Reno 2009 Updates
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Qualification Speeds:
Merlin's Magic: 378.968 MPH
Archimedes: 209.875 MPH
Race Results:
Merlin's Magic: Thu (6th in Silver, 360.064 MPH), Fri (5th in Silver, 359.074 MPH), Sat (5th in Silver, 322.997 MPH), Sun (5th in Silver, 348.557 MPH).
Archimedes: Wed (3rd in Bronze, 207.730 MPH), Thu (3rd in Bronze, 209.391 MPH), Sat (3rd in Bronze, 206.169 MPH)
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Miss America trying to chase down Merlin's Magic (photo by Frank Mormillo) | Archimedes down low (photo by Frank Mormillo) | Archimedes holding off the Red Knight (photo by Frank Mormillo) |
(photo by Taichi) (photo by Taichi) Merlin's Magic about to touch down in front of Home Pylon(photo by Taichi) Sunset in the pits (photo by Taichi) Run-up after taxi in (photo by Taichi) Taxiing out past Home Pylon (photo by Taichi) Archimedes passes Home Pylon (photo by Taichi) (photo by Taichi) Archimedes and Red Knight (photo by Taichi)
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Helmet shot of Jim taxiing out the T6 (photo by Jim Daughters) Taxiing by the Blue Angels and Stead Tower (photo by Jim Daughters) Merlin's Magic rounds a pylon (photo by Frank Mormillo)
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Weekend (Days 7, 8)
Archimedes will come home with a 3rd-place trophy - finished at 206.169 MPH.
Bill flew Merlin's Magic to a 5th place finish in the Silver. This was the smoothest week for us that I can remember.
Archimedes Crew - from left - Bill Simmmmms (captain of team "Break Time"), Jim (pilot), Rick Johnson (Crew Chief, also prepped plane for Reno), Larry (2nd in command of team "Break Time"), Mike B (crew, chef and RV man), Rich Ferdon (crew, friend, fellow T6 driver), Jim (Crew, friend of Bill E's and newest recruit to team "Break Time" - although Jim worked too hard to make the team) - Thank You everyone!
Damien's Retirement and Farewell Party: Bill presents an American flag to Damien that had flown in the races. Note the large crowd. Damen accepts flag Hugs - Damien will be missed.
On Friday evening, our pit filled with at least 50 people - most friends of Damien who journeyed to the races to wish him well. Damien is retiring from the Airforce and moving to a new life in New Zealand. It was very clear that Damien will be missed by many.
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Day 6 (Friday):
Archimedes had a morning race - very nice starting in the 3rd position as the join up and start are much easier close in. Keith McMann (Red Night) had maydayed out of the lead the day before - so he was gunning to retake that spot. After the first couple laps, he had moved from last to just off my wing. I went to work, held the line as tightly as possible and watched his shadow hang with me. With one lap to go (at home pylon), Keith passed me on the outside and pulled about 15 feet ahead. But at the turn, he fell behind again. Coming up to home pylon on the final lap, I dropped the nose and turned the little altitude I had into speed and held him off for a photo finish - my time (07:15:775) was only a tenth of a second faster than his (07:15.890) - good times!
Keith should be able to get around me tomorrow, but I won't make it easy for him.
Dad flew in the afternoon Unlimited Silver Race. He finished 5th out of 7 airplanes. Doug Mathews maydayed out of the start in his Hawker Seafury. Dad edged out Miss America. At 359.074 MPH, dad is taking it easy on the plane.
But - he did give us a little scare after landing. The oil bypass light turned on during the race. This potentially indicated that the engine was making enough metal to clog the secondary oil-filter screen.
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Ryan | Bill | Mike |
Ryan, Bill and Mike went to work. Ryan's initial
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Inside of secondary oil-filter system. Designed to indicate if the engine is failing and making metal. | Screen pulled - worn and clogged from normal use. |
Day 5 (aft):
Dad flew his first race. Strategy was to keep it at near cruise power and that worked well. Riff Raff (in the lead) was disqualified for cutting through the middle of the course. Howard Pardue maydayed out in his Bear Cat. Dad passed Miss America. This all put him up 3 positions.
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Ryan inspects the engine following the first race. | Screens are pulled and inspected for metal fragments. | Plugs are pulled. |
Following each race, the engine is thoroughly inspected and maintained. This process takes several hours.
Trucker Bill stacks the screens. (Click picture to enlarge) The Regier brothers arrived and proudly display some of their products. (Click picture to enlarge)
First - a note to those who claim that Archimedes can only finish in 4th position. Yesterday's Bronze heat finish - 3rd place ! On start, coming down the chute... the Red Knight (1st position) started blowing oil and maydayed out of the race (he landed safely). That opened up a slot which I gratefully took. Looks like he will be back racing tomorrow, so we will try to hold him back.
Billl Simmms (right) - part of team "Break Time" shows his enthusiasm. (Click picture to enlarge) Uncle Jimmy congratulates the pilot for the 3rd place finish. (Click picture to enlarge)
Archimedes finished a good race just behind #2. So of course Bill Simmms and team "Break Time" jumped up to congratulate the pilot. Billl can actually be seen (above, left) moving his left hand (one of the few times so far this week).
"Uncle Jimmy" came over to congratulate the pilot (above, right).
Taichi arrives from Japan. Crew Chief Rick Johnson and Trucker Bill.
Taichi (above, left) arrived from Japan just in time to have a beer and pizza. Taichi is our artist - he designed all of the shirts, banners and logos for both planes. Crew Chief Rick Johnson (above, right) assisted by Trucker Bill begins to pull the wing tips off Archimedes in prep for painting.
The red tips make Archimedes look a lot more like Merlin's Magic. At some point, the fuselage and wings will be re-painted.
Damien shows off his paint work. New tips on the plane - looking more like Merlin's Magic.
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Team "Break Time". The tape, wax and polish crew. From left: Mike, Bill, Larry. (Click to Enlarge Picture) | Rick Johnson (2009 Crew Chief) and Pilot Jim pose early Wed morning. (Click to Enlarge Picture) |
Now back to the crew. Bill Simms (above, center) has named the clean, wax, tape crew team 'Break Time". Before I took the above photo, he reminded me to use the "wide-photo" lense.
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Note the cigars on the bottom-right. | Keg sponsored by "Minh Jet" |
This part of the update is dedicated to Prat. One side of the trailer is a fully-stocked bar along with a humidor. And on the other is a fresh keg.
Dad had the T6 all set to go when I got to Livermore. I launched just a few minutes after getting there (about Noon). Up to 11,500’ where I found a strong tail wind pushing my ground speed to about 210 MPH. The Sierras approached along with a line of cumulous – nothing major, but just enough to disrupt the flight a little. Took it up to 13,500’ to get over the tops.
Dad called and was still well behind. He also took it up to 13,500’. The clouds cleared just past Truckee, so the descent into the valley began. Called Race Control and was cleared onto Runway 08. Dad landed about 30 seconds later.
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From left to right: Wimpy, Bill, Larry. Between them, over 300 years of experience! | T6 is stripped for Tech Inspection (guys in blue shirts). |
No sooner had I landed and the T6 crew was hard at work (see above). They were truly energized and jumped to the task of getting the plane ready for inspection. Interesting to note that between Bill and Larry alone, we have over 200 years of experience to draw from.
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“Truck Driver Bill” installs the smaller tail wheel. | Front spark plugs changed. |
Merlin’s Magic is waxed up and readied for Bill’s qualification attempt. He gunned it and flew his cleanest line yet setting a qual speed of 378.968 MPH which is a record for the plane being flown in stock configuration. The qualification was so successful, that dad decided not to fly and stick with that speed.
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Damien (left) and TD Bill wax Merlin’s Magic. | View of both planes being readied in the pits. |
The T6 got a lot of flying as I needed to burn the tanks down to 50 gallons (qty needed for racing). Course time during the day followed by a test hop with Rick in the evening.
Update Day 3 (Tuesday, Sep 14):
The final touches were made to the T6. All the gaps were taped up including the rear canopy. Some morning course time to finish burning fuel in the right tank. Then afternoon qualification at 209.7 MPH – good enough to get me in the races.
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Many of you asked for the "12-Pack And A Smoke" shirts to printed. So Taichiro went to work and created an improved version.
"12-Pack" refers to the 12-cylinder Merlin engine powering the P-51. "A Smoke" refers to the black smoke trail that is characteristic of the F-86. See dad making a low pass trailing the smoke at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqbN0NthU3I
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Front Logo | Back Art | Shirt - Heather Gray |
Dad spent much of the year flying Collings Foundation P-51C Mustang. One of his passengers took some video flying out of Camarillo - takeoff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZaGzMPMxKg
For the first time, the Reno Air Races will be shown live as a pay-per-view event. For further details about subscribing go to http://www.liveairshowtv.com.
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