Gold Finals Cancelled Due To High Winds

The Reno Air Races were marred by an accident Sunday, and gusty winds forced race officials to cancel the finals of the T-6 and Unlimited Gold races later in the day.

George Giboney was injured, but walked away from an accident after he declared an emergency while flying his Thunder Mustang replica "Rapid Travel" in the Super Sport Gold Race. The airplane made a hard landing and reportedly cartwheeled off the runway. The Des Moines, Washington pilot was able to acknowledge the crowd before he transported to a Reno hospital and treated for lacerations.

Multiple media sources including the Reno Journal Gazette report that the Unlimited Gold final was cancelled for the first time in its 47-year history Sunday afternoon due to a 15-20 miles per hour wind gusting to 35 mph. The T-6 Class Gold Race was also cancelled by the weather. By rule, the fastest qualifiers in those categories are deemed the winners in the event of a cancellation, giving Steven Hinton flying Strega the Unlimited Gold title, and handing the T-6 Class Gold title to Dennis Buehn.

Of course, all of the competition doesn't take place in the air at Reno. The Rolls-Royce Aviation Heritage trophy was awarded to the 1945 North American P51-D. The Stead, Nevada National Aviation Hall of Fame Enshrinees joined presenting sponsor Rolls-Royce North America, Inc in awarding the trophy.
 
Owned by William Allmon of Las Vegas, NV, and restored by Pacific Flyers, the NACA 127 P-51D (N51YZ) was used by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1945 to 1952 to get transonic data in addition to wind tunnel information, to pave the way for supersonic flight. The airplane retains the heavy machined plates used to accelerate the airflow to speeds needed for research. On these plates are mounted both original and recreated test models. It is a very accurate restoration of a historic Mustang.

Winners in other categories are:

• Antique Category (Orville and Wilbur Wright Trophy): 1929 Hamilton Metalplane, owned and restored by Pole Pass Airways of Seattle, WA.
• Classic Category (Paul E. Garber Trophy): 1945 Grumman G44A , owned and restored by Bill Scott of Reno, NV.
• Warbird Category (Henry 'Hap' Arnold Trophy): 1945 Goodyear Corsair FG-1D, owned by John O'Connor of Downers Grove, IL, and restored by Airpower Unlimited.
• Large Aircraft (Howard Hughes Trophy): 1934 Douglas DC-2, owned by Clay Lacy of Van Nuys, CA and restored by Pete Regina.
• The National Aviation Hall of Fame People's Choice Award: 1928 Boeing 40C1 owned by Addison Pemberton and restored by Pemberton and Sons Aviation.

Assisting in the trophy presentations to the winning owners were National Aviation Hall of Fame Enshrinees Patty Wagstaff, R.A. Bob Hoover, Dick Rutan, Clay Lacy, Herb Kelleher and Bud Anderson. Joining them were Hoot Gibson, National Aviation Heritage Invitational Ambassador; General Jack Daily, Director -Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Chris Cyr,  Executive Vice-President, Rolls-Royce North America, Inc., Linda Shiner, editor of Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine; Ken Perich, Executive Director of the National Aviation Heritage Invitational and Mike Houghton, CEO of the Reno Air Racing Association.

The Heritage is held in conjunction with the Reno National Championship Air Races and celebrates aviation treasures. This endeavor is a joint effort under the auspices of Rolls-Royce North America Inc., the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Reno Air Racing Foundation, with support from the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Air Transport World, PilotMAG, World Airshow News, Airmail Greetings, Super 98, Air and Space Smithsonian Magazine, Perform Air, LiveAirShowTV and The Perich Group.

The National Aviation Heritage Invitational encourages preservation of aviation history through the restoration of aircraft to original flying condition. The Invitational was founded in 1998. A five-member panel, including representatives of the National Air and Space Museum, judges each aircraft on its technical merit and how well it represents the aircraft early in its career. Authenticity to the original manufacturer's condition is the "gold standard" for each plane.

FMI: www.airrace.org, www.heritagetrophy.org