Santa Maria Thunder Over the Valley
August 23, 2008

The Santa Maria Airport and the Santa Maria Museum of Flight hosted the annual Thunder Over the Valley show over the weekend of August 23 - 24. In addition to a variety of warbirds and trainers, there were several military helicopters on static display. Performances by a Navy McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and an Air Force Fairchild-Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II were marked by clouds of condensation and contrails.

U.S. Coast Guard Aerospatiale HH-65C Dolphin, 6590 is based at Los Angeles.

Predator gyrocopter N142MG was built in 1999.

North American SNJ-6 Texan, N349JB is restored as U. S. Air Force T-6G, 49-3319.

North American AT-6C Texan, N7055H carries construction number 88-12150.

North American AT-6D Texan, N3326G was built in 1943.

Super Tug.

North American P-51D Mustang, NL7715C Wee Willy II has been owned by Steve Hinton since September 1985. This Mustang has adopted the identity of the Red Baron RB-51 racer, once the fastest piston powered aircraft in the world. Its original serial was 44-84961, but it carries 413334 on its tail. The Air Force disposed of it at McClellan Air Force Base, California in 1958. It was purchased by Capitol Airways of Nashville, Tennessee and registered as N7715C. In July 1964 it was acquired by Charles Willis Jr., Frank Lynitt, and Charles Hall of Seattle, Washington. They raced it as #5, first named "Red Baron", then "Miss RJ". Gunther Balz of Kalamazoo, Michigan bought it in July 1971 and changed its name to "Roto-Finish", keeping race number 5. John Sliker of Wadley, Georgia picked it up in October 1973, but sold it to Ed Browning of Brownings Incorporated in Idaho Falls the following February. Brownings Inc. installed a Rolls Royce Griffon engine with contra-rotating propellers and called it the "Red Baron" RB-51. It first flew with the Griffon engine on March 6, 1975. It set the world's piston engined speed record of 499.018 miles per hour on August 14, 1979. It crashed with Steve Hinton at the controls at the Reno Air Races that September. Hinton survived the crash. Richard Ransofer of Grapevine, Texas acquired the wreckage in 1980. Steve Hinton and Fighter Rebuilders at Chino transferred the dataplate and probably a small section of the fuselage of the "Red Baron" wreck to P-51D, 44-73053 to reconstruct "Wee Willy II". It first flew after reconstruction in September 1985. Some of the hulk of the RB-51 was acquired by Terry and Bill Rogers of Sherman, Texas in 1989 to be used in another Griffon powered race conversion, but Rogers' efforts were diverted into the rebuilding of Vendetta into Miss Ashley II.

North American SNJ-5 Texan, N1038A War Dog was built in 1944. Its U.S. Navy Bureau Number was 90917 and it still wears that number on its tail. It has been a familiar sight on the airshow circuit for many years. It is owned and piloted by John Collver.