Monday, June 14, 2010

It's not so much an airplane as it is a power drill for the sky.

All high on avgas fumes and with my ears still ringing from thousands of reciprocating horsepower, I went nosing around on Google today and found a cool website, Republic Photo Company, with a whole section of pictures from Reno: Dreadnought. Strega. Dago Red. Rare Bear.

Someday I will get out there to see it live.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I would love to make it out there too. There are pretend air races at Oshkosh each year, but I'm sure they are nothing compared to the real thing.

In '08 I saw a neat documentary about the Nemesis NXT racing at Reno.

Trailer:
http://www.christopherwebbfilms.com/ctd/

Caleb said...

Reno is like Mecca for aviation fans. As a child, we would take our family vacation to Reno every other year; I've been to 4 or 5 of them, and to this day the sound of piston engines thundering past you at 400 mph remains one of my favorite sounds in the world.

Kevin said...

You could make a practice run out to the Fifth Annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous in September.

Just a thought.

(WV: ratenoes. A Monsanto hybrid between rats and potatoes. Meat-n-potatoes in one!)

alath said...

Just glancing over that website, I can't help but notice that some of the most successful racers look a lot like FW-190s.

fast richard said...

Yeah, the Bearcats, Sea Furies, and that Yak-11 all resemble the FW-190. All of them are sleek fast radial engined fighters. If it were possible to acquire and set up a Focke-Wulf for air racing, I bet it would be damned fast.

Tam said...

Alath,

Sharks look like ichthyosaurs look like dolphins, too. ;)

Douglas L. Perry said...

As a pilot myself, I go every year. It is the epitome of air shows. You definitely have to make it out.

If you do, let me know. I'd be glad to show you around

Timmeehh said...

Did you happen to catch the Windsor "Red Bull" race on teewee? Some Australian pilot dipped both wingtips in the river, breaking them off, and still managed to land safely!

You should have seen the look on his wife's face! ZOMG!!ELEVEN!!

Joe said...

You have to check out this link on the Reno website. It boggles the mind to think about the power these engines produce.

[url]http://www.republicphoto.com/articles/dreadsec/dreadsec.htm[/url]

Jeff said...

I have a buddy that is on a crew for Reno every year, hopefully I'll be able to make it out there myself in the next year or two.

I miss the mount comfort airshow, Used to fly down from KSBN every year. Last time I made it out the corsairs were there, the mustang guys were whining like a bunch of little bitches because everyone was ignoring them...

Will said...

Wonder what a pit pass costs nowadays. I think it was over a hundred bucks back in '83.