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B-17's at the Reno air races


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Posted

This would be unthinkable today with so few B-17's remaining.
But in 1978, the CAF held a race with them at the Reno air race course.

 

 

Reno B-17 race 1978.1.jpg

Reno B-17 race 1978.2.jpg

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ROCKET_KNUT
Posted

Wow, B-17BOS-Edition, like in "Balls of Steel". ?

  • Like 1
Posted

Can you imagine the frenzy of clipboard wielding H&S folk this would cause now!

Posted

Yes, times have certainly changed.

 

 

1970 meme.jpg

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  • Upvote 1
343KKT_Kintaro
Posted

Spectacular photographs, I imagine these B-17 pilots, back in the 1970s, flying their beasts at the limit of the stall... unthinkable in the present day...

 

 

BraveSirRobin
Posted
2 hours ago, Wardog5711 said:

Yes, times have certainly changed.

 

 

1970 meme.jpg


And one of our favorite toys were heavy metal darts that we threw at each other.

 

 

6D97E1CC-C9D8-4B09-A57C-E3E868382416.jpeg

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Posted

Oooohhh.. Lawn darts.  

I managed to plant one of those in the trunk lid of my dads car while attempting something stupid.

My friends and I were going for 'max altitude' on the toss and I flubbed the release.☹️

That was the last we saw of those....

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BraveSirRobin
Posted

Greatest toy ever.

Posted

we made bow and arrows from branches and played cowboy and indians, i remenber 2 kids almost lost their eye, we then just had to stop shooting them at each other and use it on styrophor targets parents made for us lol and that was back in early 1990s

Posted (edited)

Among other things, we threw corrugated asbestos cement roof sheets into fire. When they heated up they exploded with pieces flying around like a shrapnel. I once saw how it cut a tree branch as thick as a thumb. The other day me and my buddy were approaching the fire with a fresh portion of the asbestos sheets when the ones which were already in the fire exploded and a shrapnel piece buzzed a few cm(couple of inches) from our feet. We immediately rushed towards the fire in order to throw what we were carrying into it and then ran away to a safe distance. After that we decided that although it's fun, we should stop throwing asbestos cement sheets in the fire, lol.

Yeah, mid 90s childhood fun.

 

Of course we still had fun with various pyrotechnics both bought and self made:crazy:

Edited by Arthur-A
  • Like 1
Posted

In the 60's we had these...

The best was the Sekidin gun... fill it up with little pea size balls and shoot hell out of each other.

 

image.jpeg.a9a151759d178c51d08c07377ff1a754.jpeg

 

Second best, the 'Spud Gun'... carry two potatoes as ammo... you are then set for war up in the woods.

 

image.jpeg.ddf11b4130c1135c6fe0031befe64c80.jpeg

Posted
Quote

The best was the Sekidin gun... fill it up with little pea size balls and shoot hell out of each other

 

We had .177 call BB guns back in the day. 

Now we have 6MM airsoft guns. Battery powered, automatic weapons firing plastic pellets. ?
My boys and I did hardcore mil-sim airsoft for a number of years as well as WWII re-enactment using real weapons with blanks.

The BB's are lot more fun since you actually get hit.

 

 

 

Posted

Sadly this will be the last year for the National Air Race's in Reno Nv

  • Sad 2
Posted

Found this last night. Sad, but does a good job of explaining why it's ending.
 

 

Posted
17 hours ago, Trooper117 said:

In the 60's we had these...

In the 50's I'd this one : PNEUMATIR, I think it was a french design, sold in toyshops to kids ......

Was retired after many accidents ( mostly eyes ), it had enough power to break a glass  !

 

pneumatir--pneumatir--500---metal-pistol-with-original-box--1950-s--p-image-396709-grande.jpg

pneumatir.jpg

Posted (edited)

I remember in the 90s being able to sit right at the pylon (I think it was turn 4 or 5) on the hill and the planes would fly so low that your ears rang and I swear you could feel the wake turbulence. 

Edited by JG1_Vonrd
Posted

When I was a spotty teenage marine, my first - and best - troop commander told us that as a fifteen year old his very posh public school sent him on three weeks work experience…on a deep sea trawler around Iceland!?

352nd_Wheels
Posted
On 3/13/2023 at 8:58 AM, Wardog5711 said:

Oooohhh.. Lawn darts.  

I managed to plant one of those in the trunk lid of my dads car while attempting something stupid.

My friends and I were going for 'max altitude' on the toss and I flubbed the release.☹️

That was the last we saw of those....

 

LOL, Close to the same story although I did not put it in the trunk lid of the car but almost dead center in the roof of the car that caused me to lose mine. Had to be in the 1980-1981 time frame that I had that slight mishap with them.

 

Wheels

  • Haha 1
Posted

I still have a set of lawn darts out in my garage, found them at an estate sale. Every once in a while I will box them as a present when I am invited to a friend's kid's birthday party, and the look on the parents' faces is worth it before I then quickly take them back and hand the kid a boring, safe gift in its place!

 

(The kids aren't disappointed, I don't even think they quite grasp what the lawn darts are, tbh)

  • Haha 3
  • 6 months later...

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