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I've got a souvenir comic-book I drew after the 2006 NCAR and distributed to pilots and crews in 2007. Is there any way I can post the Word documents so others can read the copy as well as enjoy the cartoons?
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
Easiest way to make Word into a browser friendly format is to print it as a PDF file (there are lots of free PDF software downloads available - I use CutePDF - they just show up as another printer after you install them). Unfortunately I don't see PDF as one of the file types available for attachment to this list. If you have storage space somewhere on the interweb you can stick it there and post a link to it here. Or if you can PDF it and PM me with a copy of the PDF attached, then I can try converting it to jpegs.
Any suggestions Wayne?
THE OLDEST OF THE BOLDEST: Bob Hoover, legend of aviation military, civilian, flight-test and air show, sold his Mustang, “Ole Yeller” [race #47] in 1999 (when he could no longer outrun the flight surgeon), and so has since not even owned the P-51 that bears his name on its airfoils – a sale which Mr. Hoover no doubt laments.
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
[Think I'll stick with the above. The graphics will be sharper and reader commentaries will be easier to compose.]
STALL IN THE FAMILY: As observed while visiting the pits, some of the racers’ kids seem to make the trip just to hang out inside the ropes, demonstrating little interest in or knowledge of the sport. One wonders what kind of Philistine could grow up in an Unlimited-racer family and not appreciate life in such a rarefied atmosphere – without one passion or another. It would be one thing to express either resentment over a childhood of privation in an “airplane-poor” family or arrogance for actually being able to afford the sport, but apathy just doesn’t make sense.
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
WHOSE BACKYARD IS IT ANYWAY?: A creature of an affluent society, the worst sort of NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard!”) first chooses to build its nest not just in the boondocks, but near military facilities, nuclear bomb factories or such-like located in areas previously remote and otherwise uninhabited – and then carps incessantly. NCAR increasingly draws the petulance of such scolds as the local infestation further encroaches on Reno-Stead. This sub-species ought to have a nickname of its own.
Since you’re probably wondering, possible new acronyms might include:
- Not Your BackYard Either! (“NYBYEs”)
- Suburban Ninnies Out To Nix Outdoor Sporting Events (“SNOTNOSEs”)
- No! Unless I Say, Air-races Never Can Ensue! (“NUISANCEs”)
- Move Out, Racers – Ours Now! (“MORONs”)
BET HIS CHECK-RIDE WAS A LOT OF FUN: Among the acts entertaining the crowds between heats Wednesday through Sunday were a variety of stunt-flyers, who managed to pull off a genuine surprise or two -- Ken Pietsch in particular. For anyone unaware that Mr. Pietsch’s comedy routine includes the seemingly incidental loss of the odd control surface, the act can be downright startling.
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
LIKE A CLOCKWORK ORANGE or R.A.R.A.-RAH!: Though not a nest feathered with Breitling wristwatches and soaked in fine champagne, the cheap seats at Reno-Stead (there are no bad seats) have their own bon temps atmosphere and working-class appeal. Section Three in particular, highly visible by dint of the bright-orange T-shirts that serve as the regulars’ uniform, is the epicenter of up-whooping. Air racing celebrities unfailingly get a warm reception there.
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
SNAAB APPEAL: Going to the air-races and finding yourself watching an automotive performance demo is like going to Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey and being treated to a flea-circus. While we may be certain that Saab sedans’ performance is impressive in its own context – and that the team drivers are nice-enough fellows who are good to their mothers and pet their dogs – it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the drive team and the NCAR audience were nonplussed with eachother.
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
YUCKY SEVENS: 2006 wasn’t a very good year for NCAR long-timers. A prodigal piston sidelined Lyle Shelton’s “Rare Bear” for the Unlimited Gold heats and the team, with typical pluck, auctioned off the piston and cylinder-head as though to offset the expense (at some risk of not knowing when to stop and finding they’d parted-out the Bearcat).
WITH A CAPITAL “B”: What’s big, red, eats money and pukes engines? Bill “Tiger” DeStefani’s P-51 “Strega”, of course. (Regulars know, of course, that the name is Italian for “witch”.) Ironically, word on the ramp has it, the vintage fighter’s temperamental performance has attracted the attention of at least two prospective sponsors …
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"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
OLDEST OF THE BOLDEST, PART II or THE UNLIMITED GOLDEN YEARS OF LIFE: With the NCARs at Reno being, at this writing, in their 44th year, it only follows that the long-timers are each in their 74th year or something near it. Few of them race their a/c themselves –– although nobody considers these living legends to be anything less than full participants, least of all themselves. Still, it is rumored, after-hours talk at the local bars (“Ensure” on tap) spit-balls on new race classes that would provide the old guard with more hands-on participation.
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Last edited by split-s; 09-30-2009, 05:46 PM.
Reason: punctuation
"Man was meant to fly -- the earth is for worms!"
Martin Caidin
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