Reno Air Races and Air Racing History: Bob Odegaard's F2G Super Corsair

I’d just witnessed another splendid example of ‘History in the Making’, having photographed race pilot Bob Hannah’s successful last-minute qualifying run with his team’s hard-luck P-51 Mustang racer #5 Voodoo, to dramatically-punctuate the close of the Reno ’99 NCAR Time Trials. Her Merlin engine’s victory song faded in its’-‘cool-down’ along the mountain valley amphitheater, in celebration of one more triumph in an ongoing war against the odds.

Then suddenly, the air became still. My scanner picked up an incoming RT requesting landing instructions from Stead Race Control, which drew my attention skyward again. At that moment, I felt as though I’d been allowed inside a genuine- ‘Time Warp’! It was almost as if Voodoo’s powerful forces had worked up some REAL MAGIC this time, by opening the Door to the Past just long enough to let one of it’s own fly through into the Present. There- setting up for final approach for landing on Runway 8, was Ben McKillen’s old & bold- #57 F2G Super Corsair racer! While her distinctive gull-wings’ long-legged gear & massive flaps extended and her corncob R-4360 purred along like a kitten - N5588N’s big black 4-bladed fan’s odd white stick swung like a clock hand on the face of this inter-loping Time Machine. Race #57’s arrival had completed a 50-year cross-generation flight through Time - bridging the final heyday of Air Racing’s Golden Age at Cleveland with the modern era of Reno’s Unlimiteds. This exciting and momentous happening was effected through the dedication and hard effort of the F2G’s pilot/owner - Bob Odegaard, of Kindred, North Dakota, who had painstakingly-restored the Super Corsair accurately back into her splendorous red-orange & white 1949 racing color scheme and configuration (sans-modified intake scoop) when McKillen flew her to victory in the Tinnerman Trophy and to third place in the final Thompson Trophy Race.

In my 25-consecutive years of involvement in the exciting air racing motor sport, the primary magnetism which keeps me coming back are all the fantastic people and the never-ending unpredictable surprises and ironies that always seem to spice things up. After glimpsing a magazine brief and color photo reporting the existence of Bob Odegaard’s project, and its’ nearing completion- the chance of seeing his airplane at Reno became my biggest wish for the 1999 event. Upon greeting all my old fellow colleagues once again on the ramp, one of my first questions to hard-core veteran guys like Gerry Liang, Bob Kennedy & Kevin Grantham, was regarding news about Odegaard and his Super Corsair making it to Reno ’99. I learned Odegaard missed getting the plane to both the Cleveland Air Show and Oshkosh events due to a mismatched carburetor for his R-4360, but was trying to get it together to make it to the races for static display. Believing in the power of- ‘mind-over-matter’, I eagerly prompted all my pals to join me in collectively wishing REALLY HARD to help make this one dream come true. Odegaard’s perseverance got the dream off the ground and I gotta believe all the wishing gave him a little bit of lift and a few more knots of airspeed along the way.

Thanks to a jeep lift from Joe Harmon, we made it down to Stead Field’s static display area in time to go see #57 and take some quick sunset photos. The F2G was still surrounded by many admirers, and there was an in-progress photo shoot going on of a young guy dressed in old-style Navy blue dress uniform with his girl in costume also, posing alongside the plane. A polished natural metal finished Lockheed 12A glistened from behind as a backdrop- pumping up the nostalgia yet another notch. Though I’d truly-enjoyed following the noteworthy 13-year racing career of the much-loved Planes of Fame’s home-brew #1 Super Corsair (which had given us a taste of the F2G’s Cleveland racing roots), visited the Champlin Fighter Aces Museum at Mesa to see their military-stock F2G on exhibit during the Phoenix ’94 Air Races (the event where I’d witnessed #1’s sad loss in a spectacular fiery crash & her pilot’s amazing bail-out), and savored all the black & white historical F2G photos I could get my hands on - I had to admit that seeing the vintage veteran #57 in person, was indeed- LOVE at first sight. I thought to myself that this was 110% of how an Unlimited Racer should look! Besides the expected- ‘ooh’ & ‘aah’ reactions from the fans, it became very obvious that the sight of this particular airplane inspired a lot of contagious lock-jaw grinning, as well!

Arriving right at the cessation of qualifications with a brand new flying restoration, precluded any remote possibility of the F2G touring the pylon course in a Medallion event or for show. On race Friday, historical photo-journalist Kevin Grantham invited me to help him with a sensational static duet photo-shoot he was organizing with #57 and the Sanders’ #8 Dreadnought Super Sea Fury on the ramp after the day’s last Unlimited heat. Kevin had already capitalized upon the fact that Cleveland’s F2G racing guru Cook Cleland was in attendance, by taking his picture with Odegaard alongside Cleland’s old plane. Being the go-getter he is, Kevin made all the arrangements between parties including a tow vehicle for #57 to the ramp in front of the pits. All I had to do was to direct the tow personnel where and how to pose the two R-4360 racers together for the cameras (OK-a little pressure there). This was effected, and while the Reno sunlight played its’ typical hide-‘n-seek game with camera light-meters, a veritable press photo shooting orgy ensued with abandon. Press corps photographers were drooling all over their equipment with frenzied-delight, while laying prone on the tarmac, in various contorted crouching positions and politely taking their turns scaling up and down a tall step ladder (borrowed from an unknown pit crew) like circus squirrels, in an effort to get the- ‘Great Angle’. After my quick grab shot from the ladder top, I was forced to retreat from the shark feed, in favor of my planned long lens shooting platform atop one of the Unlimited race team equipment trailers along the crowd line. On my departure, I’d asked Kevin to please move the mob back far enough to allow for a clean shot of the two planes. I soon realized that this was a formidable request akin to enforcing a fire drill at Castle Dracula during dinner time, but Kevin’s a guy you can always count on. (Thanks, again, buddy!)

After the session, Bob Odegaard invited pilot Brian Sanders for a tour of his F2G’s cockpit for comparison to the Super Sea Fury, and the Sanders Team obliged again, by helping out with a tow for the Corsair back to the static area. After Sunday’s Unlimited Gold Championship race with #57 brought out to park in front of the grandstands, Bob Odegaard was rewarded for his great accomplishment by being awarded the first presentation of the new Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage Invitational Trophy, as the overwhelming people’s choice of all the participating aircraft. The inaugural award was created to promote the preservation of aviation history by encouraging airworthy restorations of vintage classic aircraft that were flying at least 45 years prior to entry for the award, to be judged by technical merit using Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum restoration guidelines and by popular vote. The Reno Air Racing Association joined the National Aviation Hall of Fame in the award’s presentation to the F2G’s - pilot/owner & restorer Robert Odegaard, which was both fitting and truly-deserved.

On Monday morning- the traditional post-race week mass-departure day at Stead, came the first opportunity for getting action photos of the Odegaard F2G, since its’ arrival at the field. Bob climbed aboard and donned a period-perfect yellow crash helmet with sun bill visor, and fired-up the F2G’s gigantic 28-cylinder 4-row ‘corncob’ radial engine, which belched-out huge clouds of startup smoke from its’ exhaust stacks- locomotive-style. The Corsair taxied over by the Unlimited pits to stage it for two separate air-to-air photo shoot sorties for Air Classics magazine editor/photographer- Mike O’Leary: first a one-on-one, followed by a shoot of the F2G with Dreadnought. The photo plane was the Museum of Flying’s P-51 #49 Cottonmouth- flown by Skip Holm, which was refitted with O’Leary’s own customized D-model canopy, modified with a camera port cutout on each side. The Super Corsair executed a very impressive short-run takeoff from 26. Both aircraft returned to the field after the first sortie, and Odegaard made some low passes down the main runway to the delight of the humble mob of earth-bound photographers. The F2G’s final departure was immediately followed by a dual-formation takeoff by the Sanders brothers in their Sea Furies- Dreadnought & Argonaut. As their flight disappeared over the horizon, many of us felt thankful that a few people out there still know how to make big dreams come true. And some of us actually started wishing again…!

Footnote:

After I returned home from the races, I eagerly dove back into my research library on the Post-WW2 Cleveland National Air Races to refresh my knowledge of the facts and specific details on the original F2G racers, including #57, which I noted had the same N-registration number (N5588N) as the Cleland-owned F2G #84, which crashed fatally during the 1947 Thompson with Tony Janazzo as pilot. Curiously, Odegaard’s #57 also presently carries the same USN BuAer serial number as the Janazzo F2G. Some of my documentary references note that the McKillen #57 F2G was originally Buaer # 88458. I also wondered whether former pilot Ben McKillen was still living. This prompted several requests for assistance from a number of experts in an effort to glean more info. Once again, it was Kevin Grantham who was first to answer the call. His emailed reply which follows here, sheds much light on the subject, while raising more questions. Such is the nature of research!

26 Oct 99 - A. Kevin Grantham to Don Dawson:

“I’m not sure of when McKillen died, but I know he is dead. The aircraft that Odegaard owns was purchased from the Navy (by Cook Cleland) with the condition that he would never fly it. The exact date of the purchase and the true identity of the aircraft is unknown; however, I feel that he probably bought BuAer #88458 sometime in 1948. (There is a strange Bill of Sale document in N5588N’s file which shows Cleland selling N5588N to himself on 10 Sep 48. Very strange.) In Aug. 1949, Cleland sold the F2G to Ben McKillen, and McKillen flew it in the races that year. There is something interesting about this transaction- That is the Bill of Sale document for the future Odegaard Corsair carries the same BuAer # (88457) and N-# as the F2G that Tony Janazzo crashed in 1947. (You might recall that Janazzo was killed and the plane completely destroyed during the 1947 Thompson.) In 1997, Cook Cleland told me that he took the data plate from the Janazzo F2G and put it on the aforementioned Corsair that he bought from the Navy. That is why the two aircraft have the same numbers but they are certainly not the same plane. In 1950, McKillen sold the F2G back to Cleland, and the plane went derelict at some airport and there was some stuff about it being stolen, but I am not sure of the details. In 1982, Cleland sold what was left of the F2G to Harry Doan. In 1989, it was sold to Don Knapp and then in 1990, it went to the Lone Star Flight Museum.”

Just before going to press on this piece, I received the following additional information from veteran aviation photo historian - Bob Kennedy - regarding the history of Odegaard's Super Corsair:

F2G-1 BuAer.# 88457 N5588N (#2)
1947-1985 Cook Cleland Air Service, Inc., OH
12/10/70 - FAA certificate revoked.
Stored dismantled at Cleland Air Service 1950-1996
1992 Lone Star Flight Museum, TX
1996 Robert Odegaard, ND
Restored to flying 8/99 Robert Odegaard, ND