Cook Cleland's Race 74 Returns

摘要

Cook Cleland was a well-known Navy pilot, an ace who flew in both World War II and Korea. But he was better known as an air racer, winning both the 1947 and '49 Thompson Trophy races back when the Thompson was nearly as newsworthy as the Indy 500. Cleland had finished sixth in 1946, when surplus Army P-39s and P-51s dominated the course. Legend has it that when Admiral William "Bull" Halsey asked him what it would take for a Navy airplane to win, Cleland said "an F2G." The F2G Corsair, built by Goodyear, was powered by the 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 corncob engine.