Bob Odegaard's Super Corsair

[GX]

Bob finished this airplane last year. It was barely a fuselage when he got it. He cobbled together the rest of the airplane, and hand built the wings. Rivet by rivet.

The flaps are pinned up. His over the fence speed is "somewhere around 140 or 150", he said. "I'm too busy trying to fly the thing to see how fast I'm going".

In one of the pictures is his P-51, formerly Dazzling Donna, and changed to Stang for a movie, I think? Someone here may know more than I do about it. Bob owns it, but Ed Newburg flies it for him. And also in the one of the photos is Cripes A Mighty, another P-51 built and owned by Bob. These two aircraft are special to me because my 3rd flight with Nazy in SuSu was on the wing of Cripes, with Ed and Donna in the 3rd with us. They were flown at his memorial service, as well.


Odegaard's Revenge by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr


Experimental Speed by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr


Checkers by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr


Hanger Mates by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr


74 by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr

 

[rframe]

Sweeeeet.

 

[milleR]

That thing redefines badass.

 

[Adler]

how do you know these people?

 

[Hacker15e]

Bob finished this airplane last year. It was barely a fuselage when he got it. He cobbled together the rest of the airplane, and hand built the wings. Rivet by rivet.

Well, sort of. Can't speak for which parts were physically with it when it arrived up at Odegaard's place, but here's how it looked at Walt Soplata's place up until about a decade ago. For being stored outside in Ohio for decades, it was actually in pretty damn good shape. Parts may have had to be rebuilt, but 'cobbled together' isn't really an accurate description. The airplane was actually in very complete condition when it left Soplata's farm for restoration.

 

[GX]

how do you know these people?

Long version, or short?

Hacker15e Thanks for the share. Bob has a way of doing "Bob speak". Cobbled together means, "rebuilt the wing from scratch, and cut off 2 feet of it to make it faster." Also, the plane was completely disassembled for the trip to Bob's, in ND. I saw a couple of pics of what it looked like when it got to the shop, and it WAS NOT like those photos. No gear, no canopy, no wings, no tail, no recognizable instruments... Most of it had to be redone in some capacity because of corrosion. Sometimes I feel like I'm prying when I ask him how he got the airplane from a "heap out behind the hanger" in ND, to what those photos look like. It's weird, he doesn't like spending much time talking about all of the details. I don't blame him, but it's hard to tell the stories when there isn't much to work with. Even sitting around listening to other guys ask questions, it's the same "ho-hum" sort of responses.

Here's what I gleaned from a few conversations, observing, and listening. I'm trying to find the time to sit down with him to document the rebuilds of both Race 57, and Race 74, but we'll see....

The wing was shortened and rebuilt.
Flaps are pinned.
Wing folding mechanism is in the wing, but disabled.
The instrument cluster was rebuilt, and made GPS friendly; There's a handheld mounted in it.
Engine is the same engine that is in Race 57, the 3500 HP P&W Wasp, 28 cylinder motor. (An aside, that airplane resides in Phx, also, but NO PHOTOS ALLOWED IN THE HANGER!!)
Gear had to be rebuilt from the ground up, but is the original gear.
He did something tricky with the prop, also, but I don't recall what it was.

Ron Pratte is the current owner of Race 57. Here are some links to the hanger where Race 57 lives, along with one of the most incredible car collections in the world. I can talk all day about his facility.... Breathtaking....

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/01/ron-pratte-car-collection.html
Link on Race 57 for those who aren't familiar.
http://www.airrace.com/corsairs57.htm

And I found this video, shot by Bruce Haffner, a former NewsChannel 3 helo pilot here in the valley. Of note in this video is also the site where Nazy crashed SuSu. It's the hanger at the end of the video with the gate. In that hanger is every #1 Ford Mustang ever produced off of the factory line from 1964 to current. I can't make this stuff up. And pardon the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=b-j1TLub6b0

 

[knot4u]

Very sad.
http://www.newsdakota.com/2012/09/07/breaking-pilot-dies-in-airplane-crash-at-barnes-county-airport/

 

[trafficinsight]

It's funny that you would post these photos. Rodney (The guy with his hand on the prop) is a friend of mine. His dad worked for Goodyear on the F2G and Rodney is probably the most amazing model builder I've ever seen. He's done a whole collection of air racers from that era and a whole host of other subjects. His work has sold for thousands of dollars and won hundreds of awards.

As for the airplane, such a sad end to a beautiful machine, and a great person.

 

[GX]

So long, Friend. Thanks for the memories.

My heart goes out to his wife, Donna and the rest of the family.


RIP Bob Odegaard, 9-7-2012 by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr

RIP Bob Odegaard, 9-7-2012 by Bo Ryan Photography, on Flickr