Aircraft Trivia Quiz

I'd have to go with the 1949 Thompson trophy race and the fatal crash of the "Beguine" racer into a house bordering the racecourse- killing pilot, mother and child inhabiting the course. The "beguine" was named after a (then) popular sing- the pilot was Bendix trophy winner Bill Odom -who also had made several semi- famous long distance flights in a modified p-47.

If not this was it John Denver in the ultralight "Rocky Mountain High'?- don't think there was a great deal of fire but otherwise it seems to fufill your requirements.

Cheers, Keith

Ooops- by the way the song was Begin the Beguine- done by Artie Shaw but I believe written by Cole Porter.

A big hurrah for the decrepit modeling masses.....

Cheers, keith

Actually they were the replacement radiators -the Beguine removed the large radiator belly scoop to clean up the airframe for racing- one of 2 P-51's to do it- the other being #45 (never being named)- which ended up being one of the fastest postwar racers.

These older racers are truly cool- but then so are today's Reno racers as well!

OK-So what is the next question?

okay...to keep in the Cleveland / reno theme- Please name the 2 prototype aircraft that ALMOST made it to the 1946 Thompson trophy race final- and the one that kinda...sorta...did...make the final but definately took the last place- and officially less than last place.

as a hint- one was a R-2800 powered airframe and one was a R-4360 powered aircraft.

This one's kinda tough.... Good luck to all!

I'm at work w/no resource info BUT my guess would be F8F Bearcat and F2G super corsair

Good Hunting, G.W.

There were 4 F2Gs that raced in '47, 3 were owned by Cleland (he flew one, Tony Janazzo flew another that crashed and killed him, and I don't recall offhand flew the 3rd, they were race numbers 74, 84 (crashed) and 94) and the 4th was owned and flown by Ron Puckett (race number 18).  No idea who might have had an R-4360-powered plane there in '46.

Cleland also had a pair of F2G's (the two survivors from '47) in the '48 races but didn't do so well, but in '49 he did very well with the same 2 planes from '48 with more mods and a third (race number 57) which was essentially box-stock except for removing the guns and gunsight.

Time for hints- the key word is almost- the Super Corsairs were actually R-4360 aircarft that were released from navy Storage by intervention of Admiral William Halsey on behalf of Cook Cleland- war hero.

One prototype aircraft -the R-2800 one- made it to the prelim heat races during the pre-race week "warm-ups- was definately a "back-of the pack" aircraft demonstrating clearly the reasons for it's lack of success as a fighter design -had engine failure during a race and then fulfilled it's destiny as scrap metal immediately thereafter. 2nd hint- made it to the YP status- ....

the second aircraft was actually designed as a R-4360 aircraft -but not as a fighter- but the purchase of tone of the 2 prototype aircraft was stalled due to it's re-emrgence asa possible torpedo plane....(think dark blue) and was to be raced by it's company test pilot.

Good liuck guys!

Oh- and the third of Cook's pilots was Dick Becker- very much still with us and still Cook's friend- I see them every year at the Society of Air Racing's symposium.

Cheers!

hudskit wrote:

Oh- and the third of Cook's pilots was Dick Becker- very much still with us and still Cook's friend- I see them every year at the Society of Air Racing's symposium. Cheers!

Yes!  That's the guy!  Thanks.

Well- I don't want to stall the thread any more than I have- the  prototype aircraft that almost made the Thompson are as follows:

The Curtiss YP-60E- R-2800 powered "successor" to the P-40 kinda looked like P-47- if you squinted enough. It lasted long enough to get a registration number and ( I think ) race number #79 - engine stopped in the middle of a heat race- gravity took over and no more YP_60E.

The second aircraft was the Boeing XF8B-1- after the program stalled at the end of the war one of the original program test pilots wanted to take one of the 2 prototypes racing- but the navy later reviewed that project  in light of their need to replace the Avenger with something a bit more "strike" fighterish-but it never came about. Having personally seen the F7F Tigercat lumber around the pylons at Reno (altho in a sprightly fashion)the thought of that huge aircraft pulling tight turns at the original cleveland course boggles the mind(kinda like a very very fast cargo van racing at daytona).

The third and final prototype actually raced - kinda- the XP-40 Q was also sold off as a racer postwar-it ran the elimination heats but only managed to become the alternate (in case someone did not start)- got confused -took off anyway at the start of the race- made it about 2 laps -blew the engine and belly landed it on some train tracks-end of  the coolest P-40 of them all.

These planes are cool-

Cheers, Keith

hudskit,

Wasn't there a North American XAT-6E, an experimental inline engined AT-6 at the 1946 Cleveland air races. For you AT-6 fans, google the N A XAT-6E and you will find a very interesting conversion project!

While we are waiting for the next "official" question heres an easy one. Who was the first woman to fly through the sound barrier 1. in the U.S. and name the type of aircraft, and name the chase pilot. 2. name the other country and the pilot if you can. As to who was "first" is disputed and debated, or has been for a long time.

1. Jackie Cochran

2. Canadair, F-86 Sabre

3. Chuck Yeager

May 18, 1953, over Rogers dry lake, Edwards AFB, CA

rangerj wrote:

hudskit, Wasn't there a North American XAT-6E, an experimental inline engined AT-6 at the 1946 Cleveland air races. For you AT-6 fans, google the N A XAT-6E and you will find a very interesting conversion project! While we are waiting for the next "official" question heres an easy one. Who was the first woman to fly through the sound barrier 1. in the U.S. and name the type of aircraft, and name the chase pilot. 2. name the other country and the pilot if you can. As to who was "first" is disputed and debated, or has been for a long time.

I found this short "how to"on that converzion:

http://www.geocities.com/t6modeling/xat6e.html

Right on YB. A little know fact is that the F-86 could be taken through the sound barrier in a dive. JC repeated the sound breaking flight with Yeager in an F-104 as well as a T-38. If I remember correctly she did double the speed of sound and was also the first woman to do so. The other claimed first woman to go through the sound barrier was a Russian woman pilot whos name escapes me at the moment.  YB. do you remember hearing about any control problems with the F-86, like aileron reverse, in high speed dives?

rangerj wrote:

Right on YB. A little know fact is that the F-86 could be taken through the sound barrier in a dive. JC repeated the sound breaking flight with Yeager in an F-104 as well as a T-38. If I remember correctly she did double the speed of sound and was also the first woman to do so. The other claimed first woman to go through the sound barrier was a Russian woman pilot whos name escapes me at the moment.  YB. do you remember hearing about any control problems with the F-86, like aileron reverse, in high speed dives?

Jackie Cochran set several speed records in 1963 and 1964 flying an F-104 as a Lockheed test pilot.  On May 11, 1964, she hit Mach 2 in the Starfighter, the first woman to do so.

The F-86A orginally had a conventional horizontal stab, ie, fixed position with only the trailing edge being moveable for pitch control.  When the speed approached Mach 1, usually in a dive, the elevator became totally ineffective or even reversed at this "compressability" point.  Someone came up with the idea of the all moving stab and this cured the control problem.  All high speed fighters since then have had the all moving stab for this reason.

Darwin, O.F.

New Question:

SR-71 tail number 17972 set a New York to London speed record on September 4, 1974, of 1 hr 54 min, 56.4 seconds.  A few days later on September 13, this same aircraft established a initial record for London to Los Angeles at 3 hrs, 47 minutes, 35.8 seconds.

1. The easy question: Name the pilots and RSOs for these two flights.

2. The hard question: At the end of the second record flight, a very unusual event occured.  Describe that event, to include the people involved, the incident and the aftermath.  I bet that you won't find the answer to this question on any Google search.

Darwin, O.F.

1st. Flight Beale to Farnborough:

Pilot Maj. James V. Sullivan

RSO Maj. Noel F. Widdifield

Return flight:

Pilot Capt. Harold B. Adams

RSO Maj. William C. Machurek

While decending and decellerating the Blackbird suffered a compressor stall and did not get subsonic as far away from LA as planned. The sonic boom caused substantial damage to LA suburbs.

I was in Oxnard CA at the time and remember thinking "what the @#%& was that". It was different than the usual tremmors they get in CA. I never did get used to the earth moving on a regular basis.

rangerj wrote:

1st. Flight Beale to Farnborough: Pilot Maj. James V. Sullivan RSO Maj. Noel F. Widdifield Return flight: Pilot Capt. Harold B. Adams RSO Maj. William C. Machurek While decending and decellerating the Blackbird suffered a compressor stall and did not get subsonic as far away from LA as planned. The sonic boom caused substantial damage to LA suburbs. I was in Oxnard CA at the time and remember thinking "what the @#%& was that". It was different than the usual tremmors they get in CA. I never did get used to the earth moving on a regular basis.

You are 100% correct as to the four crew members and partially correct as to the unusual event.

What I had in mind was that the unplanned sonic boom caused several windows to be broken in Zsa Zsa Gabor's house.  She raised a big stink about it with the USAF and demanded that "those responsible" personally apologize to her and reimburse her for her losses.  Obviously, the monetary portion of the event was of little consequence to her.  She wanted the two record setters to be her personal overnight guests so that she could brag to her friends about it.  TDY orders were cut,along with a check for the amount of damages and the two "heroes" dutifully traveled to her home, made their official apologies and spent the night at her house.  In those days, wives were not allowed to accompany sponsors on TDY trips, so the two guys suffered through their "patriotic duty" while the two wives fussed and fumed back at Beale.

Darwin, O.F.

Your turn for a question.

YB,

Now that's funny. It give a whole to meaning to the phrase "come to attention". Orders are orders! Was "Green Acres" a big TV show at that time?

A drill sgt. told this story while we were having a few cold glasses of milk at the NCO club. He was ordered to assist in teaching a company of brand new WAC recruits close order drill. He forgot just how new they were and while getting them "formed up" gave the order "ladies pick up your dress". They all did exactly as ordered.

In July of 1957 an new transcontinental (CA to NY) flight record was set. Who was the pilot and what was the aircraft type? The publicity landed the pilot on a very popular "game show" (at that time). What was the name of the game show? Bonus points if you can name the wingman.