Reno Air Races... On the Bucket List?

Alright, so it may not be 100% on topic with old cars, but you've got to admit that real warbirds are right up there with the very best of the other vintage mechanical stuff we drool over. I just got back from my first time at the Reno Air Races, and... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

My dad bought a SNJ-4 (AT-6) army surplus July 16th 1946 for $850 , stripped the paint and polished it, use to fly it in air shows for $50 a pop! Still have the original bill of sale and all the original paper work on it. He sold it in 1950 just before i was born , went to south America and thats where we lost track of it. I have tried to fine it many times through the serial number with no luck. Would love to go to the races my mom and dad used to go about every year.

 

Anderson and Hoover! I wish I could have been there. Did a little airframe and powerplant when I was in college, Fm-2 and Stearmans. I love prop planes, particularly P-40's.
The sound is outa this world.

 

I love air shows and have been going to them since I was a kid. Last year I got to ride in a T-28 Aircraft under the Flying Trojans which was pretty amazing. It's not a p51 but it was cool none the less!!!

Here is the link....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273711

 

agree. great stuff.

 

The sound of the V-12's at full song is one that is music to any gearhead's ears. Those big radials are like art.

 

its on my list!!!!

 

Never been there but my dad hat a shirtail involvement with RareBear in the early 80s. I plan on taking LilT to EAFB's airshow next year, he will be 3 1/2, a good age since he is already nuts about planes. I think we may have another Joe Foss on our hands.

 

Tman, if you can ever get the boy out to Oshkosh, you'll never see him again. That place is fantastic.

 

I go to Reno occasionally. Mainly for the sound.
I especially love the sound of a v-12 after it passes by and just when the sound begins to taper off, you get that killer reverb. Nothing as cool as that.

 

This is something that i have always wanted to go to. It looks like just too much fun. This is a funny coincidence cuz I just started building a p-40 model. I love these old birds.

 

Uh huh... now you've gone and done it! Like B-ville, once you're hooked...

So when do we see the "Airplanes" animation?

 

Usta be able to watch the Dayton, Ohio airshow from my back yard. Every year I'd rush outside, at the first sound of a piston engined airplane. Watching and hearing the WWII birds fly over was always a thrill. To see B-17, B-29 and B-24 fly over in formation is something to behold. Then when the fighters started arriving, the day was on hold as long as they were in the air.

 

definatly cool.........in 99 i lettered rare bear, and got to pit as well.

shell oil came back on board at the last minute, and i was lettering their logo as the t birds, or blue angels (cant remember which) were doing low passes overhead , talk about straining your concentration, lol

got to witness testing at van nuys airport as well, rare bear is quite a machine.



skull

 

Rare Bear wasn't having a good race this year- some mechanical issues. Usually that beast is way ahead of the pack...

http://www.rarebear.com/rarebear/about_Rare_Bear/

 

Thanks for the great article and pictures. Hey, warbirds are the Hot Rods of the sky. And to meet legendary pilots to boot? How cool! I especailly would have loved to have met Clarence "Bud" Anderson. I have always been a big fan of the Old Crow.

 

I'd LOVE to ge to the Reno air races, so I'm VERY envious of you!

Nick.

 

yeah, it broke in 99 during the gold race as well. i think it still holds the prop driven record ?



skull

 

Those guys have THE biggest cajones..not a whole lot of wiggle room when something goes wrong at 500 ft. and 500 mph..We are an aviation family starting with my Dad at Kelly AFB in 1938..one airshow remembrance is of three or so eager but clueless spectators standing behind and slightly off to the side of one of the big Grummans turning over, when those big radials catch, a half-gallon of unburnt gas and oil, greasy smoke and grit go flyin out the back, those folks were soaked,dirty and deaf! not a good place to stand!..Oshkosh and Reno should be on everyones bucket list for sure..There is nothing like seeing all of the remaining B-17s flyin over your head!...

 

Definitely on my bucket list. Someday...

There is a video on YouTube of a Mustang going directly overhead at the fence, at about 50'. I watch that over and over and over...

 

Reno is a must!!
TMan...that's cool about your pops being involved with Rare Bear! Who doesn't like a 4000hp, 500mph piston driven aircraft...with NOS! The numbers on that plane will drop your jaw! It sounds sexy as hell too!! 600gph at 500mph!! Hate to pay the fuel bill on that dude!!

 

I grew up just north of Oshkosh under the pattern. Always cool as a kid during the convention to see the warbirds fly over in groups. When we got married, my wife gave me a trip to Reno for a wedding present.....as if I didn't already love her enough, that was over the top. The sounds of those planes going by at 500mph....you haven't lived until you've experienced it. It would be a shame to "save" it for the bucket list....go now AND later for the bucket.

 

I highly recommend it. I went about 14 years ago, and I always mean to go back, but haven't yet. Nothing like seeing old warbirds at speed+! Great air show too.

 

I recognize a few of the warbirds in the pics from the Air museum by my house. Very cool. I would like to check that out sometime.

 

2 years ago there was a crash and death all 3 days of this event. 1 of the days 2 planes went down and 1 of the pilots survived to the best of my knowledge. it brought up a lot of safety issues and seemed to put the event in jeopardy but it is still coming to reno so i guess they just chalked it up to bad luck....

 

Like I said, it was a distant relationship. Our whole family is in trucking, one of his drivers was a pilot that had ties to some air racers. Crazy freakin cropduster dude. I think he flew choppers in Nam as well? Dads company sponsored the plane and transported either it or some support stuff out to Reno. This would have been 80 or 81?

 

Yeah, dangerous shit. One of our local B1 jocks flys the little fast ones (Formula Gold I think)? He races at Reno each year. My pal Randy got to do some work on this little hotrod of a plane. Couple hundred miles an hour in what amounts to a kite!

 

Some pretty cool history around this stuff.....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144677