Number 19 Number www.warbirddigest.com WARBIRD DIGEST WARBIRD RelicRelic RACERRACER F2G SUPER CORSAIR MARCH / APRIL RUFF STUFF P-38 LIGHTNING USAF HERITAGE FLIGHT 10 YEARS OF TRIBUTE Issue #19 March / April 2008 • $8.99 U.S.A. Printed in the U.S.A. DISPLAY UNTIL 4/28/08 UNTIL DISPLAY RelicRelic HERE IS A DEGREE OF ELEGANCE mixed with brute power when you first see an F2G Super Corsair. Yeah, it’s a TCorsair... But it’s different. It seems bigger, stronger, faster... It seems like it stands tall on the ramp over mere Mustangs and P-40s. It never saw duty for its intended mission: a fast-climbing kamikaze killer in the Pacific Theater. The war ended, but there RACERRACERStory by Scott Germain and Photography by Paul Bowen were still battles ahead for the thirteen F2Gs that were built. These battles occurred around the racing pylons at Cleveland in the late 1940s. This is where the F2G would become king and write its Odegaard holds the F2G in place for Paul Bowen’s lens. Like the P-51, the late-war F2G version sported a bubble canopy for all own history. Scott Germain interviews Robert ‘Bob’ Odegaard; around vision. Note the simplified induction intake, smaller and the custodian of the only flyable F2G Super Corsair. more streamlined than the airplane’s 1949 version. 10 WARBIRD DIGEST #19 MARCH/APRIL 2008 WARBIRD DIGEST #19 MARCH/APRIL 2008 11 Richard Becker: Memoirs of an F2G Racer Story by Scott Germain Quite the pair! Both Becker and Cleland used 211 Octane fuel to get more horsepower from their racers in the 1948 Thompson race. Both pushed too hard and suffered tremendous backfires. The explosions felt like a hand grenade going off in the cockpit according to Becker, pilot of the number 74 airplane. Both airplanes blew (inset) Cleland teammate Tony Janazzo would race the black number 84 airplane in 1947. It is thought he suffered the induction trucks loose and managed to land safely. They are seen here with the offending parts already carbon monoxide poisoning, fell unconscious, and the airlpane flew into the ground. He was killed instantly. removed. Notice the heavy exhaust stains on Race 94 from the race, as well as the prop spinners and minor Photo: Emil Strasser via Gerald Liang clipping of the wing tips . Photo: Emil Strasser via Gerald Liang ICHARD “DICK” BECKER probably Many men never get to witness one world changing historic Cleland. Cleland was an SBD pilot in the war, and had sunk a premiere event. The other two years didn’t fare out so well— event, let alone several. Richard Becker is one such man. As Japanese carrier. The two would embark on an adventure that engine troubles. In fact, the last year, the engine blew up on me. never felt as if he raced in the shadow a 1939 enlistee in the United States Navy, he was serving was supposed to include an airline in Alaska and air racing in Fortunately, I made a good landing at the airport without busting of Cook Cleland, and nor should he aboard the USS Antares on the morning of December Cleveland. Only one idea would come to be. up,” he remembered. His tales of racing intermix through the R years he turned the pylons, and the glimpse into the real meat of 7, 1941. His dry stores ship was probably the first to be Cleland raced an FG-1D in 1946, and was disappointed with his have. As a pilot for Cleland, Becker raced attacked that day, and they maneuvered a few miles outside the F2G’s history is priceless. sixth place finish. Cleland’s Navy ties, in the form of support the F2G Super Corsairs during the 1947, the mouth of Pearl Harbor during the attack. He would soon from Navy brass, made it possible for him to purchase faster Corsairs had always been called ‘Hose Nose,’ but the F2G made it be working salvage at Pearl, and clearly remembered going ‘48 and ‘49 Cleveland races. He also F2Gs. Cleland and Navy command wanted a Naval aircraft to even worse with the longer cowling. The engine induction scoop through ships and finding bodies of dead men long after the win over the Army Air Corps fighters that were entered in the was mounted topside, and that added to the visibility problem. attack. Those images would obviously impact anybody. worked on the thuggish airplanes, helped races. In 1947, the team of Cleland, Dick Becker, and Tony Several different designs were tried. Janazzo arrived in Cleveland with three F2Gs to race. “We’ll modify them, and maintained them. Scott The latter part of his naval career would be in the sky. While beat the hell outta them!,” Cleland swore to Becker. “We’ll take “When the Navy bought the airplane, they were monkeying around serving on the ground and sea in the Navy, he spent every Germain interviewed Becker several years the money and go home!” It was a big pitch, and Becker swung. with different scoops and modifications. For carrier work, they spare cent he had learning to fly while other sailors found ago, and presents a first-hand glimpse into They were all off on their adventure. didn’t want that scoop up there,” he said. The different induction bars and women. “I didn’t want any of that,” he said. He scoop designs included a simple intake at the front of the cowl, the late pilot’s life. Both Cook Cleland and wanted to fly. He had worked his way up to a second-class “That was pretty encouraging,” Becker said. “Turns out I didn’t a long straight one, and one that resembled a camel hump; the Richard Becker have recently passed on; petty officer when he went to naval flight training. After a make all that much money at it.” last being the most interesting. “They had played around with year of very intense training and, as he puts it, “A hell of a this modification of the air scoop, and Cook found out about it,” symbols not only of our great generation of lot of effort,” he graduated as a Naval Aviation Pilot. After Becker raced in ‘47, ‘48 and ‘49 with Cleland, but probably Becker said. “They loaned that to him for the ‘47 race.” World War Two veterans, but of men who the war, Becker was stationed in China and went on the suffered more disappointment than winning. Janazzo had been become a test pilot at the Naval Test Center, Patuxent River, killed in the ‘47 event, but Becker kept racing with Cleland. “We built our own, which was a shabby copy. We only had pushed aviation to new limits. Maryland. At this post, he was squadron mates with Cook “I won second place in 1947 in the Thompson, which was the limited facilities,” Becker said. There were differences between 20 WARBIRD DIGEST #19 MARCH/APRIL 2008 WARBIRD DIGEST #19 MARCH/APRIL 2008 21 Y NOW, MOST readers of this magazine have had the opportunity to see the BUnited States Air Force Heritage Flight demonstration first hand. Over the last ten years, the Heritage demo has become one of the most popular and sought after airshow attractions. USAFUSAF HERITAGE FLIGHT 10 YEARS OF TRIBUTE Story by Bradley C. Hood USAF Heritage Demonstration Team, North American—P-51 Photography by Greg Morehead The Heritage demonstration is much more than just an airshow the power-to-weight ratio of modern jet fighters like the F-15 act. When the Heritage concept began in 1995, it was never Eagle or (especially) the F-22 Raptor, are orders of magnitude intended to be anything more than a one-time deal for upper- superior to their World War Two counterparts. echelon USAF commanders during the Air Force’s 50th Anniversary celebration. It was obvious from the first flight Today’s jet fighters do everything very well. They accelerate this was a very powerful and emotional concept. The USAF set in an instant and decelerate in an instant. World War Two era out to formalize the program and bring it into the Air Combat fighters—although state of the art for their day—accelerate Command (ACC) aerial events division. This became a reality relatively slow and decelerate relatively slow by comparison. in 1997 and the rest, as they say, is history. Today the Heritage This extreme dissimilarity makes flying the Mustang, or any other Flight demo is so popular it’s second only to the Thunderbirds. World War Two fighter, very demanding within this environment. The Packard built Rolls Royce V-1650 Merlin in the P-51 was the What we do as Heritage pilots is not just about flying very close ultimate engine in its day; but it uses thousands of moving parts formation with current jet fighters. Mechanically, the objective is racing around to produce its 1,700 hp. Piston engines don’t really to showcase the changes in aircraft advances through the history of tolerate rapid or multiple throttle movements well. Flying good the Air Force. Ultimately, we are a dedication ceremony each and formation requires continuously thinking ahead and experience- every time we fly. What is at stake is the reputation of the USAF based skill to keep the throttle movements to minute increments. and our nation’s tribute to the men and women who have fought, This becomes more demanding when the jet fighter, flying as lead, and often times died, defending all that we hold so dear. It is a represents between 20 and 50 times the available horsepower of solemn responsibility and one that each of us takes very seriously.