 |
Twin-engine airplanes are a rarity at the Reno
Air Races. Usually they do not reach the necessary qualifying speed of 300 mph. Michael
Brown's Grumman F-7F Tigercat is fast enough for the Silver Class. |
|
 |
With 410,4 mph and only 0.4 mph faster than
Stephen Patterson, you can see the experienced racing pilot Matt Jackson in the cockpit of
the Sea Fury "Argonaut", which belongs to the Sanders-brothers. Matt was the
fastest participant in the Silver Class. |
|
 |
Unfortunately it isn't possible to let you
hear and enjoy the unbelievable sound of the Tigercat #1 "Big Bossman". |
|
 |
Stephen Patterson and Matt Jackson with a
fight for places. Such duels for every feet keep the spectators at the grandstand on the
edge of their seats. |
|
 |
Unfortunately the Tigercat #1 did have it's
breakdowns. Here she comes in after a "Mayday" call, escorted by the Pace Plane. |
|
 |
Howard Pardue is a multi-year participant of
the Reno Air Races. His Grumman F-8F Bearcat is to a large extent still standard. Here he
starts the engine under lots of smoke development. Their big oil consumption gave the
Bearcat in the 60's the nickname "Oilcat". |
|
 |
The crew is ready to start repairing the plane
in front of the stands. The pilot, Dan Vance, is still in the cockpit. In the final on
Sunday owner/pilot Mike Brown reached sixth place in the Silver Class with 371,7 mph. |
|
 |
During the first six years (1964-69) the
Unlimited Class was dominated by the Bearcats. A "Stock Bearcat" like Howard
Pardue's #14 is good for the third place in the Silver Race with 390 mph. |
|
 |
In the evening after a race there is still a
lot of activity going on until dusk. Racers are taken out of the Pit area and are
undergoing engine test runs. Here the Mustang #22 "Merlin's Magic ". |
|
 |
This picture is an enlargement. Look at the
right flap. You can see clearly that the skin started coming of during the race. |
|
 |
#22 "Merlin's Magic" in the race.
355,6 mph was the speed of Bill Eberhardt in the final. Thus he reached the seventh place
in Silver Race - behind the Tigercat #1 "Big Bossman". |
|
 |
"Speedball Alice" is to a large
extent an original left Mustang in the participant field. Art Vance, who unfortunately
lost his life in a F-6 Hellcat accident a couple of weeks after the 2005 Reno Air Races,
reached the eighth place with his Mustang #31. He was 354.6 mph fast. |
|
 |
We already know Jimmy Leeward with his #9
"Cloud Dancer" from the Bronze Class. Here he is together with #22
"Merlin's Magic" in a race. |
|
 |
"Speedball Alice" served also as
Pace Plane. Here Ron Buccarelli, comes out of the back seat. He is the reserve pilot for
"Rare Bear" and owner of the strongly modified Mustang "Precious
Metal" (see Reno Races 2004). In the Pace Plane he helped the Tigercat "Big
Bossman" during the emergency landing. |
|
 |
The yellow P-51D Mustang "Ole Yeller
" was Bob Hoover's personal show plane during many years. A few years ago it was
acquired by John Bagley, who puts on his parachute on this picture. |
|
 |
You already saw Ike Enns in the Preview section with the engine test run of his P-51D
"Miracle Maker" . Here Ike taxies to the runway holding point. In the final he
was 374 mph fast and finished fourth place. |
|
 |
John Bagley left his Mustang in the original
and legendary colour finish of Bob Hoover's "Ole Yeller". John finished with
373,7 mph at the fifth place. |
|
 |
In the evening Ike likes to undertake pleasure
flights. Here with a passenger on the rear seat. |
|
 |
"Southern Cross", one of numerously
represented Hawker Sea Furies, belongs to Stephen Patterson. He bought it from John Bagley
after John acquired his Mustang "Ole Yeller". |
|
 |
The only original TF-51D, a trainer configured
Mustang with dual controls in the cockpit, #81 "Lady Jo". Since years this
machine is flown by Rob Patterson. 352 mph was sufficient for the last place of this
class. |
|
 |
#71 "Southern Cross" while landing.
The landing flaps are down completely. A clearly durable chassis for the Sea Fury, it was
designed and built for the carrier operations. |
|
 |
Speed is not everything: "Lady Jo"
shines with her beauty. The Mustang is in first-class condition. |
|
 |
With 410 mph in the final on Sunday, Stephen
Patterson flew into second place in the Silver Class. So Stephen could finish the racing
week very successfully. |
|
 |
Ready for an evening photo shooting: Mustangs
and a Sea Furies present themselves on the apron in the best light ... |
|
|
