Beguiling Beguine

Air Classics, Jun 2002 by Meixner, Bill

Republic Aircraft was very interested in the project and they sent a team of mechanics to assist, as did Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Standard, and General Electric. The teams, along with Dallas Aero's people, worked round the clock for 60 days to get the aircraft ready for the Bendix. The major modification was the loading of extra fuel. Normal gas capacity was a 270-gallon main tank and a 100-gallon reserve tank. The crew now puttied up the gun bays in the wings and squeezed in 125 gallons on each side. They also removed some of the structure back by the turbocharger and oxygen bottle area and fitted another 100-gallon tank. With over 700 gallons internally, Bill decided to add two 300-gallon drop tanks for a total fuel load of over 1300 gallons. All this work was done with an average daytime temperature of 108 deg to 115 deg Fahrenheit.

When the work was completed, Bill tested the plane with a full load of fuel. It was 105 deg F that day and bets were being made that he wouldn't get it off the ground. To everyone's amazement he did - the Thunderbolt was a little sluggish, but it flew. Time was now running out and he had to get to Van Nuys, California. With about five minutes left before impounding time, Bill landed and all the pilots and crews rushed over to examine the first P-47 to enter the Bendix.

Bill and Tex Salee were out early the next morning as Jane Page had special permission to leave early due to her entry in the Halle Race. When Bill and Tex went over to the P-47 they found it sitting in a 20-foot puddle of gas - the gun bay tanks in the wings leaked. In almost any other fighter he could have taken off with a fuel leak but not in a P-47, so he had to withdraw from the race. After some work the plane was flown back to Dallas Aero where it sat for some time. Earl Reinert was very interested in the Thunderbolt and found out Bill still owed $7000 for some of the modification work. Earl worked out a deal and purchased the P-47 to enter in the 1948 Bendix Race.

Back in January 1947, Bill Odom was aware that the Boston Museum was going to mount a expedition to China to look for a lost mountain. This was based on the findings of British Brigadier General George Pereira, who probed the area in the Adanitcha Range.

He told of a tremendous mountain that "towers over everything around." There was also a report filed by some P38 fighter pilots who said this mountain was higher than Mount Everest. Early in 1948, Odom approached the museum and worked out a deal with Milton Reynolds's help to carry out the expedition to China. With his knowledge of military aircraft, Odom found the ideal ship for the trip. It was the cargo version of the B-24 Liberator known as the C-87 Express. Three special versions of the basic C-87 were built: One for President Roosevelt, one for General Harmon who was lost in the Pacific Theater, and the other was at Enid Air Base, Oklahoma.

The aircraft did not have a bomb bay but did have a lounge with Pullman seats and refrigeration plus many other comforts. Original cost of this aircraft was reported to be close to $100,000 and Odom was able to purchase it through a broker in Dallas for $4500.