Warbird Information Exchange

Getting around to posting some of my (average) photos from Reno. Not so much because they are unique - just hope to give those who have not yet attended a feel for what it's like. Will begin with Unlimiteds of course, and will do in small bursts in case Photobucket still throttles you if you post too many at once. These are Silver racers on climb out:

Jim Tobul's Corsair


Rod Lewis' Tigercat


Brian Sanders in Argonaut


And their Centaurus-powered T Mk 20 flown by Korey Wells

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Chris

Here is Kurt Brown's T MK 20 with the 3350


232 lunched the motor before I got there - this one's from 2012


Strega


Sparky


And Precious Metal


All for tonight

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Chris

I love your photos. I'll try and add some to this thread along the way so that the Reno shots are all in one place. Now I just have to figure out how to get photos posted to this group....its been a while...

Question: How many photos do you take during the event? I took over 10,000 last year and hit over 9,000 this year with a lot more on the spot being deleted as I went along.....

Would not be able to type if I had worked my shutter finger that hard! I have gotten away from taking the same ones over and over every year - I only hit around 100-200 and sorted them down to less than 60 which are passable at all.

Here's a few finish line shots...

Jim Tobul edging out Doug Matthews in the Saturday Silver race - he was thrilled to have made one pass during the week since he was Tail End Charlie as far as speed goes:



The Tigercat DNF'ed on Saturday after getting a chip light halfway to Peavine and came straight in. The crew said it was a filament of copper wire - no damage, but they had to start back of the pack on Sunday. Poor Jim got passed by both the Corsair and the F7F on Sunday - here's the last second he was leading anyone:



The Sanders family put on a great effort as usual, with some close racing in the silver heats. Both Argonaut and 924 joined Dreadnought in the Sunday Gold:





Then, as everyone knows, Tiger gave it everything to edge Steven in a photo finish on Saturday, cracking the block in the process. He was also DQ'ed for flying too high. Never saw the official photo but I heard he had Voodoo by the length of the spinner:





After both the friday and Saturday Gold races, Strega had a significant oil slick on her belly:

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Chris

Other Stuff:

The Sanders family apparently brought a 4th Sea Fury this year - I never got a chance to ask about it:



Everyone needs to tow the planes out of the pits to race or do runups - the Sanders bring "Tugnaut" (here, towing 924 in 2012, before she got the war paint:



Runups are done after major maintenance, giving you a chance for high RPM shots on a still airplane.

Rare Bear 2012:


Miss America 2012:



Voodoo 2014:




And the Late Jimmy leeward in Galloping Ghost from 2011. You can see the absence of a belly scoop and the "exhaust" from the boil-off cooling system just behind the port wing in this shot:


More to come

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Chris

Here's some starting with my friends over at IF1:


Last Lap Player- Owned by Creighton King, the new owner of Cassutt Aircraft who has the plane back in production.


Kent Cassel, second year racing and a buddy of mine. I get to work on this one sometimes.


Miss USA- back with major changes since last year.


Knotty Girl, also had major airframe changes this year.


Battling for position.


First lap in one of the heat races.


Frayed Naught-One of the fast movers.

Nice shots! I did the perimeter fence one year but have never watched from inside the course - looks like you are about 1/3 of the way around, maybe?

Only way for me to get any views of the upper surfaces is to catch them on the home turn:







These are from 2012:






Kinda like this one, because you can see the wingtip vortices against the hill in the background:


Sounds like with the sheer volume you take we can keep this thread going all winter!

Later

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Chris

Correction to my earlier post. The RAN Sea Fury is Walt Bowe's N97SF - it's the centerfold in this month's Warbirds International.

Military participation was back after last year's sequestration. Still kind of limited, though; was an F-22 with daily solo routines (except the day it broke) and then a nice Heritage Flight:











Plus the NEV ANG C-130 that carried the Jumpers up:



In previous years they had F-15's from Oregon



A U-2 flyover



and a nice Navy Tailhook Legacy Flight:

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Chris

That silver Tigercat is just hella cool!

If someone clues me in I can post a cellphone video of the Tigercat on takeoff. I saved it to Photobucket but I get a bunch of SPAM when I try to run the video in Preview mode.

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Chris

From Outer Pylon Three

Very Nice! I think it's time for you to take over. I'll just drop a few more in tonight. Here's a try at the Tigercat video. Don't get your hopes up - it's just a cell phone video but the sound is what counts...

http://youtu.be/Uc2WrJY4Xm8

Finally, some idea of the grounds, again for those who have never been able to attend. If this has all been posted years ago, please disregard.

The grandstands are massive, especially considering they get utilized 1 week a year. I suppose there are balloon rallies and such at other times but I don't imagine they bring in this big a crowd:



Taller ones are reserved, shorter are general admission. Box seats are closer but on the flat tarmac:



Above is the Sunday Unlimited Gold "Duckwalk", where the competitors are towed out in order and have a photo op with the crews. Anyone who has been there on Sunday just heard a PA system in their head say "The Baaaaad Boys of Air Racing!" about a dozen times.

The Pits are a good opportunity to up close and personal with the unlimiteds (mixed years follow):

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Chris

There's also some powerplants on display in various conditions; first one's a Centaurus - you can see one of the sleeve valves in the cutaway cylinder:



A rebuilt Merlin:




Then there's the joke engine assembled by the guy who has a mountain of R-4360 parts:




And some high-end tugs:


Guess I should do one more post on Section 3 - later

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Chris

OK - if you do go to Reno you should plan to spend 1 day in Section 3. Can't miss it - it's the blaze orange mob. This is Bob (in the Red/white/blue hat):



He brings several duffel bags of orange shirts, hats, thong underwear; you name it - all with the Section 3 logo. This year he donated a shirt to everyone in a wheelchair in the handicapped section of the tarmac seating on Saturday. He used to bring all manner of noise makers, eventually leading up to truck air horns with scuba tanks strapped to the bleacher risers at ground level. The powers that be finally clamped down (figuring he would bring in poison gas or something, I guess) so this year he debuted this combination siren/claxon/bull horn device.

The group as a whole are pretty rabid airshow fans - sort of like NASCAR regarding favorite Unlimited pilots. Like I said, the section is easy to pick out:





You can Google them for the full story but they cheer each and every act and the pilots respond in kind. One of their deals is holding up 1-10 ratings for each pilot/team that come by in the antique fire truck after winning their heat - some return the favor:



Military groups sometimes just give a wave:



Some wave a t-shirt out the back:



Many Unlimited pilots show their appreciation too:


$10 to join for life, and you get the free shirt

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Chris