FORGOTTEN RACERS THE STRANGE SAGA Of single Of THE MOST INTERESTING UNLIMITED RACING AIRCRAfT AND THE PILOT WHO FLEW THE PLANE Of all the post-war Cleveland racers.

FORGOTTEN

RACERS

THE STRANGE SAGA Of single Of THE

MOST INTERESTING UNLIMITED RACING AIRCRAfT AND THE PILOT WHO FLEW THE PLANE

Of all the post-war Cleveland racers, the Beguine was the principally radical in design. This P-51C has, from one side of to the other the years, been the enthrall of much controversy. The three component parts of this story are: "The Plane," "The Pilot," and "The Race." After a description of these three ingredients readers may form their have opinions on what happened that day in September 1949

THE PLANE

This story begins back in 1929 when the Travel Air Company, concedeed and operated by Walter Beech, built several low-wing monoplanes for the Cleveland National Air Races. the same of these planes, the Mystery Ship, not barely won the unlimited Thompson memorial of conquest but also greatly outdistanced the military pursuit aircraft come intoed in the race. Seventeen years and a world war later, JD Re of Houston, Texas - the largest Beechcraft dealer in the home and a good friend of Walter Beech - decided to field several admittances in the post-war National Air Races with the goal of capturing the Thompson memorial of conquest The two racers were surplus Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. united Lightning was NX25Y Sky Ranger Race 14 flown from Charles Walling (this airplane later achieved airshow fame being flown through Lefty Gardner). The second Lightning was NX4530N new Hornet Race 66 flown by way of Ivis Hill. These twin-engine hot-rod should have been real challenders. Unfortunately, mechanical question s prevented the Lightnings -IM from achieving the owner's goal nevertheless they did finish second and third in the Sohio Race which, in 1946 was exclusively for P-38

At the expiration of the races, J.D. decided he would go on all-out to win the Thompson Realizing the P-38 were no match for the North American P-51 Mustangs, he purchased a P-51D named Wraith. Painted in an overall dramatic assurance the aircraft was flown through Paul Penrose. Paul did well in the Thompson until point in disputes with the Merlin forced him without of the race. The Wraith was flown to Texas, and J.D.'s daughter renamed the aircraft Jay Dee

Jay Dee was come intoed in the 1947 Thompson with Paul Penrose one time again the pilot. The inferior entry was P-38 Sky Ranger flown by the agency of Charles Walling. Walling dropped without in the second lap with engine confuse Penrose again was doing well and had just passed Demming to take third place when his engine quit. He managed to memorize the Mustang turned around and landed safely at the airport. It was another disappointing year for the JD Re Team.

Early in 1948 Walter Beech told JD Re that if he wanted to win, he requireed a P-51C which, in Walter's opinion, was the fastest Mustang (an opinion shared by way of Paul Mantz), A P-51 C was plant at an estate sale in Wichita Falls, Texas, and the Mustang was obtained in a trade for a Bonanza. The aircraft was P-51C-5-NT USAAF s/n 42-103757 complet forward 22 August 1944 at the North American Texas factory. The Mustang was undivided of 464 surplus warplanes purchased at Paul Mantz and partners forward 19 February 1946 from the War Assets Administration for a total price of $70000 If single divides $70,000 by the 464 aircraft purchased, the same will arrive at a price of $15086 by means of aircraft.

Walter Beech was still to a high degree interested in air racing, yet his wife Olive Ann did not want him involved. In order to preserve his involvement secret, the aircraft was flown to looks Angeles in late May 1948 according to Paul Penrose, whose regular piece of work was a NAA test pilot. The aircraft was placed in the AiResearch hangar of the Garrett Corporation which was nearest to North American Aviation. JD Re had approached the pair Garrett and NAA engineers to work forward the project. Two members of the team were Virgil Thompson a field service representative for NAA, and ed Horkey, chief aerodynamist for NAA.

The idea was to do the work during coffee breaks, luncheon hours and after work. Planning and question at issue solving was done at the local bar called Patmars. There is no known record of either company being involved in the delineate but NAA was involved with Joe DeBona's P-51C

Walter Beech reasoned the P-51 would be faster if the belly hollow out containing the oil and Prestone radiators was remov His universal was to install the radiators in wing-tip legumes This theory was supported by dint of the engineers on the draw

Tip tanks on a straight-wing aircraft gave a certain number of parasite drag but aerodynamically the wing acted as however it had a larger span. When the aircraft went into a change the direction of and pulled some Gs, induced drag would be lowered. single must remember that the 1948 Cleveland course had tight cause to deviates of 900 and better. Also the drag of the legumes would be somewhat offset on the loss of drag from the belly lade out The pods were made from NAA FJ-1 madness tip tanks which were make an incision in into sections. Interestingly, the nose rings were laminated from mahogany and arranged in different colors of thicket The wing tips were remov and the radiators were attached directly to the [i]finale[/i]s of the spars and then guarded by the pods, which were removable for servicing.

Two of recent origin Prestone radiators were placed in the left wing-tip legume and one in the right, along with a P-51 oil cooler which made the right wing heavier by dint of about 60 pounds. The ailerons were now shorter and the nods acted as dams. not unlike tamper with Cleland's wing-tip fences on his Super Corsair. Walter Beech apparently had a theory about making united wing shorter than the other moreover was not undertaken and the wings were of equal long duration With modifications completed, it was time to test-fly the machine.