Bearcats & Corsairs

Raceplane Tech Volume 2
By Nicholas A. Veronico & A. Kevin Grantham
Specialty Press, 2002
ISBN 1-58007-035-3
Softbound, 104 Pages
$16.95

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

After the Second World War there were lots of surplus military aircraft out there, and those with some extra spending money found many potential raceplanes for the air races that were going on in Cleveland.  While Mustangs proved to be quite popular, some enthusiasts opted for radial-engined aircraft, with the Sea Fury, Bearcat and Corsair being the most popular choices.  This book covers the Bearcats & Corsairs from their immediate post-war flying at Cleveland on to their current-day operations at Reno and other modern-day air races. 

The first part of the book deals with Corsairs, and the 1946 Cleveland race was the first race with Corsairs taking part, with a FG-1A and FG-1D flying in the Thompson and Bendix races, respectively.  With respectable finishes in both races the Corsair upped the ante in the 1947 races with the introduction of the F2G.  The performance of the F2G was much better than the FG-1s, as can be seen by the win record, but the plane was also much more cantankerous, with several planes not finishing the race.  By 1949 the F2G was a force to be reckoned with and Cook Cleland took first place with his XF2G-1, race #94, with an average speed of 397.071mph. 

It wasn't until the late 1960s that the Corsair took to the race circuit again, this time at Reno.  By this time the F2G was pretty much non-existent (there weren't many made, after all) and the early Reno racers were all Double Wasp-engined Corsairs.  Both FG-1s and F4Us found their way to Reno and like most other racers it wasn't long before they were modified to squeeze every last ounce of speed out of them, with the ultimate example being the Super Corsair, a regular F4U-1mated with a R-4360 engine.

The Bearcat makes up the second half of this book and while the Corsair makes for a neat-looking racer it's the Bearcat that is the powerhouse out of these two planes.  With its streamlined airframe and short wingspan, Bearcats with no modifications did quite well in the early Reno races.  But racers were never satisfied with stock and the Bearcat offered itself to the modification altars, with several interesting results.  Easily the most impressive of the Bearcats would have to be Lyle Shelton's Rare Bear.  Last flown around the pylons in 1999, Rare Bear consistently turned the pylons at speeds well over 400mph and had a very impressive collection of first place trophies.

Like other titles in the 'Tech' Series, this book covers the planes in excellent detail including an introductory chapter on the engines used. This first chapter offers a bit of information about round engines, specifically the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, the Wright R-3350 Cyclone and the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major.  These three engines were the most common radials used on the racing circuit and this first chapter does a great job of covering the basics of these powerplants.  After this chapter is the Corsair section, followed by the Bearcat, with both getting ample coverage both on a technical point of view and on the actual races.  The photos spread throughout the book not only cover the Corsair and Bearcat but also provide a glimpse at many of the competitors. 

All of this would be worth the price of the book, but the eight pages of color photos make this book an absolute steal.  In addition to somewhat common modern Reno-era photos there are several photos from the Cleveland years, something that isn't seen very often.  Cook Cleland's FG-1D and F2G are covered, including an impressive lineup of the 1949 F2Gs of Cook Cleland.  In addition to these there are a couple of P-51s illustrated, including the striking Beguine.  The last page of color provides four profiles showing Darryl Greenamyer's "American Jet" Bearcat, Lyle Shelton's "Rare Bear" Bearcat, Ben McKillen's F2G Super Corsair and Steve Hinton's "Bud Light Super Corsair".

This is an outstanding addition to the Raceplane Tech series and a must-have for any air racing aficionado.  I'm looking forward to their next volume in this series (perhaps British racers at Reno?).   This title is available direct from Specialty Press, with a $4.95 shipping & handling charge for each order.