[DeTomaso] Reno Racing and Galloping Ghost

[gow2 at rc-tech.net]

The plane which crashed at Reno flown by Jimmy Leeward.

Rare Bear is a well known Bearcat in the Air Racing Circuit. For years
flown with a R3350 from a Skyraider (same engine as a Lockheed
Constellation). And a P3 Orion propeller. The plane sports a different
propeller when Rod Lewes bought the plane.

In 1989 Rare Bear shattered the prop driven speed record by 30 mph setting
a new record at 528mph.

Rare Bear when owned by Lyle Sheldon was a touch and go endeavor on a shoe
string budget. Racing is as much about not destroying your engine while
you push it hard enough to win. When Rare Bear ran right, no one could
beat her. Typically on or around the gold race, Rare Bear would blow a
cylinder and either loose speed or fall out of the race altogether.

As the year would progress, Lyle would sell T-shirts and such. A month
before the races if they made enough money they would fix the damage and
run again.

Lyle Sheldon sold Rare Bear to Rod Lewis. I went to the races after Rod
Lewis bought the plane. He had the Bear and 2 twin Tigercats in the races.
I talked to John Penny who was flying Rare Bear. With financial backing
they spent the year rebuilding Rare Bear and everyone wanted to see what
it would do with proper backing and maintenance.

John was, however unhappy with the paint. HE said the painters where a
little rough with the airplane. They sanded the aluminum too rough and
when they got done they would need to strip the paint off and inspect all
the panels.

As the week went by, each race Rare Bear was working out teething issues
mostly fuel and ignition issues. Everyone was holding their breath. As it
came down to the gold races on Sunday, no one really knew what held for
Bear.

As the race began, Bear was out front within a lap. Within 2 laps he was a
half a lap ahead of everyone. As he kept going he kept building a bigger
lead. Everyone was mumbling, "Slow down Bear, save the engine!!!"

As the race progressed the only P-51 left the pack with a mayday and
landed. As Bear passed the finish line he was a lap ahead of the next
airplane. Everyone standing and screaming.

WOW....As the announcer came on, "Folks, I am afraid it's not over!!! Rare
Bear's throttle is stuck WIDE OPEN and he has 5 min of fuel left!!!"

Steve Hinton in the pace plane flew up to Rare Bear and followed him
around to help in any way he could. All the airplanes lined up, landed and
got out of the way.

At much altitude, Rare Bear killed the engine, began a glide with the
propeller windmilling. My airline buddy said ""He's going to overshoot the
runway" Knowing just how low his aspect ratio and the drag of the
windmilling prop I said "I hope he makes the runway!"

John Penny did a BEAUTIFUL job making a perfect landing 1/3 down the
runway; absolutely flawless!

After the race, the crew said a hunk of filler...from the paint job John
talked about flew into the intake and blocked the throttle!!! Here is a
photo I took:

http://www.rc-tech.net/rn/fill.jpg

The next race I attended was 2010. Galloping Ghost was the talk of a few
people there. They were slowly bringing it up to speed. At around half
throttle they were keeping up with the pack and they were a wild card in
the races. Few really knew it's potential. The heat races through the week
are really a poker game. You want to run fast enough to see what it will
do, fast enough to be in descent pole position in the gold race but not
too fast to damage the engine.

On Sunday, again the energy was really building up. Just what can this
P-51 do. The winds on Sunday were strong; very strong. Even the stands
were swaying. The race before the gold race a 3/4 scale P-51 pulled up in
a mayday.

With his engine out he tried to maneuver for the runway mostly into the
wind. He miscalculated and turned final late. As he approached the
intersection he was out of energy too low and slow. He had the good sense
to level out and touch down under control at the runway intersection. If
he had pushed it any farther it would have stalled in the air.

The problem was he was heading right for the Jets and the military
display. You could see some people beginning to run.

He made a nice touch down but as he left the runway the ground kicked the
airplane back into the air. Without enough airspeed for his flight
controls to do anything he cart wheeled in what looked like a horrific
crash.

Medical crews came to him within 60 seconds. He lay not moving completely
exposed in the airplane like he was sitting in a lawn chair. After a few
minutes he stood up to the crowd and waved!!!!

http://gigbaggin.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-guy-walked-away-with-only-few.html

After much delay and discussion, the Gold Races for 2010 were canceled! No
one would see what Galloping Ghost could do.

2011...The eyes on Galloping Ghost. As I said the heat races are not
really races but poker games. The word is he passed Rare Bear in the first
lap. Since it is a heat race it didn't necessarily mean much but his speed
did. In a heat race where racers are not at their full potential,
Galloping Ghost was turning laps of 524mph!!!! Right at the door of Bears
world speed record!

Photos of Galloping Ghost show the tail twisting and "tin canning" in
normal flight with a big dent in the side from the power and torque.

http://members.419eater.com/~juan_freizwidatt/gallopingghost.jpg

Telemetry has been downloaded from the crash. On pull up the plane
exceeded 11g's. As the airplane went vertical the engine stumbled from
fuel starvation. The engine came to life again coming down and was
recording 105" of manifold pressure.

This is the 3rd P-51 trim tab incident At Reno. In 1998 Voodoo Chile a
P-51 flown by Bob Hannah lost a trim tab. When he woke up the plane had
made its way to 9,000 feet. His g-meter recorder over 10g's. and Bob was
face down through his straps.

These guys intentionally leave enough slack in the straps so they can look
over their shoulder and keep an eye on other planes. If they tilt their
head back with tight straps, their head falls back and in 6 G turns they
can not lift their head back up. If they turn their body slightly they can
keep their head under their torso.

In 1999 another P-51 crashed into a house on a different turn like this
one did and the investigation focused on the trim tab.

I just wanted to give some of the insight to what was leading up to this
event.

Gary