Some old Reno pics

[Big_Jim]

I've never seen that purple Sea Fury. Did this airplane evolve into another more familiar racer?

Stewart Dawson's "Spirit of Texas" in later years. As I recall that purple Incredible Universe paint was just colored wax. Must've been fun washing that all off.

[wingman]

Looked much nicer like this. This was in the Gold Race in 1998.






..

[AE88]

We had just finished restoring that Fury for Chuck Leshe who lived in the Phoenix area. Chuck could never make up his mind on a paint job so he took it home bare metal. Someone got in touch with him about using his airplane to help promote the races with the idea for the temporary paint job. I don't know who put all that together but it was all done by the time we arrived.

They called it a "Mop-n-Glo" paint job. The story was you mixed Mop-n-Glo floor wax with some sort of dye or coloring then brush or roll it on. Heard the Chino guys came up it with for movie work but can't confirm that- maybe one of the other board members can. It is supposed to wash off pretty easily and actually looked pretty good for what it was. You can see in the pictures where they taped up the seams on the control surfaces and other gaps on the airplane. We did not hear anything dramatic about taking it off after it was done. There were a few little areas of purple we noticed before it got painted but nothing major.

Chuck's airplane was the fourth Fury that went through the shop as a full restoration. Stewart traded Chuck a T-28 and some cash for it.

AE

[Sparrow]

I remember the purple that year, was kinda neat how they did it up. I remember hearing the same thing about the "paint job" that it was wax and would clean up easy. I have heard about them doing that with other "movie" airplanes also.

Ashely, do you know if there is still a fellow named Randy Tait working at the shop in Breckinridge?

[AE88]

I remember the purple that year, was kinda neat how they did it up. I remember hearing the same thing about the "paint job" that it was wax and would clean up easy. I have heard about them doing that with other "movie" airplanes also.

Ashely, do you know if there is still a fellow named Randy Tait working at the shop in Breckinridge?

Yes Mike, I think he is still there- he would be their longest serving employee now!

AE

[Sparrow]

Thanks Ashley, Randy & I were in the same class at Cheyenne Aero Tech years ago. He went to work for your Dad right out of A&P school and has been there since.

[AE88]

Thanks Ashley, Randy & I were in the same class at Cheyenne Aero Tech years ago. He went to work for your Dad right out of A&P school and has been there since.

I didn't know that- the small world of aviation! He's over all of the structural/sheet metal projects now.

AE

[Sparrow]

Yup, he is from a small town in Wyoming, Worland as I recall. I'm from a small town in N Central MT so that is how we met in Cheyenne. He was on a race crew of mine one year..

[Danno]

I am loving this thread! My older brother, who passed away last year, first went to the Air Races on 1973. I was still in high school and was VERY jealous of him going without me. We ended up going together first in 1980, which began a string of about 35 years of attendance. He had a Super 8 movie camera in 1973 and ended up filming several reels of film during the week. A few of the planes mentioned in this thread are in the video. One of my favorites was the orange P-39, shown starting at about 1:18. I wish it had sound... Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYRujRKvROE&t=38s

[wingman]

I am loving this thread! My older brother, who passed away last year, first went to the Air Races on 1973. I was still in high school and was VERY jealous of him going without me. We ended up going together first in 1980, which began a string of about 35 years of attendance. He had a Super 8 movie camera in 1973 and ended up filming several reels of film during the week. A few of the planes mentioned in this thread are in the video. One of my favorites was the orange P-39, shown starting at about 1:18. I wish it had sound... Enjoy!
]

This was a really nice video -- it shows a lot of how things were 50 years ago at Stead. It is nice to see footage of Bob Hoover when he still had all his marbles -- he was so good! The footage of that backwards IF1 start from the ramp is pretty scary too. Thanks for posting, and if you have any more like this digitized please post them.

Neal

[wingman]

This was taken a very long time ago, at the very first air show I ever attended -- at Chandler field in Fresno California. I knew what Mustangs and Corsairs were, though I had never seen either in the flesh, so to speak. But there was an airplane there I'd never heard of. It was called a "Sea Fury" and I thought it was a really good looking and cool warbird.

[RAD2LTR]

And what a Sea Fury that specific one became. Very cool shot.

[wingman]

Thank you, Will. I obviously had no idea of the future of the airplane or of myself at that point. I just knew I was in love with a shape and a sound...

[wingman]

I only got to see Frank's 232 twice, in 1974 and 76 in Fresno, and then it disappeared. In its place Frank Sanders brought us this gorgeous 2 seat version, complete with his wingtip self contained smoke generators. This was Reno 1978.

[wingman]

The aircraft was not raced at this time, but Frank did his aerobatic routine at races and air shows throughout the West for several years. The first shot here was at the Mojave race in the summer of 1978. The shot of Frank running the remains of his smoke rings was Reno 1978. This routine with the double smoke was sensational. I had seen and loved Bob Love's routines, and Hoover's, and Lefty's, but this was different -- faster -- a great swooping thing.

Frank Sanders was a remarkable man.