Back after being cancelled last year due to the grounding of VFR Part 91 operations, the Air Races at Reno's Stead Field opened Thursday, September 12, and promised four days of races, airshows, and some of the most exciting flying there is. They delivered it all, and AVweb was there to get the scoop.
After waiting out IFR weather that stayed until the last possible moment, Sherry Ditmer leapt into the blue skies to visit the mighty Rare Bear racer, which was being prepared for the races at Reno. Leaving Stead, she found herself unable to resist a quick trip around the race course. In anticipation of the coming races, we present her story.
Is it possible for a plane, designed by the eccentric Howard Hughes in the early 1930s, to break speed records even today? AVweb's Matt Paxton was in Reno as a recently built replica of the Hughes H-1 showed that some designs are timeless.
The week in Reno was filled with all that makes an air race great: competition,
cooperation
and excitement. There were some expected winners, and some very unexpected losers. But the story is much more than "who won the gold" and "who didn't even start," and AVweb's Matt Paxton tells us that story.
There's a lot to see at the Air Races in Reno. AVweb
staffers Matt Paxton and Tom Philo were there to capture the magic
of the September classic in this the first of two photo galleries.
Email this article
Articles
from Reno 2002:
