Reno Air Races
Encyclopedia
Reno Stead Airport
Reno/Stead Airport is a large general aviation airport located in the North Valleys area, northwest of the central business district of Reno, a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States...
a few miles north of Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, USA. Air racing
Air racing
- History :The first ever air race was held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1908. The participants piloted the only 4 airships in the U.S. around a course located at Forest Park...
is billed as 'the world's fastest motor sport' and Reno is one of the few remaining venues.
History
Begun in 1964, the Reno Air Races feature multi-lap, multi-aircraft races between extremely high performance aircraftAircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
on closed ovoid courses which range between about 3 miles (Biplanes and Formula One) and about 8 miles (Jet, Unlimited) in length per lap.
The first Reno air races, in 1964 and 1965, were organized by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
flying ace Bill Stead. They took place at Sky Ranch airfield, a dirt strip barely 2000 feet (609.6 m) long, which was located in present-day Spanish Springs. After Stead AFB (20 miles to the west, and named in honor of Bill's brother, Croston Stead) was closed in 1966, that field was turned over for public use and the races have been held there since then.
Aircraft in the Unlimited class, which consists almost entirely of both modified and stock World War II fighters, routinely reach speeds in excess of 400 miles per hour. In 2003, Skip Holm
Skip Holm
Skip James Holm is a retired pilot who lives on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.Holm claims to hold the world record for combat flight hours: 1,172. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1992, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He logged his combat hours flying F-105s and F-4s in...
piloted Terry Bland's modified P-51D Mustang, Dago Red
Dago Red
Dago Red is a North American P-51 Mustang , restored as a competitive air racer by Frank Taylor in 1981. Dago Red holds several world records, including the 15 km set in 1983. The plane has recently been reacquired by Frank Taylor, who piloted the plane to most of its world records in the 1980s...
, and reached an all-time speed record of 507.105 mph in a six-lap race around the eight-and-a-half mile course. The recently added Sport Class racers, mostly homebuilt
Homebuilt
The term homebuilt is used to describe machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. It can mean different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes. Homebuilt aircraft or kit...
aircraft, are already reaching speeds in excess of 350 mph. In 2009, Curt Brown set a record of 538 mph on his jet-engine L-29 Viper
Aero L-29 Delfin
|-See also:-References:* Gunston, Bill, ed. "Aero L-29 Delfin." The Encyclopedia of World Air Power. New York: Crescent Books, 1990. ISBN 0-517-53754-0....
.
The Reno Air Races include several days of qualifying followed by four and a half days of multi-aircraft heat racing culminating in the Unlimited Class Gold Race on Sunday afternoon. The event also features civil airshow acts and military flight demonstrations between races, plus vendor areas and a large civil and military static aircraft display.
Classes and requirements
- Biplane
- Two sets of wings
- Formula OneFormula One Air RacingFormula One Air Racing is an American motorsport that involves small aircraft using engines up to 200 cubic inches in displacement. Racers can reach speeds over 200 mph.- History :...
- engine-Continental O-200Continental O-200The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in³ displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower ....
- wing area-66 square feet
- empty weight-500 pounds or more
- fixed landing gear
- fixed pitch propeller
- engine-Continental O-200
- Sport
- engine-reciprocating engine of 650 cubic inches or less
- T-6
- engine-Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp
- Jet
- no afterburnerAfterBurnerThe AfterBurner is a lighting solution for the Game Boy Advance system that was created by Triton-Labs.Originally, portablemonopoly.net was a website created to petition Nintendo to put some kind of light in their Game Boy Advance system...
- less than 15 degrees of wing sweep
- no afterburner
- Unlimited
- empty weight-4500 pounds or more
Deaths before 2011
From 1964 through 2010, 19 aviators lost their lives due to crashes and collisions in the course of the competition and airshow. In 2007, three pilots died over the course of four days in separate incidents. (Gary HublerGary Hubler
Gary Hubler was a crop duster and commercial transport pilot with over 17,000 flight hours from Caldwell, Idaho. He was most notable for being Champion of the Formula 1 class of the Reno Air Races from 2002 through 2006....
, Steve Dari, & Brad Morehouse). Racing was suspended for one day after the last of the three incidents.
2011 crash
On September 16, 2011, a heavily modified P-51D Mustang named "The Galloping Ghost," piloted by Jimmy LeewardJimmy Leeward
James Kent "Jimmy" Leeward was an American air racer, owner of the Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala, Florida, and the pilot of the heavily modified North American P-51 Mustang racing aircraft, The Galloping Ghost.-Career:...
, crashed near the stands during the Gold Heat of the race, killing Leeward and 10 spectators and injuring 69. Race organizers cancelled all remaining 2011 races after the accident.