Rare Bear

Rare Bear is a single, heavily modified Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter that became one of the most successful racing aircraft in the history of the Reno Air Races. The airframe was found as a stripped, severely damaged wreck beside a runway at Porter County Regional Airport in Valparaiso, Indiana, where it had crashed in 1962 after a throttle-on torque roll. Lyle Shelton bought the remains in 1969, had them trucked to Orange County, California, and rebuilt the aircraft around the engine and propeller of a Douglas Skyraider, whose Wright R-3350 was more powerful than the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 the Bearcat was designed to carry. The rebuilt aircraft first flew on 13 September 1969 and raced at Reno a week later under the name Able Cat, later Phoenix I, and from 1980 as Rare Bear. It went on to win many Unlimited Class races, was sold with its team to Rod Lewis in 2006, and set a 3 km piston-engine speed record in 1989 that is described as still standing. It last raced in 2015 and was shown on static display at the 2016 and 2017 events.