Wild in the blue at Reno Air Races

The Reno Air Races and Air Show today and Sunday, showcase everything from 65-year-old prop planes to the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds flying in wing-tip-locked-tight formations 100 feet above the ground.

Since Wednesday, the six classes of aircraft competing have been flying around 50-foot-high pylons on their closed courses for crowds of more than 25,000 spectators.

Classes include Biplanes, Formula Ones, Sports (kit-built planes), AT-6 North American prop planes (the 65 year old ones), Jet (a Czech trainer jet), and Unlimited, usually dominated by another senior prop plane, the F-51 Mustang.

Saturday is the heat for the bronze medal; Sunday the semis and finals for silver and gold.

All this at Stead Field outside Reno, with tickets ranging from $22 up to $38 for reserved seats. But the open grandstand is just fine for seeing it all.

In between races there's plenty of entertainment, such as a formation flight of three F-51s, a Vietnam era F-4 and an F-15, something difficult to do with the wide range of speeds of the aircraft.

Acrobatics by biplanes and sporters are interspersed between race heats, and special shows by Gene Soucey and Kent Pietsch bring smoke-trailing planes streaking past the grandstands upside down, on the side, in snap-rolls, four-point rolls and then hanging from props for seconds before slipping off into a traditional Falling Leaf.

Nevada Air National Guard F-15 thunder past the grandstands, lighting their afterburners for the pass. They soar skyward vertically until they are lost to sight. They are a mighty demonstration of military might.

The air shows are usually held twice a year, in Reno and in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright Brothers, but the Dayton show was canceled this year and isn't planned for next.

There's a lot more than just the aerial aspect of the show. Literally hundreds of aircraft, dating from World War to Vietnam and the Gulf War are on display, including a Beech 18 TWA, tiny by comparison to more modern transports.

Visitors can wander up and down the tarmac, facing the facing, or cut up roads lined with beautiful creations of aluminum and titanium. Crew members are happy to discuss their planes and souvenir T-shirts and caps are on sale everywhere.

All manner of victuals are on sale, from Chinese hot pots to hot dogs. Vendors offer all kinds of aerial moments, photos, flight jackets, even silk scarves for those who remember the days of open cockpits.

The event is sponsored by Rolls Royce, the Reno Air Racing Association, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

For the daily schedule, check www.airrace.org, or call 972-6663.

Be sure and take a good windbreaker and your walking shoes; it can be a long hike from parking to the flight line. And don't forget this kids; this is the kind of show that can inspire them.

• Contact Sam Bauman at sbauman@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1236.