Pictures of the Day: Scenes from the 2023 Reno Air Races

By General Aviation News Staff · September 27, 2023 ·

A US Navy F/A-18F from VFA-122 flies past Pylon 2 in the pattern for Runway 26 after the USN Legacy Flight with Steve Hinton, Sr. in Chino’s Grumman F8F Bearcat on Saturday Sept. 16, 2023.

General Aviation News photographer Bradley Orr captured these photos during the 2023 Reno Air Races, held Sept. 13-17.

RT Dickson bears down toward the top of Home Pylon in his P-51 Race 51 “Swamp Fox.” RT brought this aircraft all the way from North Carolina in June 2022 to Pylon School, and then back for the 2023 races. He qualified at 312.722 mph.

Jeff LaVelle in his Glasair III Super Sport Race 39 going around Pylon 4. Jeff qualified at 410.635 mph, just ahead of Andrew Findlay’s Lancair Super Legacy at 406.107 mph.

Al Hoover in his Fouga Magister Race 17 “Texas Fouga” blasts around the course on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, in Jet class Heat 1B, finishing at an average speed of 372.550 mph.

Tim Schelhorn in Race 73 Carbon Cub “Psycho Billy” battles Eddie Sanches in Race 48 Highlander “Devil Girl” past Home Pylon in the outbound leg of a STOL class heat race on Sept. 13, 2023.

Steven Hinton, Jr. in the Chino P-51 “Wee Willy” leads the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” in the USAF Heritage Flight formation on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, the last day of the last races at Reno.

Vicky Benzing returned to Reno in the former Clay Lacy P-51 “Miss Van Nuys” after a tear down/rebuild and a new name to match the mostly old paint scheme “Plum Crazy.” Race 64 qualified 8th in the Unlimited Class at 357.477 mph.

Karl Johanson taxies his Global Aircraft Company GC-1B Swift toward the static displays on Sept. 13, 2023, after hours to spend the rest of the week being admired by the fans.

Josh Watson and crew await the timer and the green flag going up to affix the canopy to Race 31 “Fraed Naught” before Formula One Heat 3A on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. Josh ended up winning the Gold Title on Sunday at 235.645 mph.

Dominic Cacolici shades his eyes near his Cassutt III Formula One Race 72 “The Sky Addict” early during the first Qualifying session on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. He turned in a 171.587 mph speed around the 3.119 mile IF1 course.

Steve Hinton, Sr. and his son “Stevo” Hinton, Jr. compare notes on the ramp on Monday afternoon. The Father (2) and Son (8) duo now have 10 Reno Unlimited Gold Championships between them.

“Stevo” Hinton runs up another historic P-51 Mustang, Race 3 “Bardahl Special,” nearing sunset on Tuesday, Sept. 12. She had qualified at 469.935 mph earlier in the day. The clipped wings, horizontal stabilizers, and scoop are apparent from this perspective.

Ken Dwelle pulls up in his family’s past Reno AT-6/SNJ Gold Champion Race 7 “Tinkertoy,” which was on display in the Heritage section all week. This was a great encore to them bringing the former “Critical Mass” Hawker Sea Fury Unlimited racer to Reno in 2022.

Warren Pietsch brought freshly restored 1940’s C Model racer “Thunderbird” to Reno for the first time ever and John Bagley brought Bob Hoover’s former “Ole Yeller” for the first time since 2013. The two P-51s made for a great shot at sunset on Saturday night, Sept. 16, 2023.

Would you like to have your photo featured as Picture of the Day? You can submit it via this form.

All photos sent in for Picture of the Day are also considered for our new Page 4 photo feature in the print issue of General Aviation News, as well as A Year in Pictures in the December issues.

Click here to see the photo of the day archives.

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