Darryl Greenamyer

[GregP]

Noted Military, test, and race pilot Darryl Greenamyer passed away 1 Oct 2018. He raced at Reno, built a private F-104, was involved in an abortive B-29 recovery attempt, and was pretty much master of the SR-71. Darryl tried drag racing at the highest level, and raced several other forms of motorsport for fun. He is best remembered for air racing among pilots.

I was talking with Pete Law at the Planes of Fame Saturday and he mentioned that he and Darryl were the last two guys off Darryl's original Reno race team still alive, and that Darryl was on hospice watch. Darryl died later that day, 1 Oct 2018.

Pete is still active and comes to the Planes of Fame semi-regularly. He had four planes with ihs heat exchange systems at Reno this year when attendence was WAY down. His friend of many years, Bruce Boland, passed away in 1995, but Bruce's speed legacy lives on in most of the fast unlimiteds at Reno. He did the aerodynamic mods on most of them.

Pete, Darryl, and Bruce Boland were responsible for a ton of innovations, and never stopped innovating.

Blue skies Darryl; I'd bet you will outrun the angels.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Blue skies, and tail winds...

 

[BiffF15]

Thanks for getting the word out and am sorry to hear it!

 

[dick56]

10 years ago I helped Darryl put together his F7F that had been in pieces for 23 years. What a fun project. The only pieces missing after 23 years being stored in an old barn was one carb and one ignition vibrator. The F7F is now owned by Jim Slattery after Steve Hinton's Fighter Rebuilders rebuilt the TigerCat again to exacting standards. Darryl's wife still has his homebuilt Shock Wave for sale at a minimal price. It comes with two complete 4360s and lots of extra cylinders. I believe it was Pete Law who calculated it would do 530+ MPH flat out. For those of you who have not seen it positioned for show at Reno a few years ago, it is built like a GeeBee racer with the pilot seated way back and it is in a tail dragger configuation. How about sitting behind a 4200 HP engine and an 8500 pound plane!

Darryl was one of the great aviators of our time, and it is sad to see him gone at age 81.

 

[vikingBerserker]

 

[GregP]

That F7F visits the Planes of Fame frequently, and generally also flies at our May airshow.

I have never seen Shockwave in person, but there is another "homebuilt" racer in Rare Bear's hangar at Reno that is very similar, with Sea Fury outer wing panels and F-86 tail, designed for an R-4360. It would be very nice to see one of them finished and flying.

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Skyediamonds]

Darryl,
Though I've never had the honor of meeting him personally, I've often read about him. He's also responsible for flying the highly modified Bearcat "Conquest 1." It's on display at Smithsonian's restoration facility. I was fortunate enough to take some detailed photos. Beautiful plane. Darryl, may you fly with angels.