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picture below. Pictures on the right side of the page show the
same airplanes at earlier appearances.)
The Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino, California hosted a flying display of numerous warbirds in early October. I shot these pictures on Saturday, October 6.
Founded over 43 years ago, The Air Museum "Planes of Fame," a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to preserving aviation history for the benefit of future generations. Currently, The Air Museum houses over 150 aircraft at its two locations, the main facility at chino Airport in California and a satellite museum near the Grand Canyon at Valle Airport in Arizona. The Air Museum displays aircraft spanning the history of manned flight, from a replica of the Chanute Hang Glider of 1896, through modern space flight, and includes numerous milestone achieving test and research flight vehicles.
Northrop N9MB Flying Wing is now registered N9MB, although it
carried no registration when it was flown in the 1940s as a
1/3-scale, free-flying, wind-tunnel model of the XB-35 bomber. It
is owned by the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino, California.
It is powered by a pair of Franklin OX 540-7 eight-cylinder
opposed engines.
Northrop N9MB Flying Wing, N9MB made one of its
first public appearances after its restoration at the Edwards AFB
Open House on October 21, 1995 
Korean War vintage North American
F-86F Sabre is owned by Tom Friedkin of the Cinema Air
Corporation and registered N4TF. Its Air Force serial was
52-5012. MiG-15 was registered by the Air Museum at Chino as
NX87CN in February 1999. It was operated by the Chinese Air Force
as 83277. Tom Friedkin first registered it in the U. S. in June
1991.
Grumman TBF-3 Avenger, NX7835C was registered by The Air Museum
of Claremont, the predecessor to the Planes of Fame Museum, in
1958. Its Grumman construction number is 4169.
Grumman TBF-3 Avenger, NX7835C at Chino on May
20, 1984. 
Douglas A-1H Skyraider, NX39606 has been registered to Warbird
Aircraft of San Diego for less than a year. Its Navy Buno was
139606 and it was delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force. It
was recovered through Thailand by Yesterday's Air Force in 1980.
It was registered as N3915B by Military Aircraft Restoration
Corporation at Chino in 1983. The Donald Douglas Museum at Santa
Monica registered it as NX39606 in July 1988 and passed it on to
the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in 1990.
Visit the Santa Monica Museum of Flying web site.
Douglas A-1D (AD-4NA) Skyraider, NX409Z has been owned by Cinema
Air of Carlsbad, California since 1992. It still carries its
original Bureau of Aeronautics number 126997. It was loaned to
the French Armee de l'air as No.78 in 1961. It was re-imported to
the United States by Jack Spanich of Detroit, Michigan in 1977
and registered as N92053. It was sold to Landon Cullum of Dallas,
Texas in July 1986, when it received its current registration. It
is powered by a Wright R-3350-42 radial engine.
North American B-25J Mitchells
Pacific Princess N9856C and Photo Fanny N3675G.
North American B-25J, N3675G registered to James Maloney of Corona Del Mar, California. Its Army Air Corps tail number was 44-30423. It joined the Air Museum in Ontario, California in 1965. It is often used for air-to-air photography sessions of the warbirds flying out of Chino. It is powered by a pair of Wright R-2600 radial engines.
North American B-25J, "Pacific Princess" has been registered as N9856C since 1963. It is currently owned by Ted Itano of Monterey Park, California. It still carries its original Air Corps tail number 3-28204. While still in the service of the Air Force, it was redesignated TB-25N. Idaho Aircraft Incorporated of Boise operated it as a tanker in 1963. Dennis Smilanich of Boise owned it from 1963 to 1966. Filmways Incorporated acquired it for use in the movie Catch-22 and then sold it to Ted Itano in 1972.
North American B-25J Mitchell, N9856C Pacific
Princess at Pt. Mugu NWC on October 16, 1982. It was painted as a
Navy PBJ and did not yet have a dorsal turret.
North American B-25J Mitchell, NL9117Z is named
In The Mood. Its North American construction number is 108-33524.
Its Army Air Force serial number was 44-29199 and it still
carries that number on its tail. It appeared on the civil
register for the first time in 1963. Its first civilian owner was
A. B. Sellman of Abe's Aerial Service in Safford, Arizona.
Aircraft Specialties of Mesa, Arizona converted it to a fire
fighting tanker and gave it tanker c35. It was withdrawn from
fire fighting use by the early 1970s and left derelict at Falcon
Field. It was restored to airworthy condition in 1977-78. It has
been owned by Robert Lumbard of Fontana, California since 1986.
North American B-25J Mitchell, NL9117Z at Falcon
Field, Arizona on May 4, 1974 
Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat, N198F has been owned by Cinema Air of
Houston, Texas since June 1982. It still carries its original
Bureau of Aeronautics number 122637. It was first registered as
N1033B in 1963 by William Johnson of Miami, Florida. Subsequently
it was owned by New Jersey Air Company of Hackensack, New Jersey
from 1966 to 1968, Sherman Cooper of Merced,California from 1968
to 1971, and John Church of Hackensack, New Jersey from 1971 to
1973. John Gury of St. Louis, Missouri changed the registration
to N198F in 1973. Gury raced it under race numbers 99, 11, and
98. It was sold to John Herlihy of Montara, California in 1980
and then to Cecil Harp of Canby, Oregon in 1981.
Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat, N198F at Chino on
September 2, 1978. 
John Collver has been performing an aerobatic routine in North
Amercian SNJ-5 Texan, N1038A at airshows around southern
California for many years. Collver registered it in 1987.
North Amercian SNJ-5 Texan, N1038A at Pt. Mugu
NWC on October 27, 1985. 
Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18F
Super Hornet, 165799 from VFA-122 based at NAS Lemoore. The Super
Hornet can be distinguished from this point of view by the
trapezoidal engine inlets..
This view reveals how slender the fuselage of the Grumman
Tigercat was.
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, N4994V and F6F-3, N30FG.
Curtiss P-40N Warhawk is registered as NL85104. Its Army Air
Corps serial was 42-105192. It was delivered to the Royal
Canadian Air Force as 858. Fred Dyson bought it 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.
This bare metal Curtiss P-40N Warhawk at Chino
on May 20, 1984 may be NL85104. Can anybody help confirm its
identity? It was one of two bare metal P-40Ns flying at the show
that year. 
North American P-51D Mustang, "Wee Willy
II", owned by Steve Hinton and registered NL7715C. This
Mustang was reconstructed in part from the wreckage 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 used portions of the "Red
Baron" wreck and 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.
RB-51 Red Baron Mustang, N7715C at the Mojave
Air Races on June 20, 1975 
Curtiss TP-40N Warhawk, N999CD is owned by the Palm Springs Air
Museum. It is named Josephine. Its Curtiss construction number is
32824. Its Army Air Force serial number was 44-7084. It was
displayed by the National Air and Space Museum until 1961. Then
it was displayed at the Air Force Museum until 1965. Charles
Doyle of Rosemount, Minnesota acquired it in 1965 and restored it
to airworthy condition in 1978. Bob Pond and the Planes of Fame
East Museum bought it in 1980.
North American P-51D Mustang, Spam Can is owned
by the Planes of Fame Museum and registered NL5441V. Its original
serial was 45-11582. It has belonged to the Air Museum since June
1956. It is powered by a Packard V-1650 license built version of
the Rolls Royce Merlin.
North American P-51D Mustang, NL5441V at Pt.
Mugu NWC on October 16, 1982. 
Navy heritage flight:
Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18F Super Hornet, 165799 from
VFA-122 in formation with and Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, NX773RD.
Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18F
Super Hornet, 165799 from VFA-122. This view highlights the
enlarged leading edge extensions of the Super Hornet.
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, N4994V is registered to the Planes of Fame
Museum. The FAA database lists the museum's address as Anchorage,
Alaska. It was originally Navy BuNo 93879. It has been with the
museum since 1958 when the museum was located in Claremont. It is
powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine.
Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, NX773RD has been owned by Ray Dieckman of
Cincinnatti, Ohio since 1996. Its goodyear construction number is
3694. Its Navy BuNo was 92433 and it still carries that number on
its tail. It was displayed at the Movieland of the Air Museum at
the Orange County Airport in the 1960s.
Fairchild-Republic A-10A Warthog,
80-246 of the 355 Wing based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,
Arizona.
North American P-51D Mustang, N2580
and Republic P-47G Thunderbolt, N3395G.
Air Force heritage flight:
Fairchild-Republic A-10A Warthog, 80-246 in formation with North
American P-51D Mustang, N2580 and Republic P-47G Thunderbolt,
N3395G.
Page 1 of the Chino
Planes of Fame Air Museum, October 6, 2001 warbird special
event.
More Chino Airshows.
Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.
Go to the Airshow Page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.
Send a message to Brian.