The Tuskegee Airmen being driven across the tarmac in front of the bleachers.
The start of a race. The planes take off and fly a large loop, several miles out, get lined up side by side with the spotter (in the plane with the smoke trail) on the extreme left or right side of the formation. The spotter announces to the race judges when he is satisfied that they are lined up properly and the race begins. The race is around pylons, towers with large red and white markers and the course is more or less an oval which is about 5 miles around and they do 6-8 laps depending which class is being raced.
A group of planes coming around turn four and heading down the front straight away.
A F7F Tigercat flying down the front straight away.
A P-51 Mustang flying down the front straight away.
Two P-38's, a P-51 and a B-17 in a fly by.
An F-22 displaying it's weapons bay on a fly by.
An F-22, P-38 and P-51 on a fly by.
This is Strega, a P-51 which had just won the Unlimited Gold Class race, which pays $140k. Of course it cost about $180k to build an engine to compete at this level, not to mention all the other costs associated with owning and maintaining a plane of this type. These folks do it for the love of it, but the cash is nice at the end of the day!
This is a F8F Bearcat.
The Reno air races are an annual event that has been in existence since the early sixties. This year they paid special tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American pilots and support crews which was formed during WWII. There were five pilots from this group who were present at Reno this year and who were recognized individually for there service and accomplishment during their time in the military as well as after leaving the military.
There are many different types of planes that compete and there are many different classes to compete in. I won't bore you with all the details, but by far the most interest is in the planes that were originally built for the second world war. There are planes which were manufactured for the US military, the British military, the Czech military and the Russian military which compete. Some of the planes have been retrofitted with US made motors because the parts are more readily available, and the US engines make more power than the engines originally provided with the planes. All of the pictures I have shown above are planes of US origin.
Some of the engines are a radial design which means the pistons are arranged in circles around the crank shaft, some with as many as 35 cylinders. Then there are inline piston engines with the cylinders arranged in a straight row or multiple rows with up to 24 cylinders. These engines can produce anywhere from 1,700 HP to 3,500 HP and will allow the airplanes to reach speeds of close to 500 MPH!
There was also a F-22 Raptor which is the military's newest fighter to be put into regular service. This plane is incredible! It can stop in mid-flight, hover and rotate to survey it's surroundings. It can climb faster, turn quicker and accelerate quicker than anything else currently flying. It is amazing!
There were some restored military planes on display and a few of them flew in formation as a tribute to the part they played in winning the war. There was also one flight which combined the F-22 with a P-38 and a P-51 Mustang, my personal favorite of the WWII planes.
