P-61 Air-Racer!

Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:56 pm

What if? Where there any in real life?

Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:12 pm

It would get beat by our Tigercat! VBG.

Nope, no P-61s were used as air racers, although it would really be something to see a P-61 going around the sticks with the F7F.

Note; you probably want to rework the race number to be right side up and on the left wing, and under the right wing. At least in the sport class, they get picky about that stuff.

Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:12 am

Warbird Kid wrote:What if? Where there any in real life?
AKA the F-15

Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:21 am

Based it off the F-15A.

Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:00 pm

In the early 70's air race photographer Ran Slaten from northern California wrote 2 or 3 fiction stories for Sport Flying magazine about the Phantom Racer, a P-61, that as I recall had been fitted with R-4360's and other mods. It would join in on the Unlimited championship race at Reno out of nowhere on the first lap, win the race and again disappear over the foothills. Someone must have read the stories and built a model of the fantasy racer somewhere. I'd love to see it.

Little known, but for real, in the late 60's Jack Hardwick had some plans of installing an Allison W-3420 in the P-39 (for racing) that he later donated to the USAF Museum. Mike Loening told me personally of his plan to install a R-4360 he had in the main hangar at Boise Air Service, in his P-51D, N5482V, if a sponsor could be found to rebuild it after the 1971 ground loop at Reno.

Some wag posts occasionally on the racing boards about his secret "Double Threat" team and their plans to bring an F-82 to Reno. Many crazies out there. Here's another: Two guys walked around the pits at Reno some 15-17 years ago bragging about the XP-51J they were bringing to Reno once they found a prop. They wore their race "105" tee-shirts already depicting the racer they had found in the basement of a Washington D.C. area estate sale for a former Allison engine executive.

I'm waiting for some guy to surface with his plans to race a found-in-a-barn XP-77 or Hornet.

Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:22 pm

And then there is the three engined P-38 racer...

Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:50 pm

L. Thompson wrote:
Here's another: Two guys walked around the pits at Reno some 15-17 years ago bragging about the XP-51J they were bringing to Reno once they found a prop. They wore their race "105" tee-shirts already depicting the racer they had found in the basement of a Washington D.C. area estate sale for a former Allison engine executive.

I first heard about this back in 1991. The guy who apparently got it visited with a friend of mine who at the time was working at Chino. He was also close to John Morgan and the XP-51G. This dude gave them caps, mugs, and the whole enchilada showing the J model but at the same time was looking for H wings (which wouldn't fit the J anyway), and generally acted like a flake. I'm not gonna say that he doesn't have anything, but I'd like to see some evidence about this "find". I think the guy lived in Denver at the time. He also claimed to visit the former owner of Aero Enterprises (James D Morton?) living in a nursing home about once a month.

T J