Gentlemen,
Last week our good friend and fellow member Ray Hofman flew into the Scottsdale airport to have lunch with yours truly on his way to the Reno air races in his beautiful P-51D Mustang Boo Man Choo. At my request Ray and his instructor pilot did a low-level flyby 10 feet above the runway at over 400 miles an hour. It sounded awesome and looked even better though it did raise the ire of the control tower personnel who were not quite as thrilled with it as I was. I was not able to join Ray and company in Reno as I was in College Station, Texas with my son Charley attending the A&M football game.
This morning however was the next best thing. The owner/pilot of unlimited Reno air race Mustang "Precious Metal", Thom Richard, flew into the Deer Valley Airport in North Phoenix and we had breakfast. Thom is from Switzerland and has dreamed about flying in the Unlimited Class at the Reno Air Races since he was a small child. That is what prompted him to move to America and he finally realized that lifelong ambition. Thom is one of Ray Hofman's instructor pilots and it was Ray who introduced him to me.
Following a very interesting breakfast Thom took me back to the hangar containing Precious Metal and gave me a detailed tour of the aircraft, allowing me to crawl into the cockpit and fire up the avionics. This is the only Mustang running at Reno that uses the Griffin V-12 engine. It is larger and has more displacement than the Merlin engines used by all other Reno Unlimited Mustangs. His is also the only Mustang that utilizes a six blade counterrotating prop. Unfortunately, just prior to leaving for Reno, and after 6000 man-hours were invested in building and preparing it, his race engine seized a bearing and could not be repaired in time. So Thom went to Reno with well-worn ferry engine in his clipped wing P-51 and still managed 6th Place in the Unlimited Gold Class. He will be back next year and I will certainly be there as well. All the best.
Chip
Last week our good friend and fellow member Ray Hofman flew into the Scottsdale airport to have lunch with yours truly on his way to the Reno air races in his beautiful P-51D Mustang Boo Man Choo. At my request Ray and his instructor pilot did a low-level flyby 10 feet above the runway at over 400 miles an hour. It sounded awesome and looked even better though it did raise the ire of the control tower personnel who were not quite as thrilled with it as I was. I was not able to join Ray and company in Reno as I was in College Station, Texas with my son Charley attending the A&M football game.
This morning however was the next best thing. The owner/pilot of unlimited Reno air race Mustang "Precious Metal", Thom Richard, flew into the Deer Valley Airport in North Phoenix and we had breakfast. Thom is from Switzerland and has dreamed about flying in the Unlimited Class at the Reno Air Races since he was a small child. That is what prompted him to move to America and he finally realized that lifelong ambition. Thom is one of Ray Hofman's instructor pilots and it was Ray who introduced him to me.
Following a very interesting breakfast Thom took me back to the hangar containing Precious Metal and gave me a detailed tour of the aircraft, allowing me to crawl into the cockpit and fire up the avionics. This is the only Mustang running at Reno that uses the Griffin V-12 engine. It is larger and has more displacement than the Merlin engines used by all other Reno Unlimited Mustangs. His is also the only Mustang that utilizes a six blade counterrotating prop. Unfortunately, just prior to leaving for Reno, and after 6000 man-hours were invested in building and preparing it, his race engine seized a bearing and could not be repaired in time. So Thom went to Reno with well-worn ferry engine in his clipped wing P-51 and still managed 6th Place in the Unlimited Gold Class. He will be back next year and I will certainly be there as well. All the best.
Chip
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