Air Racing Primer...

With the Air Racing season upon us, I ran across a classic episode of my favorite show as a little kid, Sky King. This episode shows some cool airplanes of the era, 50's Reno footage, the Blue Angels flying Panthers (I believe) and a young Bob Axsom somewhere in the crowd, making speed mods on a racer!

Not totally RV related as they hadn't been invented yet. But by definition, they are implied...

Enjoy!
V/R
Smokey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-wkxE2ukU

thanks, good stuff.

Sky King

Thanks Smokey, I haven't seen Sky King in probably 45 years or so. My wife even came to see what I was watching and she enjoyed it too. Oh those were the days!

And that's what it is all about

Thanks for the show. That is pretty much the way the racing goes - one plane launch at a time and you try to complete the course in less time than anyone else in your class. There is a race in Terrell Texas on Saturday 5-26-12 - ya'll come. There are 6 RV Blues one RV Gold but 0 RV Reds entered at this time.

The era when the car manufacturers were putting tail fins on every thing and Grumman was sweeping their F9F wings. The view was a little blurry but I could see NAVY on the bottom of the wing on the #4 so I'm sure they were the Blue Angels. That model was an F9F-(I used to know but I don't remember - it may have been F9F-9) and was called the Cougar which was the successor to the F9F Panther. When the Blue Angels put on the show in their straight wing Panthers they were the best. Saw them many times at North Island and Miramar NAS in the very early 50s. In the Panthers they had blue liquid in one tip tank and pink in the other. It may sound a little sissified but they put on a beautiful show, like a Hollywood production. The getaway black sedan was a 1956 Plymouth and the Sheriff's car was a 56 Dodge. I had a brand new 1956 Chevrolet 150 but I was separated from it for a year.



Bob Axsom

Speed is life...

Thanks Guys,

The first time I flew a straight-tail 57' model Cessna 310 I had flashbacks to Sky King episodes as a kid. I kept wanting to throw stuff out the window and land on dirt roads...
Bob, with no lowly 320 cubic inch RV Red challengers the RVX has a chance, I'll try to make it!

V/R
Smokey

PS: GREAT photo sir!

http://www.scaleviews.com/Cessna_310D_Songbird_III_NC6817T/index.shtml
The Songbird!

Great video! I loved the flour bombing to stop the bad guys in the car.

sky king

Great video. I got a kick out of how easy it was to close the door on the 310 in flight. The round engine taildragger Penny was flying was a Dart, probably with a Leblond engine. Anyone know what airport this was done at?? There was a recent article in Sport Avaition about Jack Cones, the Flying Constable of Twentynine Palms CA. He actually did in real life much of the same stuff as in Sky King. Article also talks a bit about the Sky King series and the airplanes involved.

Dang it.....I thought this thread was about paint.......


I've never even heard of the show Sky King....fun to watch....Thanks

airport

There is a Sky King Airport in Terre haute IN. Last tiem I was there, about eight years ago, there was a lot of memorbilia from the TV show on display. Anyone know the connection, if any, between the airport and the TV show.