Nuuumannn's quick trip to Reno! (1 Viewer)

Fantastic series of Pics...

I'm with Wayne - you scored some most excellent shots, Grant.

Peter Gunn said:

I'm not sure I can countenance such a severe oversight on your part, I think you should spend at least two (2) minutes in the penalty box feeling shame.

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Yuss sorr... hanging my head in shame. I felt ever so slightly silly when I was struggling with my settings on my first day out at the pylons and I went and asked a bunch of guys what settings they used. Their answer was a lot lower than I expected... I tried their way but the results were rubbish. One of the guys, I'll mention him later on in the piece gave me some good advice and on the Sunday we were close by each other, so I was in good company with the right advice...

GrauGeist said:

I'm with Wayne - you scored some most excellent shots, Grant.

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Thank you mate, I had the best time! It was awesome!

Thanks for following along, guys. Here are some shots from the ramp in a lull between military displays, I just walked along the ramp shooting what was there.
T-33 chase.

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Big Red.

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T-6 Class.

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Eros.

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EZ-388. Note the excessive taping, which most of the T-6s did to some degree or another. I spoke with Baron's Revenge's crew before the races about how effective this was, and he just pointed to the score list on the aircraft's side, which spoke for itself. Baron's Revenge was flown by Chris Rushing and was involved in the collision with Six Cat on Sunday afternoon.

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Bare Essentials.

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Race 90 sponsored by Honda, the photographer who gave me a lift each day to Stead was this team's photographer and spent a day tagging along with them, capturing their every move for the record. That would have been cool.

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Some Unlimiteds taxying for the final heat of the day. We weren't allowed on the ramp for these as the military displays had just ended. Classic racer Sea Fury Argonaut.

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Race 924 was the Centaurus-engined Sea Fury.

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Now, these Yak guys got out infrequently, so I was lucky to catch them when I did. In the static they spent most of their time with covers on them and I don't like photographing aircraft with covers on them. This is Race 26 "Rushin' Thunder" flown by Scotty Crandlemire.

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Race 27 "Miss Trinidad" flown by John Maloney.

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Finally, Plum Crazy.

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Next, ramp action at dusk after everyone went home...

Truly grade A plane porn. I need a cigarette.

Bloody marvellous Grant, having now taken the time to go through this thoroughly. Super photos & a great account of your adventures.

Steve Hnz said:

Bloody marvellous Grant, having now taken the time to go through this thoroughly. Super photos & a great account of your adventures.

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Thanks Steve. It was a most excellent time. One I'll not forget for a long time. How you doing anyway?

Continuing with your daily dose of Reno, this post rounds out my second day at the air races with some evening shooting with friends, out on the ramp. There was no organised evening photoshoot, but the light was fabulous and a few of us hung around to watch the activity. Some aircraft were offering joy flights, including two Mustangs, although I did not have the coupl'a thousand to do so. There was even a C-47 doing that, a WW2 veteran for kicks! We start with this TB-30 Epsilon, Race 130 named Zebulon and sponsored by none other than Dassault Aircraft Services and flown by Olivier Langard. It was a competitor in the Sport category but I never got to see it racing...

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Eros going for a spin.

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C-47B "What's Up Doc", which served in the air forces of Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Israel before it became a warbird with the Palm Springs Air Museum.

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Badass Carbon Cub with tundra tyres and beefy engine.

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Bunny catching that evening light. My favourite shot. These photos turned out better than I could have hoped.

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Man O' War and Bunny were active offering joy flights.

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What's Up Doc and its brilliant nose art.

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Note the flags of its former users on the rear fuselage ahead of the hori-stab.

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A three-ship formation comprising Sport Class aircraft Race 69 Leading Edge and a smartly decorated non-competitor with Zebulon as the photoship. A pal of ours was up doing the shooting.

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Man O' War with the son of a friend of a good friend of mine and my former editor of a magazine I used to write for back in New Zealand in the back seat - lucky sod. I took these at the behest of a mate.

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Bunny heading back out for a flight.

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Another day at Reno done, two more to go. From here we up the pace as over the next two days we are out at the pylons getting real close to the action. Thanks again for following along, folks.

Again, great shots Grant, it's almost as good as being there, maybe even better, I doubt I'll get sunburned sitting in my office...

Peter Gunn said:

Again, great shots Grant, it's almost as good as being there, maybe even better, I doubt I'll get sunburned sitting in my office...

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Grab the hot-air gun and give it a go for the total experience!

Morning! It's just before 6 am and we are in the RARA hangar for a morning coffee, because it's far too early for any of the vendors selling coffee to be open. In this hangar the Formula One and Sport category aircraft, if they are lucky enough, have work space. The iconic "Welcome Air Race Fans" banner with Lefty Gardiner's P-38 on it was seen throughout the RARA PR campaign and some Formula One racers. Man, those things were small...

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A view of the hangar looking at the Sport category aircraft crammed in there. We'll see a lot of these guys over the next day of activity. Lancairs and Glasairs dominate.

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Tucked away in the corner was this rather snazzy Biplane Class aircraft "Phantom", a highly modified Mong Sport, the Biplane Gold-winning aircraft flown by Tom Aberle. The Biplane Class was one of the signature races at Reno, but there was trouble before the races, of which I'll go into in a later thread that meant that at this the last Reno event, there were no Biplane Class races.

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Coffee finished, it was time to head out to the ramp. T-33 chase silhouetted against the rising sun.

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The photoshoot subject matter this morning was a little less dramatic than a Reno Air Racer, but enabled a flex of photographic skills nonetheless. This is Vans RV-8 N888RX "Bonehead" owned by Jose Roldan.

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The chase Texan catching the light.

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A look across to the pit area from the ramp. The red line was our no-go line. When aircraft were live, we were not permitted on this side of the line.

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That lovely P-51H again.

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Sea Fury Dreadnought suffered an engine issue on Wednesday and so was eliminated, but that didn't stop its crews having a whale of a time talking to everyone about the aircraft. I joined in with a couple of impromptu Q&A sessions held in front of the aircraft. I think the Dreadnought guys got as much of a kick out of talking about their aircraft as they did racing it. Until Dreadnought's exit from the races, Gold Unlimited was a two-horse race between it and Bardahl.

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Now, a walk along the site to the heritage row, as a few newcomers had turned up over the past day since the last time I was there. This is one of the more famous civie-owned P-51s, Bob Hoover's "Ole Yeller", a legend in of itself. We'll get to see more of Ole Yeller in a later post.

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Shiny Cessna 140.

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Beech Debonair with that awesome P4Y Privateer in the background.

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Colourfully decorated Navion "Mi Otra Mujer"

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Howard DGA.

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P-47D Bonnie looking ever so sharp.

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Finally for today, a veteran US-Marine Corps Cessna L-19 Bird Dog.

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Next, a closer look at a very special warbird.

Great stuff!

Wonderful photography here, Grant. The subject matter is dear to my heart, having photographed Reno for 30 years. I know how hard it is to be up in the dark and working til after the sun goes down, while trying to stay sharp yourself. It's also a LONG way from the IF-1 hangar to the Heritage displays. You put on some miles...

I'm looking forward to the pylon stuff...

Sisu said:

Wonderful photography here, Grant. The subject matter is dear to my heart, having photographed Reno for 30 years. I know how hard it is to be up in the dark and working til after the sun goes down, while trying to stay sharp yourself. It's also a LONG way from the IF-1 hangar to the Heritage displays. You put on some miles...

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Thank you, it damn near killed me on the first day! It had to be done, though. Things changed a lot and it was impossible to keep track of everything. That's why I didn't focus on all the classes. The T-6s, Jets, and Unlimiteds were about the most of what I could manage following. Pylon shots are coming, I promise...

nuuumannn said:

Thank you, it damn near killed me on the first day! It had to be done, though. Things changed a lot and it was impossible to keep track of everything. That's why I didn't focus on all the classes. The T-6s, Jets, and Unlimiteds were about the most of what I could manage following. Pylon shots are coming, I promise...

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But no Dread Sled, which from a photographic point of view was a real shame. That airplane always photographed well...

Awesome pics Grant.

Lovely shots Grant!