'BUCK SHOTS'

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Hey Philip- Great to hear you were one of Tom Madsen's good friends as well & no doubt our lives were both enriched having known this one-in-a-million gentleman bush pilot (+ You got to fly his airplane! ).

Perhaps one day in the future, we can swap a good TM story or two over a beer...

"Blue Skies & Tailwinds Forever- Tom Madsen"!!!

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Warbird!"-

Warhawk Air Museum's Curtiss P-40N "Parrothead" (N1195N) epitomizes the classic look of a WW2 vintage pursuit fighter plane, both on the ground & in the air. As Race #17 out there on the racecourse, she may not be the fastest race bird in competition, but this ole' Warhawk's definately one of the most colorful Unlimiteds ever to turn the pylons in 'The World's-Fastest Motorsport'!

Photos/Reno NCAR (L-R):

1. Sun. 9/13/09- John-Curtiss Paul taxis-out Parrothead f/takeoff on a test flight in prep f/the start of race week qualifications & race competition.

2. Tue. 9/15/09-Qualifying & Practice: JCP & Race #17 aim f/the pylon flying a 322.953-mph Q-Run.

3. Mon. 9/12/11-Qualifying & Practice: Rookie UNL pilot- Jim Thomas flys Parrothead around the course f/some practice laps on Monday last September. Jim Q'd #17 the following day, posting a good speed of 330.325-mph, but the P40N was a DNS f/Thursday's first UNL event-Bronze Heat-1C.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Hangin' Around"...

Mon. 9/12/83-Stead Field, NV: A time-worn aviation tradition of young & old buddies just hangin'-out together on a real nice day out on the airport tarmac, watchin' a couple 'unsung heroes' doin' their thing to help- 'Keep 'Em Flyin'.

DBD

[xmh53wrench]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Great photos Bucky!!!

Anymore of this plane this year you are willing to share?



I would greatly appreciate it...

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Hey wrench-

For a few more shots of P-51D #81-"Habu" (N5449V), see Page 11-Post #102 of this thread:

http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=7733&page=11

I previously put-up an extensive racing history of this Mustang (N5449V/Race #04/#81) on Mark Kallio's bygone air race fansite- 'Pylon1.com'. (-Hoping our fearless webmeister Wayne will one day in the future get around to re-publishing it here on aafo, along w/some of the other outstanding featured pieces fm that site. )

Of course, I always encourage utilizing search engines at your disposal here on this site & on the www ('google', etc.) & you should get some more data & photos.

DBD

[xmh53wrench]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Thanks Bucky, the wing stripes and black paint caught my eye, and since I'm so new to this, it took a bit of investigating to figure out which plane this was. Google turned up some photos but most were fairly blurry, and enlightened me on its ultimate fate (boy I sure know how to pick model subjects, tho not convinced its a bad thing). And I got to page 9 of your thread last night before I caved in to hitting the hay...doh. But I still have 1 1/32 P-51 sitting on the shelf, that's just begging for a black paint job. Hope to find more info and pics.

[Big_Jim]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Thanks Bucky, the wing stripes and black paint caught my eye, and since I'm so new to this, it took a bit of investigating to figure out which plane this was. Google turned up some photos but most were fairly blurry, and enlightened me on its ultimate fate (boy I sure know how to pick model subjects, tho not convinced its a bad thing). And I got to page 9 of your thread last night before I caved in to hitting the hay...doh. But I still have 1 1/32 P-51 sitting on the shelf, that's just begging for a black paint job. Hope to find more info and pics.

PM me...I have pics as well as something that might help you with a correct version of that model.

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Blues in A-4"-

Reno '81 & '83 National Championship Air Races & Airshow: The U. S. Navy's "Blue Angels" Flight Demonstration Team flying Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, were my favorite version of all to date.

DBD

[xmh53wrench]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'



Really? Mr Bucky? What kind of voodoo witchcraft you have in that camera of yours that will make the spinner stop so we can see the checkerboard graphics on it? AMAZING SHOT...as if we would expect any less...Shot number two from that link is just......so wrong, and yet so right

P.S. are those red and white stripes on the wings covers? So far all the photos I have seen only show a white stripe, or is that stripe combo an '83 thing only?

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

Hey wrench-

Re. your 'PS' re. "Habu" details- Yes, those are the crew's decorative/striped protective wing work mats you're looking at in the '83 pit maintenance photo. Race #81's white main wing root trim stripes that you see in the '82 photo were apparently painted-out back to black f/'83 as you can discern on the wing leading edges in the two flying shots.

Suggest you take Brad (Big Jim) up on his generous offer of ref. photos of this a/c to help w/your modeling projects. You can also always start a new dedicated thread post topic to drum-up possible additional info & ref. photos, where extensive discussion would be more suitable than here on the 'Buck Shots' multi-interest thread (which I try to keep somewhat 'tidy', in order to maintain a good flow f/readers ). Please feel free to PM me regarding additional questions after you confer w/Brad.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Off On A Mission!"-

Alaska Civil Air Patrol DHC-2 Beaver (N31522) takes-off fm Lake Hood Seaplane Base-Anchorage, AK-6/3/88. (Copyright '88-Don 'Bucky' Dawson)

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Racin' Furies!"-

Race: Sun. 9/20/98-Reno NCAR-UNL Gold- A pair of 'Happy Hawkers' captured running low & fast over the Nevada desert sagebrush, w/Matt Jackson in Bill Rheinschild's #74-'Bad Attitude' leading Stewart Dawson flying his #105-'Spirit of Texas', in this vintage archive photo.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Dogfights Over The Desert!"-

RACE: Sat. 9/13/86-Reno NCAR-UNL HT-3C/Pace Lap-

In this wild air racing 'Dogfight', we see Dean Cutshall's yellow-nosed P-51 #91-'E2S' (aka-'Cutter's Capers') narrowly holding the lead going around old Outer 6 Pylon, with Korean War Ace- Bob Love hot on his tail in Jack Hovey's two-tone camo Mustang Race #2, just ahead of C. J. Stephens in Lloyd Hamilton's Aussie Navy Hawker Sea Fury- #16 Baby Gorilla. Below Gorilla is Wally McDonnell's sea gray Sea Fury #106, and up high & behind Cutter is Ralph Rina flying John Marlin's green & gray white-spinner'd P-51 #102 Day Dreamer. John Muszala in POF's Mustang- #28 Spam Can is at bottom right in the photo. Also flying in this race was Dirk Leeward in P-51 #10 Cloud Dancer, and briefly- Rick Brickert in the Sanders' #924 Sea Fury. Bob Love won this race @359.539-av/mph, after leader- C. J. Stephens cut Outer 3 Pylon on Lap-3 for a 12-second penalty. This wasn't a Gold Championship event, but was one hellova contest to witness & remember for a long time afterwards!

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Fast Li'l Phantom!" -

Photos (L-R):

1-2. Fri. 9/17/10-Reno NCAR-Biplane HT2A: Tom Aberle's modified Mong Sport racer #62-'Phantom' (N7075W) approaches & rounds the pylon on a perfectly-tight couseline f/a convincing win of this 8-lap heat @ 249.330-av/mph. Low-frontal profile w/a trick prop, slick airframe & smooth elite wings w/o flying-wire drag,-makes f/one super-fast & sleek-looking biplane racer.

3. Thur. 9/15/11-Reno NCAR-Biplane HT1A: Profile study of Race #62-‘Phantom’ as it flashes-by the pylon enroute another race victory last September (242.581-av/mph).

4. Sun. 9/20/09-Reno NCAR Awards Banquet: Reigning Biplane Racing Class champion-Tom Aberle, owner/pilot of Race #62-'Phantom, on-stage accepting another Bipe Gold Trophy to add to his collection. Aberle's been racing biplanes at Reno since 1967, and has won 7 Reno NCAR Gold Trophies (5 w/Phantom) & currently holds the BP records f/fastest-qualifier (260.811 @ Reno '10) & fastest-Gold Race (251.975 @ Reno '08).

A well-deserved "Big Congrats" goes-out to gentleman-Tom Aberle & Team Phantom, on their great impressive run of successful air racing accomplishments & setting the competition bar very high, as one of The World's-Fastest Motorsport's Total-Class Acts.

DBD

[BuckyD]

Re: 'BUCK SHOTS'

"Blind Man in the E-R!"

“Unsung Heroes-Keep ‘Em Flyin!”- Tue. 9/15/87-Reno NCAR-Qualifying & Practice:

First of 3-successive Wright R-3350 engine changes made during race week by Levolor Racing Team on their Hawker Sea Fury Unlimited Class racer- #88-‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ (NX85SF), is captured in-progress inside Al Redick’s CIA Hangar late Tuesday. The amount of effort put out by the Levolor Racing Team to keep their big beautiful race bird in competition was incredible to witness (& will likely never be equalled- 3 heart transplants in a week!!!), & it allowed team pilot-Skip Holm to fly #88 to a 2nd-place finish in Sunday’s Silver final.

Skip got to fly her again at Reno '94 & '97, when NX85SF returned as Race #10-"Critical Mass", during the SF's 10-year Unlimited campaign stint (1993-2003) under owner/pilot-Tom Dwelle's family-run race team & her extensive retro-conversion back to stock Sea Fury configuration is now nearing-completion.

DBD