Nathan Gingles attended the Spirit of St. Louis Airshow, where the weather was just humid enough for a splotchy cone around the EA-18 Growler during its performance. Other notable performers included the RAF Red Arrows, US Navy Blue Angels, the F-22 Raptor Demo Team, Aeroshell, Matt Younkin, Skip Stewart, the Black Daggers, and an assortment of WWII aircraft.
Stihl Reno National Championship Air Races 2019
Prose & Photography: Mike Henry
I spent three days in the Valley of Speed this past September... no, this isn’t a Hunter S. Thompson-esque escapade, but rather a visit to the fastest sport on earth, the 2019 Reno National Championship Air Races, held every year at Reno-Stead Airport. Reno-Stead is tucked away on the other side of the hill about 10 miles from the main drag of the Biggest Little City in the World and has been the capital and mecca of the air racing community since 1966, two years after racing started in nearby Spanish Springs in 1964. By design or coincidence, like the glittery casinos downtown, there is no downtime at the air races. The first flying starts at 0800 and continues to 1700 with at least one aircraft in the sky the entire day and usually for a few hours after.
Legendary aircraft such as Rare Bear, Dago Red, Strega, Voodoo and Precious Metal no longer grace the skies during the races having been replaced by the likes of Dreadnaught, Argonaut, Miss America, Goldfinger and Speedball Alice in the ultimate race, the Unlimited Class. The aircraft are fast and colorful and the people are warm and friendly. 2019 saw 115 entrants across six classes with another dozen or so in the STOL Drag demo, a first at the Reno Air Races and will be a new official race category in 2020. The STOL drags turned out to be extremely popular with this fan-friendly race, taking place on a dirt strip between the apron and runway, entirely in front of the grandstands.
The Air Races also include a number of acrobatic, warbird and military demonstrations. This year we were treated to displays by the HondaJet and Planes of Fame, which flew the F8F-2 Bearcat, F6F Hellcat, A6M3 Zero and Semper Fi, the PBJ-1J Mitchell B-25. On the military side, the VFA-122 brought two F/A-18 Super Hornets who performed a formation demo as well as the US Air Force Thunderbirds. Additionally, there were a large number of military and civilian aircraft on static display.
As beautiful as the aircraft were, the racing was intense. And, because it is racing and therefore “uncooperative formation flying,” there is occasional contact as there was in the Thursday morning Formula One heat between The Kraken and Last Lap Player. Most classes started racing drag style with the planes lined up two to three wide on Runway 8 heading east past the grandstands before turning left around the first pylon, running the course counter-clockwise. The jet and Unlimited classes have a flying start with regularly spaced launches and warm up beyond the valley before forming up for a flying start. Whether you’re in the grandstands or the pits, the view is fantastic, the light is behind your back the entire day and it’s all there; flat out drags on the main straightaway to the knife fights in the corners and the big sweeping turns on the back side of the course.
If you like airplanes and people that like airplanes, Reno is the place to be in any given September.
