Ever since John Dowd, a career crop-spraying pilot, flew his Yak-11 to victory at 376 mph in the Silver race at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada, in 2016, he felt the former Russian World War II trainer could do better.
Following the race, Dowd was riding a wave of gratification, knowing he had at least set a record for aircraft powered by the Pratt & Whitney R1830 Twin Wasp engine, sourced from a Douglas DC-3. “That was the fastest that engine has ever gone,” he says. And while he is not the type to mention it, his Yak—named Lilya, for Russian wartime fighter pilot hero Lilya Litvyak—made the rest of the field, all North American P-51 Mustangs with legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, look slow.
