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"Little Big Man"

Visitors to this page will notice that we've been behind in getting our POTW uploaded. Even though he did not finish the "race" at Aviation Nation 2003 in the "Las Vegas Air Racing" demonstration of the "World's Fastest Motorsport," the same can not be said of Reno Stead Airport resident, John Parker!

Parker, who was forced out of competition in 2003 by a dispute with the Reno Air Racing Assn., agreed to participate at the Nellis Air Show as the ambassador for the Sport Division.

Shown here arriving at the Las Vegas Nellis Air Force Base facility, American Air Racing's Parker, in his 3/4 scale "Thunder Mustang" braved uncertain conditions to become only one of four "Unlimited" Air Racers able to penetrate the bad weather that kept several others at bay.

We've mentioned before, elsewhere on this website, that the "gentle looking" man who is John Parker has hidden "racing fangs" and those fangs came out at the Nellis Air Show, Aviation Nation 2003! Originally scheduled as a static display aircraft to represent the Sport Division of Air Racing, Parker was invited by the Unlimited Division to help fill out their sparse showing of aircraft. (as mentioned above, weather, as well as mechanical problems, kept all but three scheduled aircraft from making the trip to Vegas) We asked John prior to his first flight with the "big boys" if he could keep up.. His answer was something to the effect that, he'd have to push it a bit but, he thought he could make a show of it.

Well, make a show of it he did!

We thank John's friend Bill Pearce for coining the "Little Big Man" phrase, because it so aptly describes Parker's effort and showing in the Unlimited Division demonstration at Nellis.

John managed to thrill those present, both with the specter of seeing this "miniature" Mustang mixing it up with the full size airplanes but also, with two genuine Mayday's! John's first mishap happened during Saturday's event when his baggage door blew open causing a "bang" to be heard and felt in the cockpit. Carefully and skillfully, John brought his airplane in for a safe landing. He then, truly became the "star of the day."

New and old race fans gathered around his airplane six deep as his "adopted" crew from Rare Bear ministered to his baggage door, as well as anything else they could find wrong with Parker's TM.

I've never seen a man who just maydayed smile broader than John Parker as he sat back and watched the skilled mechanics from Rare Bear Air Racing Team go to work on his airplane, in style!

During Sunday's event, John's "fangs" came out, and as he said after the race.. "I might have pushed it a bit to hard"... Smoke erupted from John's engine as one or more pistons were burned.

Another deft landing by Parker brought him home to a welcoming committee of several Air Force emergency vehicles, but all was well, no fire, and no problems beyond the internal engine damage.

With this newest addition to our POTW gallery, we salute a United States Air Force Viet Nam Veteran, a great competitor, a great pilot and a great man. Mr. John Parker, Air Racer, American Air Racing. Reno Stead Airport, Reno, Nevada!

Below is the contents of John's account of the event:

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By John Parker:

To: American Air Racing Team
Friends, Fans and Corporate Partners
11/18/03

Just a little note to let everyone know a little bit about the Nellis AFB, World of Wings Aviation Nation Air Show. Friday was a practice day for us, the rest of the performers, along with all the security people around who were learning what to expect. It was quite interesting to watch them work, and my deepest appreciation goes out to them for their service to our country. The courtesy and cooperation they showed all the performers was nothing less than spectacular. We were treated like royal guests. A special thanks goes out to Boyd Gaming, Hartzell Propellers, and Ryan Falconer Racing Engines

Due to the lack of Blue's cargo capabilities, we arrived at Nellis AFB with little more than the clothes on our back. The Rare Bear crew adopted Blue as their own, the US Air Force and the World of Wings crew provided all the support anyone could ask for making logistics and operations run quite smoothly. We all had a wonderful time.

An incident on Saturday caused me to declare a "Mayday" where I pulled up and landed without incident due to the baggage door opening in flight. When the door came open, there was this loud band and a significant vibration was felt. It gives one a shot of adrenaline when something like this happens, but the "Blue" was still flying quite well which brought the heart rate down considerably. The fix for this was to slam the door shut again and tape it closed. The FAA was quite interested in seeing how I was going to sign off the discrepancy and repair. They were satisfied with the results. The Aviation Nation promoters and announcer indicated that I was the star of the show by adding a little of the unknown. As for the spectators, there were probably not the 500,000 there that were anticipated, but it was crowded. Mike Houghton and the RARA crew were among the visitors.

Sunday morning, it was raining; however, it started to clear by ten o'clock and the sun was shining by eleven. The cloudy morning probably kept the crowd down a little but it was a good air show day overall, and I was ready.

The agreement was that I take off first but be last at the start. I was off and in a second at the lower altitude of the Nellis AFB and on the T-33 start plane in a heartbeat. I was fingers and elbows all over the cockpit closing the cooler doors, setting trim while trying to fly formation on the T-33. However, "Blue" was doing quite well. On the third lap, I felt another vibration and a slight loss of engine power. I eased off on the throttle and went full rich on the trim switch to no avail. I then started seeing smoke coming from the left side and the radio was receiving all sorts of warnings about the trailing of smoke. So, "Mayday Me" pulled up and landed giving the announcer something new to talk about.

What happened was a burned piston in at least one cylinder and possibly more. The probable cause was the MAP was too high and the RPM too low, as well as having only 100 octane fuel instead of the desired 130 octane. I will know more when I have the opportunity to download the computers.

In closing, I want to thank everyone who helped me through every phase of this magnificent aviation event. I am so grateful to the "Rare Bear" crew for all their efforts. It was an honor to be invited to "Aviation Nation."

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Former Pictures of the Week


09-18-03 "The Yak Is Back" CLICK HERE	09-23-03 "Gold Furias" CLICK HERE	10-13-03 "Aviation Nation Takes Off" CLICK HERE

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