Warbird Information Exchange

Who is going? I think Brad told me he is flying out there tomorrow.

Jim

So, what happened to the WIX gathering on Saturday at Southern Cross??

I was there from 0930 to 1100 and the only person I saw was Tim Savage. I was also cruising the pits looking for Brad Pilgrim every time I walked past the Lickety Split pit, but no luck. Anyone else there meet up and I just missed out?

Oh, and just to add...my favorite T-6 team, #75 "Warlock", smashed the Reno T-6 course record and took home the Gold trophy for the first time in 24 years of racing at Reno! It was an exciting day in that pit!

Hi guys,

I got to Stead Saturday night after photographing some air tankers and heavy lift helos down at Minden and Carson.

I got over to Tim's T-6 area twice but missed him both times. The second time was a good hour after the races had ended last night.

I had plans to go out to Stead again this morning from Reno, but as there was plenty of rain coming down I decide to push for home. Hit a lot of snow starting at Boomtown and going over Donners Summit, saw plenty of accidents on the way. Was fortunate to clear the first two going west, one involved a big rig hanging precariously through the guard rail with a small canyon below him, CHP had yet to show up for either, and probably closed west bound afterwards for the truck removal. Found 80 east closed near the summit by CHP, and was glad I was going west. For those planes flying back to Calif, and a lot of them do go that way, it didn't look to good for them to get out of the area. And typical of Ca, near Sacramento, it was a perfectly blue sky day!!!!!!!!!!

Saw one guy with his formula racer on a trailer headed over the top, obviously not enjoying the drive.

I went yesterday. Despite the at times bone chilling cold, there really is no aviation event like it. As jaded as I get sometimes, I was totally thrilled to be there even for one day and enjoyed every minute of it. There's nothing like it. Pics later.

John

Sorry, we got busy in the pits with Spirit of Texas and I lost track of the time. Hope you enjoyed Reno (in spite of the very strange weather).

Steve

That's quite all right! I'm sure your efforts were much better used on that end of the ramp! I'm glad that you could bring your beautiful bird and hope to continue seeing it in the future. As an aside, I think Spirit of Texas has the coolest paintjob I've just about ever seen on an airplane.

I've been going to Reno since 1982, so I've seen the weather much worse. As a matter of fact, that first year in '82 I caught pneumonia because it was so darn cold out there. At least the wind didn't whip up the dust storms like '97 IIRC, where it was so dusty that you couldn't even see beyond pylon 7 from the pit area.

I thought the weekend was great -- some of the best racing I've ever seen, from the 3-plane duel in the Silver race on Thursday, to the Greenameyer/Parker battle on Sunday, Warlock edging out Mary Dilda in the T-6 final, and the pylon-cut win for JP in the Bear. Definitely exciting, and even better that there were no serious mechanical "losses" during the week.

Reno was a blast! The weather wasn't the greatest, but down in the T-6 pits, fun was still had. Keith McMann in Red Knight came in third in the Bronze, Bud Granley in Lickety Split came in second in the Silver. The Canadian Slowbirds bicycle team performed nightly and I'm convinced that several liquor stores are still trying to restock their beer coolers. As for me, well I accomplished nothing. Sunburned and wind blasted from the day life, sore from dancing and being hung over from the night life.

I forgot all about the meeting on Saturday morning. In fact, I just barely was able to make it to the pits at all! When I made it to the airport for my flight home on Monday, I was told that the plane had mechanical problems. With my leave ending at Midnight, I tried to find an alternate airline. Delta was of no help, but they did manage to get me on the next flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, about three hours later.....which made me miss my connection to Atlanta........which made me miss my connection back to Charleston. I got to spend seven hours sitting in Utah, four and a half sitting in Atlanta, finally getting back to the Base about 10 hours later than I was supposed to and actually getting to the simulator about 4 hours later than I was supposed to. It all worked out in the end.

Randy, I looked for you the entire weekend. Betty tried to help me out several times, but no joy. Steve, I looked for you quite a while but no joy there either. Although, Jerry Janes (you should see him dance, it's hilarious) told me that he visited with you at dinner. Tim and I passed a couple of times a day, conversating when possible. I got to visit with a bunch of my friends from Texas, Washington and Canada. I've decided that the people you see each year are just as enjoyable as the airplanes.

The racing was great as least as far as my interests go. I don't care for anything but the T-6's and unlimiteds. I guess I'll be in trouble when they old planes go the way of the do-do birds. I wasn't impressed with the Red Bull air racing stuff, but I guess it entertained the kids. Even their part of the awards ceremony was iritating. That being said, I guess I should get used to it. I have the feeling that Red Bull will be putting their name and money on everything that is aviation related, and more power to them. Aviation needs that kind of support. I've been told that they might be interested in buying an unlimited racer before too long.

My very good friend Erin put a slew of her pictures on her websight. Read all the captions, some are pretty dang funny.

http://www.umich.edu/~airyn/reno04

She is one of the new volunteers at the Olympic Flight Museum and totally dedicated to warbirds.

Another websight that belongs to some of my friends will have some funny ones on it pretty soon:

http://www.rangerscanada.com/

I've already got my leave planned for next year!

_________________
Brad

A suggestion for next year might be to have a get together immediately following the Saturday evening races, as most of the people this year found themselves busy or relocated during the actual show/races? This would allow for a visit, and everyone could still go to dinner afterwards with those that they are with during the week/weekend, when the traffic reduces a bit.............Roger