Varifrank: 2005 Reno Air Races

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2005 Reno Air Races

I'll be Blogging the Reno Air Races this year.

Unlike last year, I'll be bringing a decent digital camera and I have a much better blogging platform on which to post the pictures.

Look for updates late Saturday night.

In the mean time, try to imagine what a pack of P-51's sounds like going at nearly 400 miles per hour right on the deck right before you in the stands. There is no sound like it in the world.

Then try to imagine what sagebrush, hot asphalt, Nevada high desert and kerosine smells like when mixed with 100,000 people grinning ear to ear while they get one more chance to see one of the greatest remaining shows in aerospace.

Every year they say "this will be the last year for the unlimited air racing". Someday that may come true. But this year, for at least one more year the sight and sound of P-51 Mustangs going around the pylons with F8F Bearcats and Hawker Sea Furys in tight formation can still be seen by the admiring public for just a little bit longer.

I once got the chance to meet Cole Palen, the curator of the "Old Rhinebeck" before he died. "Old Rhinebeck" is out on the east coast and if you ever get a chance to go see it you should try get there. Old Rhinebeck is one of the finest collections of aircraft Ive ever seen, but the best thing is, you get to see them fly. Old Rhinebeck is a grassy field, in the hills of the hudson valley and the museum has aircraft from the golden age of flight. Sopwith Camels, Fokkers, Albatrosses, you name it.

Cole Palen believed that for aircraft to be appreciated as aircraft and not as modern industrial art, need to be seen in their natural state; not sitting in a museum where you cant even touch them, but flying.

There is no words that can quite describe the sound of a Mustang in flight. If you get the chance to see one, do so. If you get a chance to see two of them, then by all means go.

But if you get a chance to see 15 of them race...
Well, like I need to tell you what to do.

Posted @ September 15, 2005 10:08 PM | Aviation

I have stood in the propwash of a P-47. And I have video of my son being surprised by a P-51 going right overhead, because he lost sight of it.

Posted by: Chris Hunt at September 16, 2005 04:26 AM

Am I crazy, or are those Sea Furys (Furies?) in the picture?

Posted by: Uncle Mikey at September 16, 2005 08:45 AM

Hmmm. You go to Reno every year. You go to Chino. You've blogged the SpaceShipOne/WhiteKnight folks and the GlobalFlyer. But not Oshkosh? Are you broken?

Posted by: sjolsen at September 16, 2005 01:59 PM

yes, they are Sea Furies. I personally like the Bearcat over all the other racing platforms, but the Sea Fury is my second favorite. Mustangs are without a doubt the emotional favorite for me.

Posted by: varifrank at September 16, 2005 02:24 PM

As someone who spent 7 years carving styrofoam and fiberglass into an airplane( A Rutan Vari-eze - hence the root of the name of the blog), I can say without a doubt that I would love to go to Oshkosh, and someday I will. Its just that year after year, August is the busiest of months for me. I usually cant even consider going away at that time of year.

Posted by: varifrank at September 16, 2005 02:26 PM

Sigh. I can understand that: my best friend--who introduced me to such things--almost got squeezed out this year by his job. I just live 1½ hours away by car, so it's easy for me.

Congrats on the vari-bird, though! Cool. And when the time comes, if I can help with logistics or something, feel free to ask.

Posted by: sjolsen at September 17, 2005 10:31 AM