By: Jim_Harley - 16th September 2011 at 19:01
The last time I saw Dago she was being prepped for paint in a hangar at Hollister airport. About a month later she was trailered to Chino, stripped and locked up. Sad. This would have been the best she was ever prepared. Dan Martin was sparing nothing for the win.
jim
By: Mike J - 15th September 2011 at 19:32
Just heard a bunch of the jets have been either disqualified or not allowed to race for some reason.
The Viper-engined L-29s have not been allowed to race due to engineering issues with the mounting of the much more powerful engines. The mount on Heather Penney’s L-29 broke during PRS in June, and the jet eflux in the rear fuselage almost melted the tail off before she could land. It turned out that the guy doing all the Viper mods to the L-29s was also the Reno tech inspector for the class, so was signing off his own work!
Personally I think that they should just shut down the jets altogether. It’s only a matter of time before one ends up in the crowd. Having watched Brad Morehouse hit the ground in his L-39 a few years back (and only miss ending up in the pits by pure luck) and seen a T-33 pull up off the final turn with hydraulic controls locked (fortunately missing the other racers who managed to stay out of his way at over 500mph), I believe they are just too fast for the course.
By: ZRX61 - 15th September 2011 at 18:48
Just heard a bunch of the jets have been either disqualified or not allowed to race for some reason.
By: ZRX61 - 15th September 2011 at 13:53
Dago’s gone. 🙁
Stripped down to a shell, repossessed by the bank, and reportedly sold on again, the wing profiling (one of the ingredients that made it the fastest P-51 ever) has been stripped off and lost forever, and the crew has been dispersed. However it re-appears, as a racer or stocker, it will never be the same as the highly-developed beast that could turn 500mph laps.
I’ve messed about a bit with Dago in the past, it’s been a while.
There’s a FB page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dago-Red-Mustang-Air-Race/146686761323
Fly fast, fly low, turn left…
By: ozplane - 15th September 2011 at 12:29
Hi Mike (you must be up early!) and thanks for the update on “Dago Red”. It’s a great shame as the sight and sound of her hurtling down the finishing straight at Reno goes alongside Ray Hanna in MH 434 as the best two warbird experiences I’ve witnessed. I guess the costs of competing at Reno just got too much.
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September 12, 2011 at 9:04 pm