Making the T-6 racer 'Gunslinger' sparkle in the Saturday morning sunshine
Saturday was a great day at the 2010 Reno Air Races - the weather was ideal and there was a lot great racing to watch too. Like in the picture above, a lot of time is spent by the race teams working on and cleaning up the airplanes. And as I've said before, being in the pit area to see all the work being done is simply amazing.
The big story for me continues to be the way Jimmy Leeward has kept The Galloping Ghost alive in the Unlimited Class. The race on Saturday was an easy win for the highly modified P-51 Mustang, giving lots of hope to the idea that it can be a real contender. The big test will be the final race of the day on Sunday against the seemingly unbeatable Strega; the 'always-a-contender' Rare Bear; and possibly the very fast Voodoo. However, after pulling up and out of the race on Saturday, Voodoo's ability to race today may be in question.
Here's a quick batch of pix from the day showing the wide diversity of flying machines, both in the air and on the ground, that make Reno's Stead Field a great place to be in mid September...
The first race of the day on Saturday was Formula One, and here the Biplane Class airplanes are watching as they are getting staged and waiting their turn.
Polar Bear, an early A model P-51 that was crashed in Alaska back in 1944. It was eventually recovered and rebuilt, with first flight in 1985. It was a very nice addition the heritage-oriented fighters that were racing.
This is the 'beast to beat' again this year as Steve Hinton Jr. and Strega have been pretty much flawless in their time on the race course. Strega has won all if its races so far without looking like it was being pushed to limit. Maybe The Galloping Ghost has enough speed to make the last race of the event very exciting.
I must say that I've really enjoyed getting to know more about Strega the airplane, and the team that makes her tick... for some reason I haven't paid all that much attention in the past. However, there's just something about The Galloping Ghost that I can't get out of my head. It's been a great story seeing it fight its way into the big race!
I don't know if you are aware, but the guys flying the jets racing at Reno are pretty much crazy! Ok, crazy in a good way, but still. With speeds that run up to 50 mph faster than the Unlimited's, the jets are really hauling around that course. It's amazing stuff to see!
In addition to the races going on all day and airshow performers, the National Aviation Heritage Invitational event runs in conjunction with Reno. It's an event all on its own with loads of great static display aircraft to check out. I'll have more pix later, but the OV-10 caught my eye, and I thought it was really cool seeing the little girl taking a tour of the C-17 cockpit looking out thru the open window.
I had lots of great photo ops with the Snowbirds filling up the big blue sky with a bunch of red and white airplanes and loads of tail smoke. I hadn't seen them for years and I really enjoyed the show.
I'm also just getting my head wrapped around this airplane named Rapid Travel. It's a very impressive Thunder Mustang that also just happens to be really fast. Late on Saturday, the crew had a lot of the airplane apart getting her ready for the final Super Sport race on Sunday. I'm hoping to do a lot more detailed posting on this airplane in the future.
My three days at Reno will soon be over, but I'm really glad I was able to make the trip. There are so many interesting stories of the people and airplanes that participate. Hopefully I can find some ways to share some of those stories during the time we're waiting for September to get back here again!
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