End of an Era?

WARBIRDS WARBIRDS INTERNATIONAL WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS AN EXAMINATION of thousands of people have flocked to Stead to watch and going to be around $300,000. If you don’t have a core, crumbled propeller. Taking off his helmet and surveying OF THE SUPER participate in the Reno National Air Races. Although there then the cost is going to be more like $400,000+. Plus, the damage, Sherm was completely calm and the epitome of have been other major air races during this time period, some of the components to build a full-race Merlin are get- the Right Stuff. David Price had the same problem on the UNLIMITEDS OF Reno is the lone survivor. Because of that status, it has ting really, really scarce. same runway. Coming down hot and hard after the Merlin THE RENO become a mecca for those that follow the modified Over the years, numerous highly modified — and not in his Mustang failed, safety pilot Bob Hoover called, NATIONAL AIR Warbirds known as Unlimiteds. so highly modified — racers have graced the pits at Reno. “Ground loop now!” And David did. He did not go off the Over the past few years we have seen a decline in the Having been to many of these events, I have been witness runway’s end but the Mustang wound up pretty crumpled. RACES number of spectators as well as true, or “super,” Unlimited to the triumphs and tragedies that permeate the rarified Then there were the belly landings in Lemmon Valley as racers. Why is that? It is a difficult question to answer. world of Unlimited racing. pilots attempted to put down their racers after the engines failed. “Today, we have seen Warbird aircraft rise to unprece- For example, I can point out where Bill Speers died in Chuck Hall came to a stop in a cloud of dust as his Mustang dented values. Engines and parts for these aircraft have also the uncontrolled descent of his Mustang racer. Where Rick skidded across the desert floor. Same with Cliff Cummins and risen accordingly,” states Bruce Lockwood — two-time Brickert — a talented and decent young man — met his Miss Candace and Gary Levitz in Precious Metal. Unlimited Gold champion. “Many people think most of end in the ill-conceived Pond Racer. Where, in a microsec- A young Steve Hinton battled with the RB-51 Red Baron as these planes have been modified from stock airframes. That ond, Gary Levitz and the elegant Miss Ashley II became a the Griffon failed and the wind-milling contra-rotating propellers is simply not true. Dago Red was rebuilt from a wreck. shower of parts and pieces after the airframe disintegrated. acted like a speed brake. He survived the crash but it was a near Lyle Shelton found a badly damaged Bearcat airframe back Then there is the Galloping Ghost tragedy. thing and we almost lost one of our great aviation talents. in the day when such aircraft were not worth much and he It is a hard and brutal place. It is a hard, brutal place. BY MICHAEL O’LEARY rebuilt it into the racer that became Rare Bear. Bill Speers There have also been very close calls where skill and On 5 May, I was at Chino Airport sitting at a table he desert surrounding Stead Airport is a hard, bru- gathered damaged and wrecked airframes and created the luck have played equal parts in preventing tragedy. I recall across from Jay Consalvi and LD Hughes — two individu- tal world. If you started walking north without Mustang that would evolve into Voodoo. Bill Destefani did the unearthly sound made by the runaway propeller on als for whom I have the greatest respect. water or protective clothing — no matter the time the same thing with Strega. So, in my opinion, the argu- Jeannie as Skip Holm pulled up and off the course and Jay, of course, had flown Strega to a very exciting Gold Tof year — you would be in trouble after a couple ment that air racing decreases the number of WWII air- made an almost impossible recovery on the runway. Or victory at Reno 2017. LD had prepared the aircraft and hours. Yet, the desert retains a certain basic beauty. frames is simply not valid. watching as Sherm Smoot and the highly modified Yak created a racing program that made the victory happen. Every September “What is extremely difficult for the super Unlimiteds is Czechmate passed overhead as the R-2800 issued gouts of Jay, a former US Navy fighter pilot and current business for over five the increasing cost of engines. If you went to Vintage flame. Sherm managed to get the racer down on the runway entrepreneur, said, “You decades, V-12s, who have built the Merlins for Strega and Voodoo, but at a very high rate of speed and had to ground-loop to don’t know this yet, but I tens the facts for obtaining a full-race Merlin are daunting. If prevent going off the runway and over the edge into the am done. I have checked you bring a core, then the cost is rocky valley. Bill Eck and I drove to the stricken racer, off that box and am which was still emitting smoke, as Sherm climbed out moving on to other of the cockpit and looked at the Yak — aspects in my life.” now minus landing gear and Well, I must with a admit that Jay Consalvi and Strega near Chino Airport on 5 May. Many racing experts consider Strega to be the fastest and best prepared of the modified Mustang racers. 30 WARBIRDS INTERNATIONAL/July-August 2018 warbirdsintlnow.com 31.

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