Bud Light Super Corsair

oscardeuce · **Joined:** Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:34 am **Posts:** 1021

Anyone know what happened after the plane caught fine? Was anything salvaged for #57?

Thank You

retroaviation · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:51 pm

Well, this is what is on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. I was told that this was pretty much the biggest and most recognizable piece left. :cry:

.........

Gary

oscardeuce · **Joined:** Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:34 am **Posts:** 1021

My understanding is the pilot got out ( Thank God)

Wow, not much there, thanks Retro!

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:50 pm

In my opinon, was the coolest air racer!

PhantomAce08 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:04 pm

oscardeuce wrote:

Anyone know what happened after the plane caught fine? Was anything salvaged for #57?

Thank You

It wasn't really a "Super Corsair" though was it? It was more of a "Corsair that was Super"

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

King · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:07 pm

Super Corsair was a parts plane built up by the Chino kids for air racing.

The pic above of the rudder is one of the largest parts left after going straight into the ground on fire.

I was at the air races in Phoenix when it went in and I have to say it was an amazing thing to watch. Kevin Eldridge was a lucky man that day to make it out alive. Broken neck, ankle and a few other bones was much better than what could have been.

King · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:11 pm

Here is a link to a video of the accident.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6384837258

oscardeuce · **Joined:** Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:34 am **Posts:** 1021

Wow, I'm so glad he got out looked like a nightmare to me. Excellent airmanship and a cool head during the emergency. Any cause ever found?

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:22 pm

I remember seeing that video when i was real young. (7 or

Brings back memories. And what a sad state. It was the last corsair air racer until race "57" came back.

Lets see the corsair back on the track again!

King · **Posted:** Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:08 pm

oscardeuce wrote:

Any cause ever found?

An inflight fire, but thats not important right now. (PS see your avitar :lol:

)

Actually they had just put a new rebuilt motor in before the races in Phoenix. During race week they were showing metal in the screens and decided to change a couple of cylinders. During the race in question he got a pretty bad vibration and pulled the power back to 10 inches and called a mayday and then the engine just let go.

Pretty crazy story he tells about trying to get out of the airplane.

Scotty G · **Joined:** Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:46 pm **Posts:** 134

Here is some more info on it... I wrote this several years ago.

http://www.warbirdaeropress.com/articles/bail_out.html

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

A very sad day in fly town. They had a funeral at the museum when Kevin was feeling better and buried parts of the plane in rememberance. Everyone got a souvenir piece of wreckage. :cry:

Scotty G · **Joined:** Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:46 pm **Posts:** 134

PhantomAce08 wrote:

It wasn't really a "Super Corsair" though was it? It was more of a "Corsair that was Super"

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd side with calling it a Super Corsair. It wasn't, obviously, an original one but they carried the idea to modern day standards and actually made a faster racer than the late '40s versions. With the short vertical (stock F4U) tail, it was also probably a lot harder to fly, especially with the increased prop blade area.

What was so cool about the program is that it was done "for cheap," a lot of people came together to get it done, and it enjoyed such a long career. Three different pilots raced her, and Jim Maloney also flew her before he was killed. Overall a very neat project, and it remains a lot of people's favorite racer.

One other really neat detail...

Frank Sanders, with his son Brian in back, was flying chase in their stock Sea Fury early in the test program. When Hinton put power up on the Corsair, it left the 'faster' Sea Fury like it was tied to a post. Until then, Sanders had given friendly chiding to the Chino kids that the fat-winged monster wouldn't be fast.

That gave ol' Frank an idea.... You guessed it... They put a R-4360 on the Sea Fury and we got Dreadnought. Lloyd Hamilton liked the idea, so he took the parts the Sanders had discarded and built up "Havenaught...," I mean "Furias."

The rest, as they say, is history...

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

I'm pretty sure that Jim Maloney did race the Super Corsair at Reno. He and Steve switched off every race. Jim also did the first flight.

Frank Sanders told me once that Dreadnought cruised at a lower fuel flow than did a stock Sea Fury.

Ztex · **Posted:** Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:05 pm

I have never seen the video before...scary stuff.

There is a good first person description of the event in the Bearcats and Corsairs, Race Plane Tech Book. By reading Eldridges account, the time between standing in the seat and chute opening must have taken sereval minutes...
Reading in this book Maloney, Hinton and Eldridge all flew the Corsair at Reno .

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