Move!

      Originally posted by BellCobraIV View Post
      Well mah boy, it went like this. We had blowed the engine up real good the year before in Mojave. Some slick engineer type used a slip on type hose fitting, and some screw type hose clamps. On a high pressure oil line, well she let go and quick as you can say hold on to yer ass all the oil ran out the engine. Mah dad wasn't able to get the gear down, and she coasted to a stop on two prop blades and the tailwheel.

      So thar she sat fer a year. No engine, no money, and believe it or not no crew full of guys willing to do all the work for free. So during the ensuing year lots of fellers with big ideas get jaw-jackin' to mah dad and some of these fellers, Ralph Payne, Randy Scoville, Wally McDonnell well they tell Lyle "just tow it on the highway from Mojave to Van Nuys". So eventually Lyle figures out nobody is going to camp out in Mojave and put the plane back together so he says. "Well guys how are WE going to do that?" Crickets mah boy, crickets. So April rolls by, then May rolls by then June. One day I graduated High school, Lyle says "congratulations, now go fetch man airplane from the desert. Here is the car keys to both El Caminos, modify the Chevy truck get all the permits, don't spend any money, and don't get caught or arrested. So mah best friend and the balance of the Spirit of 77 race crew Tim Reilly and I put about 5,000 miles on the 1973 El Camino, and about 2,000 miles on his new 1977 El Camino figuring out how to move the plane. One fine day at the end of summer we snuck out of Kern county on an unimproved back road. Avoided the Kern county sheriff car, and made it into Los Angeles county by the skin of our teeth.

      Well the answer is yep we were too young to know better. But we were following orders.
      Wow...um...how many "Mah boy's" was that? All I could see was reflective sunglasses over a booth at Skytrails "Mah boy, if flying it home had been in the cards we would've done that by now".

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      • #78
        Re: Bear On The Move!

        Yes he weighed heavily in the "IDEA and ADVICE" part of the move.
        John Slack

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        • #79
          Re: Bear On The Move!

          Please tell me there are photos of this aircraft movement endeavor out there somewhere for public consumption...

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          • #80
            Re: Bear On The Move!

            Originally posted by BellCobraIV View Post
            Yes he weighed heavily in the "IDEA and ADVICE" part of the move.
            Two things that were rarely lacking.

            And yet...two things that I would give my left nut for to have around these days.

            Miss that guy.

            Comment


            • #81
              Re: Bear On The Move!

              Originally posted by BellCobraIV View Post
              Well mah boy, it went like this. We had blowed the engine up real good the year before in Mojave. Some slick engineer type used a slip on type hose fitting, and some screw type hose clamps. On a high pressure oil line, well she let go and quick as you can say hold on to yer ass all the oil ran out the engine. Mah dad wasn't able to get the gear down, and she coasted to a stop on two prop blades and the tailwheel.

              So thar she sat fer a year. No engine, no money, and believe it or not no crew full of guys willing to do all the work for free. So during the ensuing year lots of fellers with big ideas get jaw-jackin' to mah dad and some of these fellers, Ralph Payne, Randy Scoville, Wally McDonnell well they tell Lyle "just tow it on the highway from Mojave to Van Nuys". So eventually Lyle figures out nobody is going to camp out in Mojave and put the plane back together so he says. "Well guys how are WE going to do that?" Crickets mah boy, crickets. So April rolls by, then May rolls by then June. One day I graduated High school, Lyle says "congratulations, now go fetch man airplane from the desert. Here is the car keys to both El Caminos, modify the Chevy truck get all the permits, don't spend any money, and don't get caught or arrested. So mah best friend and the balance of the Spirit of 77 race crew Tim Reilly and I put about 5,000 miles on the 1973 El Camino, and about 2,000 miles on his new 1977 El Camino figuring out how to move the plane. One fine day at the end of summer we snuck out of Kern county on an unimproved back road. Avoided the Kern county sheriff car, and made it into Los Angeles county by the skin of our teeth.

              Well the answer is yep we were too young to know better. But we were following orders.

              Reminds me of the early team, towing Race #70, Able Cat, from Compton, CA airport (too short for test/first flight) to Long Beach, CA airport to fly it for the first time after repair/assembly in 1969. It was towed in the middle of the night/early morning, and people were coming out from the bars, etc. and amazed by the sight of an F8 Bearcat in the street! However, we were not allowed fly from Long Beach. So, we had to tow it to Orange County, CA airport for the first flight. I recall that we burned up the bearings in the tail wheel, since they weren't designed for long cross country taxiing. The first flight was approximately one week prior to Reno 1969 from Orange County to Chino, CA. A hasty yellow primer was applied, at Chino along with the race number, etc. and Lyle took off for Reno. Lyle got 5th place, with a very used R-3350 and DC-7 prop. These were memorable times and the beginning of a great racing career for Lyle and the Bear!

              T6 Race 18, Thunderbolt (ret.)

              Comment


              • #82
                Re: Bear On The Move!

                Originally posted by Racer 18 View Post
                Reminds me of the early team, towing Race #70, Able Cat, from Compton, CA airport (too short for test/first flight) to Long Beach, CA airport to fly it for the first time after repair/assembly in 1969. It was towed in the middle of the night/early morning, and people were coming out from the bars, etc. and amazed by the sight of an F8 Bearcat in the street! However, we were not allowed fly from Long Beach. So, we had to tow it to Orange County, CA airport for the first flight. I recall that we burned up the bearings in the tail wheel, since they weren't designed for long cross country taxiing. The first flight was approximately one week prior to Reno 1969 from Orange County to Chino, CA. A hasty yellow primer was applied, at Chino along with the race number, etc. and Lyle took off for Reno. Lyle got 5th place, with a very used R-3350 and DC-7 prop. These were memorable times and the beginning of a great racing career for Lyle and the Bear!

                T6 Race 18, Thunderbolt (ret.)
                Good to see you chime in, Randy D!

                Comment

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