10 Days At The Reno Air Races
Flew back Monday in the Palm Springs Air Museum P-51 Mustang “Bunny” from the National Championship Air Races 2017 in Reno. I did 10 days as part of the crew racing “Bunny” and shooting photos and video. Worked hard long hours and every moment was incredible fun. I did keep my Facebook page and the Facebook page for the Air Museum current but neglected my own Blog here and my Instagram. So I will now being going back and posting some of the fun. And there is plenty of it for sure! Thanks!
Bunny Fly-By
How about a “Bunny” fly-by to get things going! Now come along with us and JOIN OUR TEAM at the Palm Springs Air Museum!
The “Red Tails Race Team” sending “Bunny” our P-51 Mustang to the prestigious National Championship Air Races Reno, September 13th – 17th! “Bunny” will be joined by and honoring the famed Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails” of World War II. And you can be a part of it!
Lots of cool stuff coming your way for helping us and it’s great fun! You can even get our actual Team T-Shirt and the Official Poster and more. Please check it out and you truly have our biggest Thanks! Right here at… https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/red-tails-race-team
And a Big Thank You to BUZZBOX Premium Cocktails for being our Team Partner!
“Bunny” The Poster
So very fun to have my photograph of “Bunny” the P-51 Mustang on the official poster for the “Red Tails Race Team” going to the prestigious National Championship Air Races in Reno next week!
We are all very excited to have BUZZBOX Premium Cocktails as our title sponsor. They are truly a great partner and will actually be with us in the Race Pit itself with the Team and the Palm Springs Air Museum. We also will be very honored to have with us famed Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. BobFriend. The Colonel and other Tuskegee Airmen will be signing the poster for the fans at the Race.
You can join the “Red Tails Race Team” too and share the fun. Help us make it all happen and get yourself a signed poster or even an actual Team Crew T-Shirt. I would personally be appreciative for your help! Check it out and Thanks… https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/red-tails-race-team
I also want to Thank the Jones Agency for creating a truly remarkable poster!
https://www.facebook.com/TheJonesAgency
Labor Day Traffic
Not exactly like getting on a freeway onramp. Just made me think of it. I shot these photos from the backseat of a T-28 Trojan as we were waiting to takeoff at the “Wings Over Camarillo” airshow in August. One of my duties as Photographer and Social Media Manager for the Palm Springs Air Museum. Next stop is the National Championship Air Races in Reno coming up now! And I need your help with that please! Check it out at “Red Tails Race Team” and Thanks!
Everyone Stops And Looks!
No matter what you are doing, when “Bunny” flies by you stop and look! At the opening for the “Wings Over Camarillo” airshow earlier this month. “Bunny” will be in the show opening again at the prestigious National Championship Air Races Reno, September 13th – 17th! And we are asking for your help today please!
JOIN OUR TEAM! The Red Tails Race Team by helping the Palm Springs Air Museum send the Tuskegee Airmen and “Bunny” the P-51 Mustang to participate in this huge honor. Be part of it along with our incredible “Bunny” pilot Tom Nightingale! Even Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Bob Friend is going at the age of 97 years old!
Lots of cool stuff coming your way for helping and it’s great fun! Please check it out and you truly have our biggest Thanks! Right here at… https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/red-tails-race-team
Evening Run Up
A little evening engine check before we left for the Air Fair at Big Bear Lake this past Saturday morning. This is the historic World War II fighter, the P-51 Mustang. This one named “Bunny”, it is dedicated to the famed “Red Tails” Tuskegee Airmen.
I am personally asking you to help me and the Palm Springs Air Museum in sending “Bunny” and the Tuskegee Airmen to the National Championship Air Races Reno in just a few weeks! Do it for me! Please! Every few bucks helps!
You will be a part of our “Red Tails Race Team” and get some cool stuff too! Check it out and Thanks… https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/red-tails-race-team
It Was A Playboy Bunny When I Was A Kid!
Reno Bunny!
Thought this is pretty great! My photo of the P-51 Mustang “Bunny” used for the poster for the “Red Tails Race Team”! The Palm Springs Air Museum has “Bunny” entered in the huge and very prestigious National Championship Air Races Reno coming up September 13th – 17th. “Bunny” commemorates the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. And actually you can join the “Red Tails Race Team” and help send “Bunny” and the Tuskegee Airmen to Reno! You can also get this poster and some really cool stuff! Check it out at “Red Tails Race Team“! Please do and Thanks!
“Pretty Polly” Air To Air
“Pretty Polly” as we flew back from the “Wings Over Camarillo” airshow this past weekend. So many Thanks to so many people for a great event but here especially to pilot Patrick Nightingale for his flying at the show and for here in front of my camera. A special Thanks to pilot Mike Nightingale flying the T-28 Trojan with me in the back seat.
“Pretty Polly” is a very rare P-63 Kingcobra, one of the very very few still flying in the world. Maybe numbering five or six. One of our aircraft that makes it to Airshows for the Palm Springs Air Museum. This coming Saturday to the Air Fair at Big Bear Lake California. You will also see “Bunny” our P-51 Mustang and perhaps our C-47 “What’s Up Doc”.
I am really appreciative that so many tens of thousands of you liked my videos and photos from the Airshow in Camarillo on the Air Museum Facebook page and also on my Facebook page. I will be showing you more. Also I will continue to shoot photos and videos at the Airshows coming up, and at the Reno Championship Air Races. So keep visiting the Facebook pages and here for the excitement and please tell your friends! And stop on in when you get to Palm Springs please!
T-28 Flight Back From Camarillo
Great fun shooting for the Palm Springs Air Museum this past weekend at the “Wings Over Camarillo” airshow. Flew back from the show in a T-28 Trojan. I flew out to the show on last Friday in our P-51 Mustang “Bunny”. Check it out, I did live video of that flight on my Facebook page.
Flying Boat Makes A Big Splash At Splash House!
The PBY Catalina World War II “Flying Boat” center stage for Splash House! A huge “chill” crowd having great fun at what has become one of the premier Palm Springs events known worldwide! And the Air Museum is a huge hit with people seeing it for the first time and fascinated with our incredible collection of aircraft. Over and over we heard “We have to come back to visit”! Outstanding!
By the way, I have recently been accused of having too much fun! Hey I am the Palm Springs Air Museum photographer! I have to do these things!
Day-O!
An incredibly great crowd on hand for the opening number of “Sofi Tukker” taking the Stage for Splash House last night at the Palm Springs Air Museum! Fun that the opening music and song is Harry Belafonte singing his famed Calypso “Day-O” from 1957! I was there as Museum photographer, social media guy and having fun!
Reno Air Races Here I Come!
I am going to the Reno Air Races with “Bunny”! Even I am excited about this! I am the photographer for the Palm Springs Air Museum and we are taking “Bunny” to fly in the prestigious and exciting Reno 54th National Championship Air Races coming up fast next month September 13 – 17 2017!! YES!!
The Reno Air Race is the most unique air racing event and aviation experience in the world, combining the world’s fastest motor sport with spectacular military and civilian aircraft. Over 150,000 people each day will be watching pilot Tom Nightingale fly “Bunny” through her paces!
Our P-51 Mustang “Bunny” is designed to honor the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. And in that honor, the Reno Air Racing Association will be joining us with some very special Tuskegee Airmen events!
You too will be able to join with us! Shortly we will have the details about Sponsorship Opportunities that could also put you right in the racing pits with us! Or you could also be a part of our “Red Tail Race Team” right from home!
So keep watching here and if you cannot wait to hear more ASAP, send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com. Just WOW! Thanks!
Beating Rush Hour Traffic
What do you do when you both fly in but left your cars at the Chino Airport? You fly back! Michael Nightingale flew our T-28 Trojan in first in the morning. Then Tom Nightingale followed a little later in our P-51 Mustang “Bunny”. At the end of the day, back to Chino Airport in a T-6 trainer, a really nice one too! Interesting that all three planes were made by North American Aviation. They sure created some great aircraft! Interesting things going on at the Palm Springs Air Museum all the time! I am the Air Museum photographer, great fun! Thanks!
Bunny Coming Home
Bunny is the P-51 Mustang “Bunny” who resides at the Palm Springs Air Museum. You find me there often, I am the Museum photographer and also manage their social media. Thanks!
First A Great Model!
The first order of business… select a great model! Makes all the difference in the world. Gabriella Muttone is one of the absolute great models I have had in front of my cameras. An extraordinary photographer herself, she has a keen sense of body movement, facial expression and style. You can see in this photograph from our photo shoot at the Palm Springs Air Museum how she places herself so perfectly with this aircraft, engine and propeller. Just wonderful!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lightning. The aircraft is a beautiful Grumman F8F Bearcat. The design for this was done by my good friend and superb graphic design artist Dennis Johnson. Only the best! Thanks!
My Office
The other day in a T-28 Trojan taking off out of the Palm Springs Air Museum and landing at the Chino Airport. The Air Museum pilot extraordinaire Michael Nightingale. This truly is a great aircraft, very powerful with an over 1,400hp engine and you don’t realize how huge it is until you are right up next to it. The Air Museum P-51 Mustang “Bunny” and the T-28 will be doing flyovers on July 4th, first both over Big Bear Lake at 5:30pm and then the P-51 for the Fourth of July Celebration and Concert at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank at 6:30pm. So if you are out boating or enjoying the music, keep an eye out! Very Fun being the Palm Springs Air Museum photographer! Thanks!
Splash House 2017 After Parties
One of the biggest Summer events right here in Palm Springs, Splash House! A rockin’ hard three days of pool parties at three great hotels and two after parties at the Palm Springs Air Museum. And who is the photographer for the Palm Springs Air Museum… ME! And who was at both Splash House After Parties this weekend with a few thousand good looking people having great fun… ME! Outstanding!
The Very First!
The very first of a new monthly feature in the “Palm Canyon Paradise” newspaper! Brought to you by the publisher of the long running “The Sun Runner” with a print edition circulation of over 50,000. The “Palm Canyon Paradise” will cover the Coachella Valley. The monthly feature written and photographed by me! Great Fun and Thanks!
Flight Ops
A very busy day at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Memorial Day 2017. Lots of historic aircraft for flight demonstrations and the very important “Flower Drop” to honor the true meaning of Memorial Day. How much fun did I have! It’s good to be the Air Museum photographer!
Bunny!
Not a Hugh Hefner Bunny! Memorial Day weekend was spent by me as photographer for the Palm Springs Air Museum. What incredible fun it was watching these warbirds take to the air doing flight demonstrations. Even had a chance to fly myself as well!
As one aircraft after another flew by with a crowd of 3000 people at my back, everyone applauded. But the biggest applause by far was for “Bunny”! Without question, the biggest airplane fan favorite, the P-51 Mustang from World War II.
This P-51 dedicated to the famed Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails” and specifically to Lt. Col. Bob Friend who flew over 140 combat missions in an identical Mustang.
So while a runway filled with Playboy Bunnies might be fun, they just can’t compare to this “Bunny”! Flown by the very exceptional Tom Nightingale who obviously did some of that really cool pilot stuff! Thanks!
I’m Flying!
Extra benefit of being the photographer for the Palm Springs Air Museum is flying! Yesterday in a World War II Mitchell B-25 bomber. The United States Marine Corps version PBJ, the only one still flying in the world. My duty station for the Memorial Day weekend, the Palm Springs Air Museum. Come on out!
Come In Mission Control
Getting ready to photograph my next mission for the Palm Springs Air Museum! All geared up and ready to go!
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