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Gotcha! Rides

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  • Gotcha! Rides

    In the interest of fun stuff... If you're near Virginia or can get there and have a spare few hundred dollars you can go for a ride in a bit of Reno history.

    The folks at Bay Aviation have the T-6 most famously raced by Pat Palmer as #9 "Gotcha!" beginning in Texas in 1971. It's cool and I remember Pat from the earlier days.

    Here's a link to Bay Aviation and "Gotcha!" - https://bayaviationonline.com/warbir...can-t-6-rides/

    Of course, Palmer had a second "Gotcha!" - #99. That AT-6F now resides in Texas with the Rathbun family and is frequently flown by 22-year-old Parker Rathbun who's a newly-minted part of the CAF's "Tora, Tora, Tora" display team. You can read about Parker and a few more young guys who are joining the ranks of the more "experienced" warbird fliers and fixers in my feature in the September issue of Flight Journal Magazine.

    On a related T-6/Unlimited note of interest here due to the chronicle of "Miss America" Mark K has underway - Miss A (originally Dave Allender's race #19 "Allender Mustang and "Wayfarers Club Lady") showed up in competition as Miss A for the first time at Reno in 1969 with Howie Keefe.

    Few are aware that Howie was also racing T-6s at the time, flying "Miss Sky Prints Special". He was top qualifier at the Florida National Air Races at 185.25 mph in 1969. He put Miss A in the field at Reno the same year at 340.38 mph.

    And that's the rest of the story... (not really but I liked Paul Harvey's sign off)
    Jan

    http://www.AirRace.info = http://www.airrace.de

  • #2
    Re: Gotcha! Rides

    That is really cool. Thanks for the post.

    Another note on Miss A. There are only 3 aircraft from the early days of Reno that still wear a variation of their original paint scheme, Miss A, Miss Van Nuys, and Miss Merced. I don't know what Miss Van Nuys new paint will look like however.

    Will
    Last edited by RAD2LTR; 07-11-2022, 05:31 PM. Reason: can't spell

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    • #3
      Re: Gotcha! Rides

      Originally posted by RAD2LTR View Post
      That is really cool. Thanks for the post.

      Another note on Miss A. There are only 3 aircraft from the early days of Reno that still wear a variation of their original paint scheme, Miss A, Miss Van Nuyes, and Miss Merced. I don't know what Miss Van Nuyes new paint will look like however.

      Will
      I think we can add N335 to that list
      Reno from '99 to '22

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      • #4
        Re: Gotcha! Rides

        Originally posted by GRNDP51 View Post
        I think we can add N335 to that list
        Yes indeed. I forgot about that one.

        It would be really cool to do a group shoot will those 4.

        Will

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        • #5
          Re: Gotcha! Rides

          Originally posted by RAD2LTR View Post
          Yes indeed. I forgot about that one.

          It would be really cool to do a group shoot will those 4.

          Will
          Yes, that would be cool and a visual/tangible representation of early Reno history though I'll note that in 1964 #64 actually wore a different scheme to the one most folks are familiar with. I remember my dad and Clay chatting about this. On his first outing with the airplane it sported the name "Bonzai" up near the spinner on the lower cowl....
          Jan

          http://www.AirRace.info = http://www.airrace.de

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          • #6
            Re: Gotcha! Rides

            Dave Allender had two Mustangs
            - N5452V(#1), race #19 "Wayfarers Club Lady" was then sold and the registration was changed, later sold again to Howie Keefe and became race #11/"Miss America".
            - the registration and race numbers, N5452V(#2), race #19 were then transferred to Allender's other Mustang which was heavily modified into a beautiful bad-ass air racer that unfortunately never raced - or even attended a race.
            N5452V(#2) was then (over)restored to a warbird and now flies in its original WWII combat markings as "Sierra Sue II".

            Dave Allender's N5452V(#1) and N5452V(#2)
            Attached Files
            remember the Oogahonk!

            old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

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