Hi there Race Fans and Fellow Air Race/Airshow Addicts,
Here's another from the Air Race Addict's archives, Race #09, "Precious Metal".
I took this photo in 1988, (the first year for the Air Race Addict as a married
guy). My sister in law and her husband, Fed X Bob and his girlfriend Kim, and my
wife and I had a pretty good time together that year. It was a little cold that
year as I recall, and our makeshift shelter was pretty primitive compared to the
current state of Air Race Addict decadence, HAH!
Anyways, on with the story. Much has been written about this particular aircraft
through the years, including this sight, most of it good. Don Whitington brought
Precious Metal to Reno and was a strong contender for several years with a Merlin
engine in the front. He modified it with the Rolls Royce Griffon in 1987-88 and
brought it to Reno in 1988. It was a beautiful peice of work. The contra-rotating
propeller gave Whitington some problems over the weekend and was the culprit in
forcing a wheels up landing, and caused fairly substantial damage to the airframe
on Saturday during the start of the Gold heat.
The aircraft was eventually trucked back to Florida, where it recieved more mods
which included the empenage from a P-51D, replacing the P-51H tail seen in this
photo. With bright green paint on the wing, and a big American flag on the rear of
the aircraft, she reappeared at Reno in 1995 and performed rather well. Currently,
against the wishes and hopes of this Air Race Addict and most of the other Addicts
I know, she is currently being restored to stock configuration. I guess money talks
when it comes to the disposition of warbirds. Anyways, that's my story for this week.
Thanks once again for visiting.
Sincerely, Bill Clark The Air Race Addict