October 17, 2011 — If you’re going to break an air racing record, you might as well smash it. At least that’s what racing pilot Will Whiteside did last week when he set an unofficial world speed record above Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Press Democrat reported that Whiteside flew his World War II-era Russian Yak fighter called SteadFast at a top speed of 416 mph on a 1.86-mile course.
“We are just tickled,” the 40-year-old Whiteside told the Press Democrat, crediting the “aerodynamic cleanliness and horsepower” of his Yak and also “five and a half years of caressing the airplane.”
Whiteside said last Tuesday’s 416-mph flight was witnessed and monitored by a representative of the National Aeronautic Association, who will now submit a report to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the keeper of aviation and speed records. If verified, Whiteside’s flight will go down as the fastest ever by a propeller-driven airplane in weighing 5,000 to 6,600 pounds.
The speed record in that class is currently held by the late Jim Wright of Oregon, who reached 304 mph in 2002 in a replica of Howard Hughes’ 1935 speed plane, the H-1 Racer. Hughes originally set the record in 1935 in his original H1 racer.
Whiteside’s flight in Utah came less than four weeks after his attempt to win the Reno National Championship Air Races were dashed by the crash that killed competitor Jimmy Leeward and 10 spectators. Whiteside had claimed the second-fastest qualifying time at the races in the P-51 Mustang fighter “Voodoo” that he flies for another race team.
|
|
Will Whiteside set a preliminary air speed record October 11 above the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.
Will Whiteside’s Russian Yak fighter is called SteadFast.
Photo credit: RCATS
|
News Archive | Air Shows & Events | KidVenture | Young Eagles Newsletter
PRINTER
FRIENDLY
Privacy Policy 
