Skyrace 96 Report

Prize money of $30,000, $20,000 and $10,000 was offered for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the ‘Unlimited class including Jets’ but in the washout there were only jet entrants and so the race was retitled the Jet Warbird Class. The T-28 Trojan class had prize money listed as $15,000, $10,000 and $5000 but on the day the sole T-28 was Steve Death’s aircraft, VH-MEO, used as the race start aircraft and for a solo display during the programme.

What Of The Unlimiteds? Where Were They?

The answer to that question was that Guido Zuccoli was skiing in Europe and that Robbie Booth was not attending as he wanted to ensure that his Sea Fury, ZK-SFR, was available to fly at the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow in New Zealand less than eight weeks later. Booth came second in the 1995 Unlimited race.

Bob Hoover has become a popular airshow pilot in Australia over the past two years. Two years in which Hoover had fought a running battle with his American FAA over having his pilot’s licence cancelled for supposed medical problems. Hoover came to Australia, got an Australian Commercial Pilot’s Licence and then went on to do flying shows in not only Australia but also Japan, France and Mexico and all on the basis of his Aussie ticket. Late 1995 saw the FAA reissue Hoover with an American licence and although it has limitations it does allow him to do his airshow routine. The end result of all of this was that Bob did not come to Australia this year, no doubt he had a backlog of airshow bookings to fill. Hoover did however leave a message to be passed onto his Australian fans that he was sorry that he was unable to get to Skyrace ’96 but that he expected to be back for the 1997 event.

The T-28s!

This was probably the race that fans enjoyed the most in 1995 and why not. The sight of five T-28 Trojans flying in close proximity, the rumble of their radial engines, the sheer size of these aircraft and that their performance was so close to each other all made a great spectacle. When asked, the race officials could only say that there were only three T-28s airworthy in the country at that time and one was being used as the race pace aircraft.

So much for the locals. What about the Yaks from America? It had been promoted that several Pylon Racers were to visit from America and that they would be bringing with them a Yak-3M and possibly a Yak-11. Neither aircraft arrived. One of the visiting Americans was famed Reno racer, Alan Preston. Preston has flown over 10,000 hours in almost 300 types ranging from single seat fighters to four engined transports. He has also flown most prop driven fighters from WWII and is the only person to have raced in all four classes at the Reno Air Races.

Discussion with Alan was both enjoyable and informative. He advised that, yes, the intention was to bring one or more race aircraft from America but when the crunch came there was just not enough time to get it all arranged. For a start the Americans had totally no idea of who could do the job of reassembling the Yaks in Australia and the process of getting the paperwork sorted out with CASA. Who had FAA engine and airframe licences? Who had a workshop of the required size and with people experienced with warbird type aircraft. All these were problems that could not sorted out from the other side of the Pacific.

Alan did say that few Americans knew of an Australian air race scene but having now visited Australia and talked with the local warbird and air race people first hand has meant that they now have the information they need for a return visit, with aircraft, in 1997.

On to the races and the big day, Sunday February 18. The programme had a seven race card. This comprised the Single 250hp class, the Cabin Twin other, the CT-4 Airtrainer class, the Cabin Twin Aerostar, the Single 600hp class, the AT-6 Harvard class and the Jet Warbird class.

The Single 250hp class was taken by David Cooper in his Grumman AA-1A, VH-ETM beating three other competitors one of whom cut the pylon twice. In the Cabin Twin other class Jeff Hutchinson took line honours in his Twin Comanche VH-UCH, beating Kym Brougham in Baron VH-ION and Keith Astralla in Cessna 310 VH-NXA. The CT-4 class was taken by Rod Hail in CT-4, VH-APV, while the Cabin Twin Aerostar class was won by Chris Clearihan in Aerostar VH-HJU, against Aerostars VH-MLL and VH-HVM. Considering the amount of polishing that was applied to the winning aircraft before the race it can truly be said that it just slid through the air!

The Single 600hp class also known as the Cabin Under 600hp race was won by Bill Finlen in a Beech V35B, VH-TYE, against a Glassair III and a Beech A36.

Then it was on with the drawcard events, the AT-6 class and the jets. There were only four Harvards in the AT-6 class, Mike Falls Snr in VH-OVO, Judy Pay in VH-NAH, Doug Hamilton in VH-XNZ and Bill Waterton in VH-USR. True to form Bill lodged a protest with the Judges but as this was lodged before the race commenced it did not affect the outcome with Mike Falls taking line honours, just as he did in the last two years at Valleyfield.

The Jet Warbird class race proved to be as interesting as it was novel because this was the first time that jets have been involved in air racing in the southern hemisphere. Valleyfield has unsealed surfaces and as a result the three competitors in this class were based out of Launceston airport. A disappointment for most race fans as they could not get to look them over close up. The three entrants were BAC Strikemaster 167 VH-LLD, Jet Provost, VH-JPP, and TS-11 Iskra VH-ISK. Jets are different to radial engined aircraft, they whistle!

Not surprisingly speeds for the jets were higher than the pistons with the Strikemaster doing one lap at a speed of 606 km/h. The outcome of the jet race was Mike Falls Snr in the Iskra beating the Strikemaster, flown by Allen Page, by a nose and the Jet Provost flown by Scott Reeman, coming third.

Between air races there were displays of various aircraft types, parachutists and aerobatics. One display aircraft was the Grumman HU-16 Albatross that has been seen in all states of Australia by now. Aerobatics were managed by Chris Sperou in a borrowed Pitts Special. The Pitts was borrowed because during the Saturday display Chris rolled his Pitts, VH-CEX, upside down and the machine then lost altitude and slid to a halt on the grass runway, inverted! While the aircraft was damaged Chris managed to free himself from the cockpit before emergency services arrived. Some said that he went out and bought a ticket in the state lottery after the show.

With ideal weather those that attended the races would have enjoyed what they saw although they would have enjoyed it all the more had the T-28s and the Unlimiteds been racing. One warbird owner commented that there were several reasons why more racers did not come from the mainland. For a start there was the single engine overwater aspect to consider. Then there was the reduced insurance coverage as well as the fact that if the warbird owners want to keep their aircraft for years to come they simply have to be more conservative with their operation. Another major factor was the sheer cost of the exercise. Win, lose or draw it costs the average air racer a bundle of money to prepare the aircraft, get to Valleyfield, accommodation for self and ground crew, fuel and oil and hopefully have no mechanicals to attend to. If you win it might lower the outgoing costs. If you do an engine (as Guido did in 1995) you are up for big expense.

Against all of this you have to weigh the thrill of flying in an air race at speed with other aircraft close to you at low altitude and the chance of taking out that coveted first place and the winners cheque.

Alan Preston, the visiting American air race pilot, said that the Americans will be attending Valleyfield next year with a number of US race planes. Just like the speedways and dragstrips that have regular visiting American involvement, the air at Valleyfield would really come alive to have a group of local aircraft battling it out with visitors. Alan Preston also talked of a new class of aircraft being developed in the US, initially for film work, but with potential for US and Australian air racing. These custom built monoplanes would have retractable gear that could be locked down to enter another class and the bubble canopy over the cockpit area removed and replaced by an open cockpit windscreen. Powered by an R-1320 radial the aircraft would provide noise and spectacle without the problem of racing historic types. It sounds like a good alternative.

1996 saw the Tasmanian Skyrace at the crossroads. If it is to go on at Valleyfield it must attract entrants in the faster, upper end of the scale, preferably piston powered, the sort that will attract paying spectators. If the race does not attract these entrants the concept seems doomed to a slow death, brought on by a lack of suitable spectacle, spectacle that attracts not only fans who pay to go through the gate but also the sponsors who help to finance the race.

Next year also again offers the organisers the obvious opportunity of scheduling it the weekend before Avalon and attracting a number of the Warbirds (and visitors) that will be flying south to Avalon. It’s an opportunity that was unfortunately ignored in 1995 so maybe ’97 will be different. We live in hope.

Skyrace 1997 looks set to be an interesting event with the definite potential to be bigger and better than the three previous years.