Pictures from the Reno Air Races

Brent Dowell

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Well,I'm posting these with kind of a funny feeling. Sharon and I left early, as we usually do, to avoid the crowds. Apparently there was a crash shortly after we left that went into the box seat area in front of the grand stands. Early reports suggest there were many serious and not so serious injuries. I'm glad I wasn't there for that. The last thing I want to take pictures of would be something like that.

Please keep those folks in your thoughts.

Just a few pictures I took out of probably quite a few hundred I snapped. It's actually kind of hard to get good pictures of airplanes up close traveling at 200-500mph...


FWW-3730 by brent_dowell, on Flickr


FWW-3742 by brent_dowell, on Flickr


FWW-3994 by brent_dowell, on Flickr


FWW-3857 by brent_dowell, on Flickr


FWW-4212 by brent_dowell, on Flickr
 
Brent,

I am very glad you and your wife missed the terrible event.

I loved airplanes (well I still do, but don't do anything about it). I was to solo on my 17th birthday, Dec 31, 1941. Needless to say, I didn't. The Japanese hitting Pearl Harbor put a change to a few million people's plans.

Enjoy,
Jim
 
Same as Allen, the first thing I thought of when I heard the news this afternoon was you guys. Glad you weren't there to see it, and my heart goes out to those affected by the accident. In the years I was involved in ballooning, I saw a few close calls, but never anything involving fatalities, and nothing nearly on the scale of what happened a the Reno show. Sad day indeed.
 
My assistant scoutmaster was at the show with his wife and his brother and sister-in-law. I called to see if he was OK ... he said they were sitting a couple hundred yards from the crash, but they still got showered with fuel and "bits & pieces". :eek:

I didn't want to keep him on the phone, so that's all I know at ths point. He said he'll tell me more after they return home.
 
Thanks Brent for sharing your pics. Love that show for the old planes and the jets. Glad to hear Sharon and you were out of there before it happened. Very sad for the affected folks. Hope it does not affect future shows.
I took my family to one when boys were tots back in sa early 90's the airforce silver falcons were doing a show and one guy went down into the ground. This was a sweet then bitter picture. First the pilot ejected everyone thought yay then he got pulled into the plume of flames from the crashed jet and died. Awful to stand and watch happen. The craziest part was crowd reaction. Hundreds of people started running towards the crashed jet. I could never understand that.

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What amazes me is just how little 'obvious airplane' wreckage can be seen in the photos. One would expect to see large engine parts, parts of the fuselage, etc. But it just looks like so much litter. Guess that's what's meant when the use the term "disintegrated.'

Brent - just hours before Jan and I were saying we should try to get down there next year and spend some time with you and Sharon at the show. She's since changed her mind.
 
Looks like a local KC family was part of the injured. Article says that the mother is still missing. The other 4 members of her family are all hospitalized and “All 4 have lost some part of their right leg either at or above or below the knee”

The last I saw 2 people were missing, which is really frightening.

Brent - just hours before Jan and I were saying we should try to get down there next year and spend some time with you and Sharon at the show. She's since changed her mind.

On the way home Sharon was saying how much she enjoyed it.

I'd actually be surprised if they ever have the air races again.
 
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