Reno Dreaming

This week, the Valley of Speed is once again filled with the sound of thundering V-12s, and massive radial engines. This week, turbo- and super-charged Sport Class racers flirt with 400mph over the desert floor. Jet Class L-29s will mix it up at 500mph, T-6s will thunder wing-tip to wingtip, and airshow performers will wow everyone between races.

Every year I miss being there. Someday I'm going back. But for now, maybe I should dig into the picture vault. Let's see, in 1994 I had a little 110 camera. Not the greatest photos, but they're mine.

The pit area was a more laid back place in the '90s. Lefty Gardner's P-38 White Lightnin is visible in the right side of the photo.

An EA-6B Prowler on static display is always a treat.

The F-4G Wild Weasels weren't entirely retired from the Air Force's inventory in 1994, but its day was definitely coming to a close. There weren't too many years left before four-ship flybys like this were extinct.

Farewell, Mr. Hoover

The world of aviation lost a legend this week. R.A. "Bob" Hoover, passed on, and now teaching angels how to fly smoother.

I remember seeing him fly multiple years at Reno in the '90s. Ole Yeller, the Shrike Commander, and the Sabreliner all made appearances. What really stands out in my mind was how easy he made everything look. Ticking a big, high-wing twin through a sixteen point hesitation roll with one or both engines out. Pouring himself a glass of iced tea in the cockpit, while continuously executing a flawless barrel roll.


(Start at 2:19 for the iced tea)

There are a hundred stories about the things he accomplished in life, told better, elsewhere this would be a good start.

Bob inspired a whole generation of pilots. And someday, when my kids ask what the paint scheme on their pedal plane came from, I look forward to explaining it.

Preparing for another sortie to patrol the neighborhood.

Reno Air Races - Remembering the Nemesis

It's too quiet for her in the Udvar-Hazy center. She was always surrounded by giants, that's not new, but it's too quiet here on the floor, with just the murmur of voices and shuffle of feet. It's too cool as well.

I remember her when the sun beat down, when the heat of Nevada in September forced pilots to battle density altitude for every scrap of performance. I remember Nemesis as I saw her race, with Jon Sharp starting near the back of the pack in the Formula 1 racehorse start, then slowly reeling in the field until he'd finish half a lap ahead of the nearest competitor, and more than a lap behind the rest of the field.

Nemesis on display

Over a nine year span, Nemesis and her designer/pilot Jon Sharp won 45 of the 48 races they entered, including nine straight Formula 1 Gold titles at the Reno Air Races. I saw three of them at Reno over that time span.

This, however, came from a race in Jon Sharp's backyard,
Lancaster, CA.

Definitely one of my prize possessions.

After the 1999 season, Jon Sharp retired Nemesis to its much deserved place in a museum, first at the EAA headquarters, then at the Smithsonian. The follow-up to Nemesis, the NXT, is a Sport-Class racer with room for a passenger and a (small) overnight bag. And while Jon and the Nemesis NXT  have retired from air racing (but not from setting records), this year will mark the return to Reno of Relentless, another NXT racer that will hopefully give the Lancairs and Glasairs of the Sport Class Gold race a serious run for their money.

Relentless in 2007. I know I've posted this shot before, but I don't care because it's a gorgeous aircraft.

Do airplanes dream? When the lights go out, and the crowds go home, do the old air racers talk among themselves? Does Conquest I tell tales of the Unlimited circuit at Reno in the '70s, when mechanics (allegedly) picked sagebrush out of the airscoops of White Lightning? Does Sorceress tell about her career as the fastest biplane on the circuit, so fast that the rules had to be changed to ban her design all together? And does Miss Champion finally tire of the young pups talking about their exploits in the desert, and so silence them with a tale of winning the 1938 National Air Races in Cleveland?

Nemesis is where she belongs, nestled under the wing of the Boeing Dash-80 that broke open the jet age, and sitting with the other record breakers. But in my head, I'll always remember little white wings screaming around pylons at Reno, leaving everything else far behind to take another checkered flag.