Before it was Rare Bear

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

John, did you guys ever have any issues with the fabric covered control surfaces. Would have been interesting if you guys had gotten a Mustang.

There was a bit of time when Richard Vartanian owned N13Y the Anson Johnson airplane. The fuselage actually was shipped out to Chino. Somewhere in all of the boxes of pictures there are Lyle's pictures of the fuselage on a skid next to the Aero-Sport hangar. Now if Lyle and the Aero-Sport guys would have had that airframe to race how would that have changed the scenery? Who would have done the Merlin work? Lyle was talking about getting a Mustang and putting a Griffon with a five blade propeller in 1968.

Lyle would NOT have been in Compton to have chance meetings with Bill Hickle. Would an established business like Aero-Sport have welcomed the menagerie of humans that assembled the Bearcat. Too many variables to account for, as it was Lyle and his Bearcat fell into a perfect storm.

[sledge39]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

.
... AeroSport's "Supe" Hoisington at right ...

Sledge

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

John, did you guys ever have any issues with the fabric covered control surfaces. Would have been interesting if you guys had gotten a Mustang.

I can remember asking the same question about the fabric. I was told there was a couple of different reasons for staying with fabric. One was it was fairly easily repairable, the other sounded odd considering how modified the airplane was, recovering in either aluminum or composite sounds simple but it's not. Control surfaces have their own center of gravity that has to be correct or they'll get into a divergent oscillation known as flutter. Flutter tears airplanes apart and kills pilots. New control surfaces would've required an enormous amount of engineering and testing. Grumman put a lot of work into making sure those control surfaces wouldn't flutter, I have no idea who made that call, but I can't remember ever having a control surface issue so they must've been correct in their assumption. The Bearcat pushed a lot of envelopes but it seemed that wasn't one. I never met Carl Friend, but I've been told his next big idea for the Bearcat was a V-tail. I have a feeling I might have been being hazed (20' of flight line, 1 gallon of prop wash sort of thing) but I don't know, maybe it's true?

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

John, did you guys ever have any issues with the fabric covered control surfaces. Would have been interesting if you guys had gotten a Mustang.

Sorry, I had the last Mustang pictures on my mind with the first answer. Lief gave you the answer why we didn't change them. They just required constant inspection and one big item was that the bearings on the trim tabs could not have any play. When those bearings showed any sign of perceptible movement we changed the bearings. Corky Meyer was keen on that being a potential major failure cause to trim tabs, and control surface damage.

[BellCobraIV]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

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?

Lief,
It's based in the feudal system of peerage. A hereditary title could be conferred upon an individual for their service to the crown. That title would be passed down by bloodline to the next male heir. So as such that is how you end up with a George V, who had an eldest son who became Edward VIII, who had a younger brother who became George VI. Upon the death of George VI, the next person in the lineage was a female. Had she had a younger brother there could have been a George VII or a Edward IX. So since there was no male heir Elizabeth II had to be crowned.

So while it doesn't make sense among the lowly masses males get to have an issue number, however since females are not automatically in the line of succession in the case of a female with a younger brother for instance. The females do not automatically get an issue number.

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Lief,
It's based in the feudal system of peerage. A hereditary title could be conferred upon an individual for their service to the crown. That title would be passed down by bloodline to the next male heir. So as such that is how you end up with a George V, who had an eldest son who became Edward VIII, who had a younger brother who became George VI. Upon the death of George VI, the next person in the lineage was a female. Had she had a younger brother there could have been a George VII or a Edward IX. So since there was no male heir Elizabeth II had to be crowned.

So while it doesn't make sense among the lowly masses males get to have an issue number, however since females are not automatically in the line of succession in the case of a female with a younger brother for instance. The females do not automatically get an issue number.

I understand the numbers, but while we do continue to use some of the conventions of our history I don't recall having ever read about a junior back then as either a title or simply a name and I can't find any good reason to not name a daughter after her mother as a simple show of respect to the mother and use the nickname "Junior". It seems like an American thing to name boys after their dad and call them junior. I apologize if I've derailed this thread again but I've never gotten a satisfactory answer to that question. Thanks for your response.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Okay, Johnny Boy....here's a couple of Scooby Snacks for you. Photographer Gary Maisak posted these on FB this morning. Race 77 from November, 1974. After some heated discussion, our best guess is the ANG open house at Van Nuys.

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Those shots are really quite nice. They clean up well and show lots of detail. If this is fall 1974 shouldn't there be more victory markings on the fuselage? And does anyone know what is written on the wingtip? It is unreadable in this scan. It seems they had two radio sponsors -- a sign of troubles to come?

Neal

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

And I still have questions about that first engine. It came from a scrap heap -- never sealed up or preserved. So were the cylinders still usable? What about accessories -- pumps and hoses and such. How much support was provided during build up from AC&T? Was the work done in Hangar F-8? Did Cliff Putnam do most of the engine work?

When did Mel Gregoire get involved with the program?

What was done about ADI? These engines did have ADI in airline service, didn't they? I understand that ADI was installed but not working during that first Reno.

This Birch Matthews photo of the first Reno is the best I've ever seen. Does anybody have color shots they could share?

Neal

[CJAM427]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Everybody so loved that three blade...

I'm curious to know what John and Lief have to say about the second photo here...

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

I'm curious to know what John and Leif have to say about the second photo here...

What do you see when you look at that picture? And my name is Lief, not Leif, I've been battling that assumption my entire adult life.

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Reposted

[knot4u]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Reposted

Do you recall when and where that picture was taken?

[wingman]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

Reno 1997 labelled Monday from the Valley of Speed fence, late in the day, IIRC.

Whether I recall anything correctly after 24 years is, of course, open to question...

[CJAM427]

Re: Before it was Rare Bear

What do you see when you look at that picture? And my name is Lief, not Leif, I've been battling that assumption my entire adult life.

My apologies, I edited my original post. People spell my name wrong all the time as well so I know how you feel.

I don't have the intimate knowledge of the airplane like others do so I'm not certain what I should be looking for. What I see is some sort of blow-by coming from the belly, a partially open gear door and maybe some oil canning in the fuselage?