The Sultan of Speed

摘要

THE THREE-KILOMETER speed record for piston-engine aircraft had stood for 30 years when Darryl Greenamyer broke it in 1969, flying 482 mph in his Bearcat Conquest I. He reinvigorated the ambitions of race pilots for the next 50 years. Steven Hinton followed in 1979; Lyle Shelton, in 1989; and Hinton's son Steve, just last year. Greenamyer, who died October 1, had that effect on people. His energy and vision created a forceful attraction. In 1964 he assembled a team of nonpareils from Lockheed, where he had been a test pilot on F-104s, A-12 s, and SR-71s (Greenamyer was no stranger to speed), and together, they made his outsize ambitions real. With Greenamyer's leadership and masterful piloting-and "his touch of crazy," as his sister oncedescribed his personality-his team developed systems and modifications for the Bearcat that won the airplane six of seven championships at the air races in Reno and a place of honor in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Those systems and modifications are still creating winners at the Reno air races today.