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This past September, the National Championship Air Races took a final lap in the Reno, Nevada venue.

The National Championship Air Races ends it run in Reno, NV.

When an aerobatic pilot wanted to fly right up to the limit, she chose an aircraft that proved to be a model of instability 

The first air races, meets, and flight exhibitions kicked off a wave of public enthusiasm for aviation that circled the globe.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a...lion?

After a shaky start, the Nemesis NXT air racer comes out on top. 

For many years, three-time Female Aerobatic Champion Betty Skelton was known as the “First Lady of Firsts.” The Florida native earned her nickname the hard way, whether as the International Female Aerobatic Champion, flying at 8,839 meters (29,000 feet), or traveling at speeds greater than 486 kph (300 mph) in a jet-powered car. In the process of setting 17 aviation and race car records, she also paved the way for women to enjoy equal opportunities in aviation, sports, and business. 

The 1900 Olympic Games, held in Paris as part of the Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair), was the only year in which ballooning was an official event.

The world of sport ballooning lost one of its pioneers with the death of Don Piccard on September 14, 2020. He was involved in the renaissance of hot air ballooning and a true pioneer of the sport. All of us who wonder at the sight of a hot air balloon in the sky, are in his debt.

Since the earliest days of flight, air racing has been an exciting motorsports activity. We have in our collection many of the aircraft that made history by winning races and setting records, like Steve Wittman’s Special 20 Buster, which lived two lives in air racing and proved to be an inspiration for an entire class of air racers.