drag racing on an air field

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10226759703178952&set=pcb.3088670437992852

Race Shark belly tanker from NYBO Rod Shop at 2023 Romo, a '34 Ardun Coupe

The air shield over the carbs is a cool piece, it has some airbrushing to name the car, on the other side, and on this side, has mission symbols

 https://www.instagram.com/p/DH35od_qzBB for the video clip

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwnc4EKq0HB/?img_index=1

Might be the source of the engine and chassis.  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cac59fissTP/?img_index=1

Dan is a dude with a dream!

He dreamed of a Bonneville Belly Tanker since he was in grade school. 

Recently, he started collecting the parts. First, found a tank, then a V8-60, then a vintage sprint car with a Halibrand 101 quick change, another V8-60 with an in and out, steering, and a lot of other very useful parts

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10235382059801649&set=gm.1024534632863869&idorvanity=491926022791402

Rømø Motor Festival is just winding up, and Kim sent me a couple photos!

https://www.facebook.com/romomotorfestival/

https://www.romomotorfestival.dk/

Technical Sergeant Leo Coldstead, of the XXth Bomber Command, standing beside his creation that he named the "Super-Duper Put Put". He built it from spare parts of planes and scrap.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=7758759550831477&set=pb.100080966302726.-2207520000

something I've never seen a belly tank used for... sailboating! an auxiliary gas tank of a P-38, this sailboat is being tested on a canal in Kunming, China

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=8232187060155388&set=pb.100080966302726.-2207520000

hell of a good photo technique

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=810634934395444&set=pcb.810635884395349

photo by https://www.facebook.com/photographieOuistreham

Kim went to Rømø and shared these great photos!

Steffen Traberg Jørgensen

Burlap covered bellytanker

pulse jet powered

nice photo

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221849732452686&set=a.1617402035143

coolest thing I've seen in a while, built by the guys in the stuctures and electrical shop at VU 4, in the early 1950s, from a JD1 wing tank and drone parts.

Looks like a wing tank from a  JD1

JD1s were versions of the A26

https://www.vpnavy.com/vu3_aircraft.html

Utility Squadron 4(VU-4) was stationed at NAS Oceana, Va. Beach, Va. and NAS Oceana, Va. Beach, Va, NAS Chincoteague, VA and NAS Norfolk, VA. and was considered a Sea Duty assignment 

 The VU-4 mission was to provide aerial target practice support for selected ships of the Atlantic Fleet in the Va. Capes area. Aircraft support partially involved 16 F8 Crusader aircraft modified for towing a bomb shaped styrofoam target with internal flares remotely activated by the pilot when on station. The pilot remotely deployed the target on a cable/winch assembly. The targets were painted red and approximately 3 to 4 ft. in size. Approximately one mile of wire cable could be deployed by the pilot via a motorized cable/winch assembly. Most of the time there was no target to recover. Typically daily almost 1/2 of the F8's would be in a non flyable status due to various hydraulic and electrical issues. The F8s had no exterior paint modifications or special markings. Towing these targets had special dangers. I recall one aircraft from VF-102 after shooting a Sidewinder missile at the target forgot where he was and sliced through the wire cable. Fortunately his aircraft damage occurred near the end of one of his wing tips and he was able to land safely. The F8 towing aircraft pilot felt only a slight momentary tug.

The other aircraft used by VU-4(V=heavier than air and U=Utility) were 3 WWII B26 Army bombers modified for target towing capability.  In the photo taken in 1962 at San Juan Naval Air Station when the squadron had a detachment TDY to support Operation Springboard, an annual exercise, the two "bubble" windows were used by the cable/winch operator to view whatever he could subsequent releasing or rewinding the wire cable.

 Usually after a ship's firing practice there was not anything left of the red sleeve target cloth target. This was because in addition to tracking the cloth sleeve target visually, the ship's guns used radar tracking and after the target was destroyed continued to track the wire cable destroying whatever piece. Rarely was a mile's length of cable rewound in the aircraft. This was an extremely dangerous situation for the aircraft and involved frantic radio comms to the ship to stop firing. 

Unseen under the aircraft is a small entry/exit area for the cable/winch operator. The cable/winch operator had to open the bottom area of his compartment to enter/exit the aircraft and for operating the winch/cable/target assembly. He had very little maneuvering room for movement and if not careful he literally could fall through the open area. The operator did not wear a parachute nor did the pilots.

What was very scary was the 3 B26 aircraft assigned to VU-4 had their operational "lives" extended three times when I joined the squadron in 1961. This meant the B26s should have been flown to Litchfield Park, Arizona for parts/disposal years ago. The problem was the Navy no replacement aircraft that could do that unique mission until the mid-60s when several S2F sub tracker aircraft were modified for target towing and Utility Squadrons were decommissioned and Composite Squadrons created.

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/36165-utility-squadron-4-insignia/

https://claybornglobal.com/IHF/index.php/VU-4

Ted Frye's record-setting bellytanker with Von Dutch pin stripes

 

Ted Frye of Los Angeles built this P-38 tank in the mid '50s. He was working for Isky Racing Cams in those days.

The tank, nicknamed "Salty Shaker," held many SCTA speed records over the years. Frye drove his way into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club in 1957 with a speed of 216.750, which was updated to 240.650 by the time he stopped racing it in 1963.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/belly-tank-racer-east-coast-custom

cool bellytanker

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-797#post-13805901

not sure if this is El Mirage or Bonneville, but I'm pretty sure it's El Mirage

possibly the 1st hot rod belly tank in Italy or Corsica in WW2, a year or two before Bill Burke's on the So Cal dry lakes. A ground crewman from the USAAF 1st Fighter Group poses with his makeshift car craftily built from a P-38’s 150-165 gallon external fuel tank

https://www.facebook.com/TheTruthInColor/posts/1961398213897945

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=39829

last raced in 1950

http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-1388#post-3716140

Damn shame. Imagine how damn fun it would be to pay a small amount to run it on Elk Mirage or Bonneville... as the owner was done racing it, but could realize it's potential to earn the money it cost to build it. 

The results of a golden age of junkyard engines, cheap military surplus drop tanks, and no one screwing the country out of a good base layer of salt on Bonneville.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6304#post-13005307

I didn't know that helicopters had belly tanks too. During the summer of 1959, this military helicopter made an emergency landing at Deland Field on Echo Lake Road.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/53003768@N06/15450235900/

How about that, I just came across my photos being used by MotorPunk. Cool. Would have been a laugh to actually hear from them, and get asked to borrow some photos instead. Oh well.

Annoying that they don't actually back link to the sources, and that they plaster their watermark over my photos... thanks for making a couple good photos ugly with watermarks, you punks.

That's a shit move, putting your watermark on someone else's photo. Old Motor does that.
Maybe its a thing assholes do.

https://www.motorpunk.co.uk/articles/the-beauty-of-belly-tank-racers/

Fuck you Motorpunk, here's the original without your fucking watermark.  If I wanted your name on my photos I'd put it there.  Do your own home work and get to El Mirage yourselves, ya lazy punks

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/05/famous-bean-bandits-were-at-el-mirage.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/old-crow-belly-tanker-gallery-i-took-at.html

I think it's cool to find someone liking your photos and choosing to use them, as the best example they could find of what they needed to make a feature on belly tankers, for example. But not having the balls to put the links to the sources so your readers can see more? No class.
Putting your name on them? That's shit. Would you put your name on someone else's race car? No.
Grow the hell up. No wonder your magazine failed and went out of print. Give no respect, and you get no respect. Damn clowns. 

huh! Well, if there is a class for "hit or miss" engines at El Mirage or Bonneville, this will probably set a new record!

https://www.facebook.com/PPGRefinish/photos/a.2846868295351742/2846871912018047/?type=3

coincidentally, after featuring a watch yesterday, here is a bellytanker commissioned by a watch company to help sell it's themed watches, and it has humorous nose art too

 I doubt that this belly tanker was brought to El Mirage, or Bonneville, but I give this company kudos for at least appealing to a distinct demographic of car racing guys that has been ignored by every company not making car performance parts

https://www.car-revs-daily.com/2017/09/15/2018-bell-ross-bellytanker/#more-308594
https://www.bellross.com/our-collections/vintage/br-v1/br-v1-92/BR-V1-92-BELLYTANKER

a set of belly tanks made into a boat (thanks Steve!)