Beguiling Beguine

Air Classics, Jun 2002 by Meixner, Bill

The American public, tired of the years of war news, was eager to hear news of the round the world trip. Newspapers carried large headlines of the flight's progress and it was estimated that up to 100-million people knew Bill Odom's name and were following his progress. The flight arrived back at LaGuardia on 16 April to a very large crowd - Bill Odom was now an American hero. Soon after the flight, Odom, Reynolds and Salee were invited to the White House where President Truman awarded each a citation. While Bill was pleased with the flight, he still wanted to do it solo. So he approached Reynolds and asked to use the plane for a solo attempt on the world record. Much to his surprise, Reynolds agreed.

Bill arrived at O'Hare Airport on 4 August 1947. The solo attempt would takeoff and return to Chicago's O'Hare Airport - the decision to use O'Hare was based on the field's longer runways which Bill would need due to the extra fuel he was going to carry. In addition to the extra 1000 gallons of fuel, this flight would carry an additional 460 gallons for a total 2460 gallons of fuel - weighing 15,000 pounds. Early Warbird collector Earl Reinert said, "the tires were so flat from the extra weight that it looked like the wheel rims were touching the runway."

A few hours before his departure, Bill walked over to where Earl was preparing his P-38 for the Bendix Race. Bill introduced himself to Jane Page, the very attractive pilot of the P-38. Jane had been a World War Two ferry pilot and knew about almost any military aircraft or Air Force base. During this conversation, Bill said he had entered a Republic YP-47M Thunderbolt (see Air Classics March 2002) in the Bendix Race and would see them at Van Nuys - the Bendix was just 23 days away.

Bill taxied out, turning very slowly, to keep the tires from coming off the rims. He used all 6000 feet of runway to become airborne and as he passed over the first few streets he was less than 150 feet high. He headed north for Gander but, as he approached Gander, he started losing aileron control. He felt the only choice was to return to O'Hare and by the time he arrived back at O'Hare there was almost no aileron control left. An inspection found one aileron cable tom loose. He also discovered a disengaged carburetor heat linkage. This could have spelled disaster later in the flight.

The repairs were made and the second attempt was launched - this time there were no mechanical problems. Bill's goal on this trip was to knock ten hours off his first flight time. To do this, Bill refused to eat or sleep while on the ground. The only sleep he managed to get was some short naps while on autopilot. This practice was almost his undoing - while flying near Edmonton, Canada, he woke up at 4000 feet looking up at a mountain only a few miles away. This shock kept him awake the rest of the way to O'Hare. The solo flight was accomplished in 73 hours, 5 minutes - a record that still stands today for piston-engine aircraft.

It was now almost time for the Bendix so Bill went to Dallas where his P-47M was being prepared. Why a P47M? Again, Bill had done his homework. Living near the Long Island Republic plant, Bill visited the factory to discuss flying a P-47 in the Bendix which was rather fitting considering its predecessor, the P-35, won the Bendix no less than three times (one when flown by Jackie Cochran). What came out of the meeting was the selection of the P-47M. The M was a sprint version of the D, designed for maximum speed. Bill learned there were only 130 of these built and they were all left in Germany where they were cut up for scrap. This did not stop Bill from looking and one of the places he found some P-47s was Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. They had a large number of Thunderbolts standing on their noses but they were all earlier razorbacks. A closer look found one with a bubble canopy and, after checking paper work, he discovered it was a YP-47M-1, one of the prototypes. While it had no engine, the airframe was in good shape so Bill bought the plane and had it hauled to Dallas where an engine and prop were installed.