LiveAirShowTV has posted a story about Will Whiteside’s world speed record in his YAK3U Steadfast. In an interview with Mark Allen, via Skype, Will talks about how the record attempt came about, and what they did to make it happen following the events at Reno.
The location was certainly appropriate, just a few miles west of the Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway where so many land speed records have been set, LiveAirShowTV officials note.
The record is for piston powered airplanes between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds in a 3 kilometer closed course. The previous record was held by Jim Wright in his Hughes Air Racer replica, the H-1, at 304 mph set in 2002. Howard Hughes himself actually flew faster in the original H-1, but he checked the wrong weight category for his plane. His speed of 352 mph was not official.
Special thanks to John Parker of Principal Photo who was on hand to capture the event. His production can be seen here. Jason Schillereff of Team Voodoo also provided cockpit video, and Don “Bucky Dawson” dug up some great historical stills for the end of the story.
LiveAirShowTV has many more stories on the way. In the coming weeks viewers will see highlights from the El Paso Amigo Airsho, the story of the Huey helicopter crew that jumped into action in Reno, and the wrap up of the Sport Air Racing League’s 2011 season. Even though the air show season is drawing to a close, LiveAirShowTV will have new stories throughout the off-season, officials note.
