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''Rare Bear'' is a highly modified 
Just a week after its first flight, the Bearcat appeared in its first National Championship Reno Air Race, sporting the name "Able Cat", where it finished a respectable 5th in the Unlimited Class, despite the lack of preparatory and flight test time. From 1969 to 1975, Lyle Shelton raced the aircraft (named "Phoenix I" from 1971 on) every year at the Reno Air Races, as well as air races in
Grumman F8F Bearcat
The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II. It served during the mid-20th century in the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the air forces of other ...
that dominated the Reno Air Races
The Reno Air Races, officially known as the STIHL National Championship Air Races from 2016, is a multi-day event tailored to the aviation community that takes place each September at the Reno Stead Airport a few miles north of Reno, Nevada. ...
for decades.
History
The Bearcat that became Rare Bear was a severely damaged wreck when discovered by Lyle Shelton in 1969. It had been abandoned next to a runway onPorter County Regional Airport
Porter County Regional Airport (formerly Porter County Municipal Airport) is a public use airport one mile (1.6 km) southeast of the central business district of Valparaiso, a city in Porter County, Indiana, United States. The Porter Co ...
in Valparaiso, Indiana
Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census.
History
The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the ...
after it crashed there from a throttle-on torque roll in 1962. The airplane had been stripped by parts hunters, so Shelton found a fuselage, wing center section, landing gear and a right wing panel, but little else. Shelton bought the wreck and had the pieces trucked to Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...
and restoration began. One of the major modifications made during the rebuild involved installing a more powerful Wright R-3350
The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone is an American twin-row, supercharged, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine with 18 cylinders displacing nearly . Power ranged from 2,200 to over 3,700 hp (1,640 to 2,760 kW), depending on the model. ...
(from a Douglas Skyraider
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...
) in place of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800
The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp is an American twin-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of , and is part of the long-lived Wasp family of engines.
The R-2800 saw widespread use in many important ...
engine that is standard for a Bearcat. A Douglas DC-7
The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the ear ...
propeller and cowl were used and Shelton bought the landing gear fairings and doors from the wreck of Bob Kucera's Bearcat. Bill Fornoff loaned him a left wing panel and Gunter Balz supplied a rudder. The windshield and canopy were supplied by Edward T. Maloney. The rebuild was finished with the first flight on 13 September 1969.
Racing career
Just a week after its first flight, the Bearcat appeared in its first National Championship Reno Air Race, sporting the name "Able Cat", where it finished a respectable 5th in the Unlimited Class, despite the lack of preparatory and flight test time. From 1969 to 1975, Lyle Shelton raced the aircraft (named "Phoenix I" from 1971 on) every year at the Reno Air Races, as well as air races in Mojave, California
Mojave (formerly Mohave) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located east of Bakersfield, and north of Los Angeles, at an elevation of . The town is located in the western region of the Mojave D ...
, San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
and Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...
. In this period, he scored five victories. During the 1976 air race in Mojave California, Shelton experienced an engine failure and had to perform a belly landing
A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilot ...
.
The aircraft was not raced again until 1980, when it was renamed "Rare Bear". From 1980 until present day, Rare Bear has scored eleven more victories in the Unlimited Class. A three-blade propeller, consisting of blades from a Lockheed P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.
Records
''Rare Bear'' has set many performance records for piston-driven aircraft, including the 3 km World Speed Record of 528.33 mph (850.26 km/h) set August 21, 1989, which still stands in this class, and a new time-to-climb record (3,000 meters in 91.9 seconds set in 1972 (9842.4 ft – 6,426 fpm), breaking a 1946 record set in a stock Bearcat).See also
*'' Dago Red'' *'' Miss Ashley II'' *''Precious Metal
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lu ...
''
*''Red Baron
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seco ...
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*'' September Fury''
*'' The Galloping Ghost''
*''Tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
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*'' Voodoo''
References
External links
* {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Rare Bear'' Racing aircraft Individual aircraft Articles containing video clips Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946