CoolPix: 'Sawbones' Sea Fury At Pylon 8 - Reno 2012

(click pic for hi-res)  Sea Fury 'Sawbones' against the perfect Reno sky at pylon 8

 First things first... the Avspecs Limited Mosquito has flown! Sometime early in the day Thursday September 27 (While it was still Wednesday here in the US) the Mosquito took to the skies once again. What an exciting accomplishment!  Congrats to all involved, and I hope to have some cool details to post soon.

 I also wanted to point it something else before I point to the CoolPix image posted above. In the 3+ years of AirPigz I've posted a pretty nice collection of the hi-res images (1600 pixels wide) that can be scrolled thru and enjoyed by checking out the CoolPix category... I just wanted y'all to know that spending some time checking out all that avgeek goodness is probably something you should do : )

 This particular CoolPix is of the Sea Fury Sawbones flown by Curt Brown which actually captured 4th place in the big Gold Unlimited race on Sunday 9-16-12, the last day of the 2012 Reno Air Races. This pic is from Saturday's Silver Heat 3B where the airplane came in first with a speed of 402.338 mph. I was out at pylon 8 for five or six races of the various classes on Saturday, and this was one of the better images I captured that trip.

 I've improved significantly over the one-and-only trip to the pylons that I had last year, but there is so much to learn about getting good images of airplanes that are literally only a few hundred feet away from you traveling at over 400 mph. This is a good time to thank my friend @adamcanfly for the use of his Canon 70-200 zoom lens - I'm very thankful to have had the use of it. One of the biggest challenges with the prop driven aircraft is to use a slow shutter speed to get a really blurred prop without blurring the entire airplane due to a poor pan of the camera. I came away from Reno 2012 with a pretty good collection of useable images from the pylons, but I can't wait to get the chance to be out there next year to do even better. If you don't already know, access to the pylons is only for those who have media credentials for the Reno Air Races... it's also one of the greatest experiences an avgeek will ever have!

 Sawbones is an interesting airplane to me since I live in Warsaw Indiana, which just happens to be the orthopedic capital of the world. Three major producers of artificial hip, knee and other joint products are all headquartered right here. Sawbones is named as such because its owner Robin Crandall is an Orthopedist who deals with the repair and replacement of various bones in the body. Maybe Sawbones will stop by Warsaw for a visit someday... probably not! Anyway, I hope you enjoy seeing a pretty crisp pic of the beautiful Sawbones running the course at Reno!

Video: Precious Metal - Journey To Reno Plus Racing From Cockpit!

 This video has two parts... the first is time-lapse footage that shows the journey from Kissimmee (FL) to Reno. It's a sweet look into a journey that most of us never think much about - but you gotta get to Reno before you can race! And then the second part takes you inside the cockpit with Thom Richard as he runs the course with a pesky Sea Fury on his tail!

 There's likely to be a lot more Precious Metal video to surface before long, but this one gets it all off to a great start. I'll add that while I clearly stated yesterday that I'm a long standing fan of Rare Bear, the only merch I bought at Reno was a Precious Metal hoodie and hat. I'm doing my part to support Thom and the fabulous mixmaster P-51 : )

 
Video screenshot: Thom and Precious Metal going past the home pylon at Reno 2012

CoolPix: Crowd Favorite Rare Bear - In The Evening At Reno 2012

(click pic for hi-res) The beast lives on... the Grumman F8 Bearcat racer: Rare Bear

 I respect and admire the P-51 Strega for what it represents; a team of people that have pursued power, speed, reliability, and flying consistency. If you don't respect what that airplane stands for then you don't really love air racing... and a Sea Fury like September Fury is an awesome and beautiful airplane - one that I have loved since seeing Frank Sanders fly aerobatics countless times at Oshkosh way back in the day... and I really appreciate what the P-51 Precious Metal brings to Reno racing with its fabulous counter-rotating props and a colorful team that is really enjoying their chance to play in the big game... but deep down in my heart, I can't deny that I'm a Bearcat guy. With that in mind, I'm not afraid to tell you that Rare Bear stole my heart a really long time ago.

 It really all started for me when I was a kid and my dad took me to the Reno Air Races in the late 60's. Even tho I wasn't even 10 years old yet, I understood the amazing things going on out in the desert in Nevada. The first Unlimited racer to stir my imagination was another F8 Bearcat named Conquest 1 flown by Darryl Greenamyer. Conquest 1 wasn't just a Bearcat tho, it was the dominate racer of its day, and the airplane that set the speed record of 483.041mph on August 16, 1969. I had the amazing opportunity to be at Reno and see Conquest 1 race from 1967 thru 1970. The Grumman F8 Bearcat was forever burned into my mind as the ultimate racer, and Darryl Greenamyer was my hero.

 So now, in the 'modern era' of Reno air racing, the ultimate racer role (in my mind) has been played by Rare Bear. The Bear has a long and impressive history of winning, even tho for the last several years it's been looking at Strega from behind... sometimes pretty far behind. But it remains a crowd favorite. At this year's Gold race, the announcers stirred up crowd reaction to the different racers, and Rare Bear got the biggest response. We love all the racers, but there's just something special about Rare Bear! So today I'm sharing an awesome CoolPix image of Rare Bear that I captured on Thursday evening at Reno. It was actually about an hour before I got that amazing pic of Precious Metal running after sunset with the wild reflections coming off the props. That was a really great evening for me!

 I hope you enjoy this beautiful CoolPix image of a truly fabulous racing airplane. And, for your continued enjoyment, I've made it available to you in four popular desktop sizes in case you'd like to look at this amazing beast every day : )

Rare Bear in the evening at Reno 2012 desktop pix:

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Video: Avspecs Mosquito Engine Run - First Flight Getting Close!

 Avspecs Limited based on Ardmore Airfield in Aukland New Zealand is getting very close to having their incredible de Havilland Mosquito restoration project completed and flying. Wow, how cool is that! When it's back in the air it'll be the only flying Mosquito in the world. It's being restored for Jerry Yagen and his collection of flying aircraft at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach Virginia, and the quality of the work is simply stunning. The video above shows a recent run of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines... and if you didn't know, the only thing better than a warbird with a Merlin engine on it is one that has two of them!

(click pic to enlarge)  1942 photo of the beautiful and amazing de Havilland Mosquito
 

There's a special open house for the airplane taking place a week from today on September 29th at Ardmore that'll draw a crowd of Mosquito fans in addition to survivors that were crew on the Mosquito. It's sure to be a very special event for everyone who attends.

 You can see some additional photos of the restoration project on the Avspecs facebook page, and I'm sure we'll be seeing an excellent first flight video before too long. The extra video below is one from back in July that shows some of the effort that's gone into putting this amazing aircraft back into the air. The de Havilland Mosquito is an incredible airplane and this restoration is nothing short of spectacular!

6 Videos: Shuttle Endeavour Treks West On Its Last Flights (+ CoolPix)

A short NASA video with details about the journey to move Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center in Florida out to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

 In the midst of winding down from an excellent five days at the Reno Air Races I've barely caught the details about the Shuttle Endeavour's westward journey from the Kennedy Space Center out to Los Angels for its eventual display at the California Science Center. So I did a little searching around just now and found some videos that show parts of that journey for you to check out in case you've been under-informed too. I've put a short description below each video so you can see what it offers, and I've also included a CoolPix image of Endeavour's wing while in space that I thought looked very cool with both the U.S. flag and the Endeavour name so clearly displayed. 

 It's been encouraging seeing the public response to the moving of the Shuttles since the program came to an end. In an era when the latest pop star seems to hold more fascination for the general public than anything else, it's great to see people all over America coming out and cheering our last Shuttle to arrive at its resting place. And I look forward to finding the time and the opportunity to see either Atlantis on display at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy Center at the National Air and Space Museum, or Endeavour at the California Science Center. The Shuttles served America well, and hopefully they'll continue to inspire people of all ages to wonder, work, and achieve.

(click pic for hi-res)  Endeavour from the ISS on its last space flight in 2011: STS-134

A short NASA video of the takeoff on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center of the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and Shuttle Endeavour.

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CoolPix: Reno 2012 - Precious Metal Evening Engine Run... Wow!

(click pic for hi-res)  Precious Metal engine run on Thursday evening 9-13-12 at Reno

 I had several really great opportunities to take my photography up a few notches at the Reno Air Races this year, and one of the best of them was when Thom Richard moved his Rolls Royce Griffon powered P-51 Precious Metal out onto the Reno/Stead Airport ramp for an engine run up after the sun had set. Thom adds a lot of fun to the Reno pilot list with a very outgoing, open and accessible style... and when you add in that beautiful counter-rotating prop P-51, you get a really colorful addition to the Reno Air Races scene!

 The possibility of having the chance to capture an image like this one is exactly why I packed a full size tripod (disassembled) into my small suitcase for the trip. And when I found out that he was gonna do this after-sunset engine run, I knew there'd be some sort of cool prop effect going on, especially since the prop was very freshly polished. You may already know that the prop on Precious Metal this year is actually an all new one. This one has longer blades with a very different tip shape. The reworked prop has added 64 mph to the airplane's top speed! That's a huge increase and has put the airplane in the position of being faster than it's ever been in its race history. In fact, the race on Friday last week was the first 'Gold' race that the airplane had ever been in. If not for the pesky loss of an inner gear door during the Championship Gold race last Sunday, Precious Metal stood a very good chance of being in third place. It's exciting to realize that the future is looking very bright for this shiny Unlimited racer.

 I had the chance to sit down with Thom last Thursday and got some cool details on the changes to the prop - I'll have that post will be up before long. For now tho, I've taken one of the best pix from the evening engine run and put it here as the CoolPix image above. It's also available below in four popular desktop sizes in case your looking for something a little different for your computer's desktop pic. Those six polished blades made some wild reflections from the lights off in the distance. It really makes that wild prop combo look electrified! And you always gotta love some blue flames coming out of the exhaust too! Enjoy : )

Precious Metal evening engine run desktop pix:

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Steven Hinton And Team Strega Win Unlimited Gold At Reno 2012! (16 Pix)

(click pic to enlarge)  Reno 2012 Unlimited Gold champion Steven Hinton with Strega

(16 pix - click any pic to enlarge)

Get Reno Air Race results on this RARA page

 The winning streak for Steven Hinton and Strega continued as the pair breezed thru qualifying, the individual Heat races, and then the Gold race (Sunday September 16, 2012) to become the 2012 Reno Gold Unlimited champion! Congratulations to Team Strega for being fast, dependable and consistent... three things hard to achieve in the world of Unlimited air racing.

 But the real winner at Reno 2012 was the event itself - along with all the fans around the world that are passionate about the human desire to push ourselves to the limit. Reno 2012 was safe, extremely well run, and had sufficient attendance to show everyone that the world's fastest motorsport is prepared to move into the future and toward the 50th anniversary for next year 2013. Given the challenges encountered in the last year since the Galloping Ghost tragedy, it's truly amazing that the event was able to run this year. The hard work and dedication of so many has kept this long standing tradition alive and renewed our spirits. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be part of the event once again and I look forward to many more years of the National Championship Air Races!

Steven and Strega in Friday's Heat 2A race  (stylized from an image I captured)

 Here are 14 more pictures from the race on Sunday to give you a little feel for how well things went. The weather was perfect and the racing was great. Hoot Gibson finished second in September Fury and Dennis Sanders finished third in good ole Dreadnought. Thom Richard in Precious Metal was out of the race after just a lap or two when it was discovered that an inner gear door had left the airplane and was slowing it down significantly, and Stewart Dawson in Rare Bear pulled up and out later in the race. Both airplanes landed without incident bringing the 2012 Reno Air Races to a safe conclusion. Brent Hisey in Miss America and Curt Brown in Sawbones filled out the field of seven Unlimited Gold racers.

 With the 2012 event a great success, and the talk that Strega will be retiring now, the future is wide open for Unlimited air racing. It'll to be interesting to see where Steven winds up and if more Unlimited teams will emerge as it's clear that air racing is very much alive and well.

Steven and Team Strega leading the parade to the starting spot in front of the grandstands

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14 Pix From 2012 Reno Air Races (Thru Sunday Morning 9-16-12)

(click pic to enlarge)  September Fury and Hoot Gibson in Heat 2A on Friday at Reno

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 It's been an awesome Reno Air Races thus far and we've got the big races going on yet today. I tend to keep my focus on the Unlimited Class, and once again we find Strega controlling the racing. Yesterday's Heat 3A finished with the same order of Strega, September Fury, Rare Bear, Precious Metal and Dreadnought in the top five slots. Remarkably, everyone finished with almost the exact speeds that they all ran in Friday's Heat 2A. The speed spread runs from Strega right around 472 mph on down to Dreadnought at around 420 mph.

 Based on what I've seen so far concerning the qualifying speeds seen earlier in the week from the various aircraft, along with the strategy of the teams over these last few races, it's fairly safe to say that this could be a fantastic Unlimited Gold race later today. Strega is strong as always and appears to have more speed if needed... but the other aircraft have shown the potential to be able to give some serious chase when it's needed. There's some real competition potential here. It's gonna be great.  

 Following is a collection of pix from the last few days... there's not enough time to share a lot of details now so you'll just get some captions along with one more encouragement from me to get to started right now making plans for next year and the 50th anniversary of the Reno Air Races - September 11-15, 2013. 

Get Reno Air Race results on this RARA page

Precious Metal and Thom Richard in yesterday's Unlimited Gold Heat 3A (4th place)

Strega and Steven Hinton in yesterday's Unlimited Gold Heat 3A race (1st place)

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CoolPix Triple Play - Chasing Strega At Pylon 4 (Reno 9-14-12)

(click pic for hi-res)  Strega way out in front in Unlimited Heat 2A on Friday at Reno

Get Reno Air Race results on this RARA page

 It was a great day of racing on Friday September 15th at Reno 2012, and it was capped off with an Unlimited Heat at the end of the day. I had the golden opportunity to be out at pylon 4 for that race to work on my photographic skills shooting airplanes going almost 500 mph that aren't very far away! I have so much to learn to do a really great job, but I did get several decent images that I'll be sharing before long. I really liked this one of Strega tho, partly because it shows off the view that all the other race pilots had of Strega... the one from behind!

 The consistent front-of-the-pack running of Steven Hinton and Strega is truly remarkable. In this race, Steven pulled away from Rare Bear, September Fury and Precious Metal with amazing ease, and he stayed well out in front the whole race. Strega finished with a speed of 473.257, with September Fury in second with 450.943, Rare Bear in third at 435.822 and Precious Metal in fourth at 420.700. However, we know that these other guys have the potential this year to be right there, and with the stakes low in this race, it's hard to separate out the mind games from the functional realities of the airplanes. Saturday and Sunday racing should be spectacular!

 I have a lot of images that I wanna share with you but there's just not enough time in the day so I've chosen to share this image of Strega in the CoolPix size in three different forms. Playing around in photoshop allowed me to stylize the image in a couple of really cool ways. You may not like what I've done here with the extra two, but I think these additional versions are pretty hot. Be sure to click the pix to open them up big. Then take a moment to enjoy Strega showing why she's still the one to beat : )

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CoolPix: Rare Bear And Strega - Thursday Evening At Reno 2012

(click pic for hi-res) As the sun was low I found Rare Bear & Strega together on the ramp

 The evening sun was wonderful at Reno last evening (as it often is here) and while a really sweet photo op that had been planned for Rare Bear and Strega kinda fell apart, there were a few moments where the two were in a pretty nice frame together. So, here's a great view of the top two qualifiers in the Unlimited Gold, both qualifying less than 10 mph away from 500 mph! There's an Unlimited Heat coming up late this afternoon that I actually have the opportunity to be out at a key pylon for to get some really good pix... that's why this is a pretty simple post, I need to get myself ready to be shuttled out there.

 I've been busy fetching pix all day already and should have something more detailed for you to check out before long. Until then, I hope you enjoy this hi-res CoolPix picture of two of the most fascinating airplanes on the planet : )