Reno Air Races -- Day 5

Click here for the Flickr set of photos I took at the last day of racing in Reno for 2006. I added short descriptions. Here are a couple pictures from the set.

The start of the T6 race.


Corsair and Mustang battle in the unlimited bronze race.


John Travolta did a flyby in his own Boeing 707.


The Big Boss Man on the tail of Ol' Yeller in the unlimited silver race.


Mike Brown won the unlimited gold race in his plane September Fury. The last lap was just over 492 mph.

Reno Air Races -- Day 4

Here are a few photos. See these and more from the day by clicking here. Most of the photos have some comment.

Reno Air Races -- Day 3

It was cold today in the Reno area for the National Championship Air Races. Only in the upper 50’s, it was 30 degrees cooler than Wednesday! On top of that, the wind was about 20 with gusts near 30 mph. That wind not only made it chilly for the crowd, but also difficult for the pilots. Very early in the day there was one biplane race. As the planes were returning to land after the race, it was obvious from the angle of their approach that there was a strong crosswind. The racers are experienced pilots. These pilots were working hard to land and two of them went around for a second attempt. They cancelled the rest of the biplane races for the day. Check out photos of the day here.

The speaker at the checkered flag club lunch was R.A. (Bob) Hoover. He made some introductory remarks for 2 minutes and then he asked for questions. That was nice. We heard him talk about his WWII fighter pilot days and how he was shot down. He talked about the X-1 project - how he got bumped to #2, his respect for Chuck Yeager, and his experience flying the chase plane the day they broke the sound barrier. Bob smiled when he said he knew Chuck did it when the X-1 passed him like he was standing still. He shared other memories from his test pilot and air show days for almost an hour. Afterwards he stayed for a bit and I was able to get his autograph. Read more about Bob here and here.

Despite the wind, Ken Pietsch landed his little plane on a RV going 60 mph over less than a mile of runway. Pretty good feat even on a calm day. There are a few shots of his approach and landing in today’s Flickr pool. Scroll to see the sequence.

The full US Air Force Thunderbird team gave a nice show. There are a couple photos starting here. One of their nicest maneuvers is when 4 planes fly slow in the landing configuration and then they split the formation so a 5th plane can fly between them at a high speed. See photos here and here to see the fifth plane fly through the formation.

They are having Heritage flights throughout the races that are formations of old and new warbirds. Today they had a Navy formation with planes from the Grumman F4F Wildcat to the F18. See photos here and here.

The unlimited bronze race was exciting with Precious Metal passing multiple planes, including the Big Boss Man, to win. Here is a photo just after passing. The green wings of the P-51 Precious Metal are easy to see. The announcers mentioned Ron told them the team had fixed something that he thought would give a lot more power. He was right.

Voodoo was supposed to be in the final unlimited gold race of the day. However, Voodoo just barely got off the runway when Button pulled the power and landed. I guess something didn’t look right. Hopefully they’ll be back in the silver race tomorrow. Mike Brown won the gold race easily in September Fury, a Sea Fury. He was going about 450 mph. The big battle for fifth and sixth place was between Riff Raff and the Spirit of Texas. They were neck and neck at the finish as Riff Raff went low to gain speed. It wasn’t quite enough, but he was only a few feet behind.

This sign in Rare Bear’s pit area says it all.

Reno Air Races -- Day 2

The first thing I did this morning before it got too crowded was go to the Heritage Trophy area to see the restored planes competing for the Peoples Choice award. There were a lot of beautiful planes you can see in my Flickr photos of day 2. My favorite was the restored P-40 shown here and here. They had a photo album and scrapbook describing the restoration. Considering the rusted shell they started with, they did an amazing job!

The US Air Force Thunderbirds did some fly-bys to become familiar with the area for their performances the next 3 days.

Word is that both Dago Red and Rare Bear are out of the unlimited races due to engine problems. Thought to be the top 2 competitors, this opens things up in the gold racing.

Gene Soucy and his wing walker wife Theresa Stokes gave a great performance. You can see their pictures here and here. She doesn’t just strap in and ride along. Theresa actually walks on the lower wing and climbs to the upper wing in flight. She only uses a waistband safety wire when they go upside down. Otherwise, she is just hanging on and moving around. You can see her hanging sideways here. I wonder if Dianne would do that with Tony?

Finally, in racing, I got to see my favorite bronze unlimited racer fly today. The Big Boss Man is a Grumman F7F Tigercat (more info here and here) shown here yesterday in the pit area. It is like a grandfather to my Grumman AA5B Tiger. Hearing that twin engine plane screaming past at close to 400 mph really is something. The photo above shows the Big Boss Man going past the home pylon. My best photo of the day. Mike Brown must love flying that plane around the course.

Reno Air Races -- Day 1

It was the first day of the National Championship Air Races in Reno (Stead field). You can check out some photos here. This year I am fortunate to be a first time Checkered Flag Club member. They have a great set-up with many conveniences including a great parking area, a hangar to relax and cool off, leave items, eat, and get liquids to stay hydrated in the dry desert heat. I also had a brush with greatness today as I met Paul Poberezny at the club hangar.

There was a lot of activity in the pits today with crews making repairs or final tweaks before qualifying. My favorite plane in the unlimited class, Voodoo race 5, had the cowling off all day. The crew looked awfully busy with the ‘new’ engine. They did qualify at 435 mph. That should be good enough for the gold group.

The big excitement of the day was Rare Bear’s qualifying run. Rare Bear race 77, a modified, WWII era Grumman F8 Bearcat, has won the unlimited gold class many times and has won the last two years. Today, on the second of the two qualifying laps, Ron opened her up and was going all out. Just after making the last turn on the way to the finish line at the home pylon, we all heard two loud, rapid pops from the engine. After crossing the finish, smoke started coming out and you could tell oil was getting into the exhaust. He pulled up to convert the speed into altitude and pulled back on the throttle. That gave enough of a safety margin that he was able to land on the emergency runway. The plane was smoking the whole way. He shut it down rapidly and got towed from the runway back to the pits. Here is a picture of Rare Bear I took early in the day in the pit area. Note the gold stripe on the side of the fuselage. Here is a picture of Rare Rear being towed to the pit after blowing 2 cylinders. A lot of oil on the side covering the stripe! It’s fortunate Ron landed safely and was able to qualify. However, the crew will have a lot of work to do to get back in it.

Also, I heard that one of Rare Bear’s best competitors, Dago Red, was having engine difficulties that caused them problems with qualifying. I saw them doing an extended ground run of the engine early this morning, but they didn’t fly.

I also enjoy watching the T6 class racers. They aren’t as fast as the unlimiteds – only about half the speed. However, the planes are fairly similar so the pilot’s skill has a lot to do with success. Because they are closely matched, there can be some tight races. This picture shows how crowded the start of a race can be. Even after several laps, some of the planes are very close to each other. It’s exciting to watch!

Bad News for Rare Bear

On the last lap of a time trial, heard 2 pops from Rare Bear's engine after the last turn. Lots of smoke but a safe emergency landing.

Looking Ahead to Reno

Only 36 days until the start of the National Championship Air Races and Air Show at Reno. My favorite group of racers is the unlimited class. There are 32 entries registered in the unlimited class this year. That’s a good sized field. More important are the planes that are registered. Rare Bear, an F8F Bearcat, will be back to try for a third straight win. However, unlike last year when Rare Bear’s primary competitor was absent due to financial constraints, Dago Red will be back. Dago Red, a P-51 Mustang, won several years in a row prior to Rare Bear’s current streak. Finally, I’m happy that my favorite team will be there. Voodoo, race number 5, is also a P-51 Mustang. You can just barely see the nose of Voodoo behind me in my profile picture. Always in the hunt, Voodoo had engine problems last year that caused the team to drop out. They are now testing a new engine that hopefully will help them move up the ranks in the gold, or top, tier of the unlimited racers. The Voodoo website also mentioned they stripped the wings and smoothed out imperfections in the airfoil that might help their speed a bit.

The highlight of the air show portion of the event this year is the Air Force Thunderbirds.

If you haven’t been to Reno for an air race, you’ll have the chance next year in Hollywood style. Next year is the scheduled debut for the movie “Thunder Over Reno”. There is a nice website for the film. Looking at the cast, I doubt it will be an Academy award winner. Nevertheless, it might be a good film to see on the big screen.

Fly low, go fast, and turn left.