The history of this airplane-- N71GB was originally brought over from Iraq by Talichet and Jurist in the 1980's.  The fuselage was "used" but the wings and tail section were "new" according to logbooks.  The aircraft was originally an FB-11, but has the slightly larger MK-20 horizontal stabilizer and was built up by George Baker who retained it as his personal airshow aircraft calling it "Sky Fury".

   As were most of these aircraft from Iraq, the original Bristol-Centaurus engine was removed and replaced with the Wright "Cyclone" R-3350-26, basically a Skyraider engine.  The aircraft passed through several owners and has been raced at Reno several times.  It is a competitive aircraft taking second place in the unlimited silver when last raced in 2009.  The oil cooling system has been reworked by Nelson Ezell.

   The fuel system on N71GB has been simplified to incorporate one large newly installed fuselage tank of 140 gallons and only one reserve integral wing tank.  Two 90 gallon drop tanks can be used for longer range flights. The other wing tanks have been converted to spray bar cooling water on the left side, and ADI fluid on the right. The instrument panel has been modernized with recent digital nav/coms, GPS, HSI, fuel flow meter and other safety features.
    
    In preparation for the 2008 Reno event, the ADI system was "tweaked", and the forward ring cowl and spinner smoothed and re-painted.


     

Owner & Pilot, Robin Crandall

is a practicing Orthopedist (hence the name Sawbones) as well as an accomplished pilot. He can often be seen flying his SNJ with the performance team T-6 Thunder and most recently Sawbones! Robin plans on piloting Sawbones from his home base in Blaine MN, to Reno.



       





Dan Vance "Sawbones Pilot for 2011"

Started flying at 17- about the time Dad (Art Vance) flew our P-51 for the first time after a 6 year rebuild. Got hooked and soloed the mustang at 20 years old with 150 hours total time. Dad was a brave soul! Raced a P-51 in 1996 and have flown at the Reno Air races off and on ever since. I worked for September Pops race team flying 911, a Sea Fury Tmk-20 with R-3350. I have been lucky enough to fly Sea Fury's with original Centaurus engine, as well as R-3350, R-4360, and most recently the R-2800! I'm based in Santa Rosa, CA and we spend a lot of time working on the airplanes (p-51D, TF 51D, T-6, SNJ and Stearman) and we offer instruction in all of the above. See you in Reno!