Harold Bubba Beal and Charles Chubb Smith's Bearcats
Thu Sep 26, 2013 4:56 pm
Does anyone have any photos or memories of the Bearcat duo from the late 1970s.
Many thanks.
Jackdaw
Many thanks.
Jackdaw
Re: Harold Bubba Beal and Charles Chubb Smith's Bearcats
Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:59 am
I met Hal Beale several years ago, but I didn't have a chance to talk much with him about either his Bearcats or his Invaders. Instead, the primary subject of our discussion was his tenure as owner of the one and only McKinnon G-21D Turbo Goose, N150M, McKinnon s/n 1251, which he regreted ever selling - especially to the infamous Whittington Brothers who later went to jail for drug smuggling. Rumors are that N150M was eventually seized and scrapped in Haiti as a result of their illegal activities.
N150M started off as a Grumman JRF-6B, OEM s/n 1147. After its military service, albeit not with the British for whom most model JRF-6B aircraft were built and delivered, it saw service with the Fish & Wildlife Service of the US Dept. of the Interior in AK as N709. McKinnon bought it from FW in 1957 and in 1958 it was converted into his very first, four-engine (340 hp Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6 piston engines) model G-21C, s/n 1201. Just 18 months later, it was modified with a 36-inc longer nose section that incorporated 4 new passenger seats and as such it was first re-certified as a model G-21D, s/n 1251, and then between 1965 and 1967, it was converted from the 4 piston engines to just 2 new 550 shp PT6A-20 turbine engines - McKinnon's very first turbine Goose conversion per STC SA1320WE.
Note: a completely different aircraft is now claimed by its current owner to have been converted from "McKinnon G-21C s/n 1201" but that is not valid. In fact, it's complete BS.
Hal Beale owned N150M from Sept. 1977 until March 1980, when he sold it to the Whittingtons. They registered it under the name Water Fowl Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Hal told me that of all of the airplanes he had ever owned, he liked and missed that one the most - because it could handle any mission he ever had and do or haul anything he could think of.
N150M started off as a Grumman JRF-6B, OEM s/n 1147. After its military service, albeit not with the British for whom most model JRF-6B aircraft were built and delivered, it saw service with the Fish & Wildlife Service of the US Dept. of the Interior in AK as N709. McKinnon bought it from FW in 1957 and in 1958 it was converted into his very first, four-engine (340 hp Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6 piston engines) model G-21C, s/n 1201. Just 18 months later, it was modified with a 36-inc longer nose section that incorporated 4 new passenger seats and as such it was first re-certified as a model G-21D, s/n 1251, and then between 1965 and 1967, it was converted from the 4 piston engines to just 2 new 550 shp PT6A-20 turbine engines - McKinnon's very first turbine Goose conversion per STC SA1320WE.
Note: a completely different aircraft is now claimed by its current owner to have been converted from "McKinnon G-21C s/n 1201" but that is not valid. In fact, it's complete BS.
Hal Beale owned N150M from Sept. 1977 until March 1980, when he sold it to the Whittingtons. They registered it under the name Water Fowl Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Hal told me that of all of the airplanes he had ever owned, he liked and missed that one the most - because it could handle any mission he ever had and do or haul anything he could think of.