Goleta Air & Space Museum, Chino Warbird Airshow, May 21, 2006

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Chino Warbird Airshow, May 21, 2006, Flying Displays

The 2006 Chino warbird airshow really stood out for the number of long unseen participants that pushed even the Northrop N9M flying wing off the schedule. It featured flights by the Planes of Fame Boeing P-26 Peashooter, Seversky AT-12 trainer version of the P-35, and Bob Odegaard's Goodyear F2G Corsair with an R-4360 twenty-eight cylinder radial engine. Sunday was overcast and much cooler than last year. The cloud deck descended in the afternoon, so that the Air Force General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon frequently disappeared into the clouds during its aerobatic display.

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk, NL85104 was ordered by the Army Air Corps as 42-105192. It was delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force as 858. Fred Dyson bought it and 42-106396 at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington on October 23, 1947. It was owned by W. Bridges in Jackson, Mississippi from 1952 to 1954. Louis Rice of Marysville, California bought it in 1954 and very quickly sold it to Richard Rowlette of Riverside, California. Walter Brockin, also of Riverside, acquired it in 1955 and then sold it to W. Keith Larkin of Weather Modification Company in San Jose, California. It was damaged in a wheels up landing near Denver, Colorado in 1958. The Air Museum in Ontario restored it to static display condition in 1959. Restoration of the airframe was begun in 1977. It made its first flight after restoration in 1981, when it acquired its current registration. It is powered by an Allison V-1710 twelve-cylinder engine.

Yakovlev Yak-52, 2255C

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk, NL85104.

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.

National Anthem Formation

Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G

Seversky AT-12, NX55539.

North American P-51D Mustang, NL7715C Wee Willy II.

North American F-86F Sabre, NX186AM.

North American P-51D Mustang, NL7715C Wee Willy II, Seversky AT-12, NX55539, and Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G

Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G

Seversky AT-12, NX55539.

North American F-86F Sabre, NX186AM.

Seversky AT-12 NX55539, Boeing P-26 Peashooter N3378G, North American P-51D Mustang NL7715C Wee Willy II, and North American F-86F Sabre NX186AM.

Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG.

Seversky AT-12 NX55539, Boeing P-26 Peashooter N3378G, North American P-51D Mustang NL7715C Wee Willy II, and North American F-86F Sabre NX186AM.

Seversky AT-12, NX55539.

28 years ago: Seversky AT-12, NX55539 flying at the Chino Airshow on September 2, 1978.
28 years ago: Seversky AT-12, NX55539 flying at the Chino Airshow on September 2, 1978.

Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G piloted by Steve Hinton.

28 years ago: Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G and Boeing P-12 NX3360G flying at the Chino Airshow on September 2, 1978.
22 years ago: Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G flying at the Chino Airshow on May 20, 1984.

Seversky AT-12, NX55539.

Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G

World War I Dog Fight

Day Sopwith F.1 Camel, N8343.

Fokker Dr.1 triplane, N113PC.

Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG.

Fokker Dr.1 triplane, N113PC.

Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG

Day Sopwith F.1 Camel, N8343 and Fokker Dr.1 triplane, N113PC.

Boeing P-26 Peashooter N3378G, Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG, and Seversky AT-12 NX55539.

Day Sopwith F.1 Camel, N8343 and Fokker Dr.1 triplane, N113PC.

Fokker Dr.1 triplane, N113PC.

Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG.

Seversky AT-12, NX55539.

Goodyear F2G Corsair Aerobatics and Silver Wings Stearman Biplane Wing Walker

Goodyear F2G-1 Corsair, N5588N.

You can order a 1/32-scale card model of Goodyear F2G Race 57 from GreMir models for $16.00.
Link to a history of F2G-1, N5588N on the web site of the Society of Air Racing Historians.
Bob Odegaard is restoring Cook Cleland's former racing mount, F2G-1 BuNo 88463 N5577N Race #74 for the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.