Planes of Fame Museum 50th Anniversary
Saturday, January 6, 2007

(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any picture below.)

The Planes of Fame Museum at the Chino Airport commemorated its 50th Anniversary with a flight of warbirds on Saturday, January 6, 2007. They flew the Peashooter, a Lightning, a Warhawk, a Spitfire, a Thunderbolt, two Mustangs, a Corsair, a Bearcat, two Skyraiders, a Texan, and a Fennec. A large crowd turned out for the event. The weather was clear and high winds the day before had blown away the smog.

Steve Hinton acted as the Master of Ceremonies. Aviation photographer Frank Mormillo and Planes of Fame founder Ed Maloney spoke about the long history of the museum.

Restoration Hangar

Another A6M Zero has joined the Planes of Fame collection. It was recently recovered in Russia. It is already fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine.

YP-59A 42-108777 is the oldest surviving Airacomet. It is nearing airworthy condition.

Northrop N9M-B Flying Wing, N9MB is being repaired following an engine fire.

Waist gunner's blister from a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer. Perhaps it will be incorporated in the restoration of a former tanker to stock configuration.

Warbird Flight

North American P-51D Mustang, NL5441V Spam Can has belonged to the Planes of Fame Air Museum since June 1957. It flew for the Army Air Force as 45-11582 and it still wears that number on its tail.

Supermarine Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF has been registered to Chino Spitfire LLC of Houston, Texas since December 2001. Data about NX2TF from the Airworthy Spitfires Page of the Military Airshows in the U.K. web site:

Built by Vickers-Armstrong at Castle Bromwich early 1944. To 6 MU April 28th passed to 84 Support Group Unit May 30th. Allocated to 443 (RCAF) Sqn Ford June 2nd coded 21-T. In action on D-Day by late June based at St Croix-sur-Mer, Normandy. June 26th claimed Fw190 damaged/probable over Rouen, July 13th Bf109 damaged/probable over Normandy. Two Bf109s destroyed September 29th. Subsequently issued to 442, 401, and 441 Sqns. To 29 MU August 1945 and stored. Sold back to Vickers-Armstrong, South Marston October 31st 1946 and converted to 2-seat trainer for Indian Air Force by October 1948, tested as G-15-11 and delivered to IAF and became HS543. In IAF Museum, Palam 1967; bought by Senator Norman E. Garr in April 1971. Arrived Charleston March 15th 1972 and stored at New Orleans until November 1972, sent to Darrell Skurich, Fort Collins, Colorado for restoration but little done before being traded to Stephen Grey and freighted to UK. Restored by PPS at Booker, registered G-BJSG January 29th 1981 and flew February 10th 1984. Was based at Duxford and operated by TFC. ML417 suffered an undercarriage collapse while parked at Le Touquet in 1999 and was given a major overhaul at Duxford. Flew again after 2 years at Duxford on 18th June 2001. Sold to Tom Friedkin, registered to 'Chino Spitfire Ltd' as NX2TF and shipped to USA in December 2001.

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.

P-51D NL5441V Spam Can

P-40N NL85104

P-51D NL5441V Spam Can and P-51D NL7715C Wee Willy II. 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.

Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF

P-51D NL5441V Spam Can and P-51D NL7715C Wee Willy II

P-51D NL5441V Spam Can and P-51D NL7715C Wee Willy II were photographed by the occupants of a Beechcraft Bonanza.

Skyraider Bob Grondzik in the cockpit of Douglas A-1H Skyraider, NX39606.

Douglas A-1H Skyraider, NX39606 is registered to Warbird Aircraft of San Diego. 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.

Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF

P-40N NL85104

Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF

P-40N NL85104 and Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF

A-1H NX39606 and North American T-28A Fennec, N632NA. Fennec, N632NA was ordered by the Air Force as 51-7632 but it was diverted to L'Armee de l'Air as Fennec No. 1 in 1959. Its construction number is 174-485. It spent some time in the service of the Moroccan Air Force as CN-AEP. It was transferred to the FA Honduras as FAH-227 in 1978. It was registered in Honduras as HR-226A. Courtesy Aircraft Incorporated of Rockford, Illinois gave it its current registration in September 1985. William S. Sullivan of Verona, New Jersey bought it in 1987 and sold it to DMS Management of Manchester, New Hampshire in 1989. It has been registered to Warbird Aircraft LLC of San Diego, California since October 26, 2000

A-1H NX39606

Douglas AD-4N Skyraider, NX959AD Naked Fanny has been registered to California Warbirds LLC. of Carson City, Nevada since August 23, 2006. Its nose art was inspired by the little girl in the old Coppertone Tan, Don't Burn ad. Its construction number is 7759. It served the U.S. Navy as BuNo 126959. It was delivered to l'Armee de l'Air as No. 50 on December 7, 1960. It was delivered to F. A. Chad on April 7, 1976. It was registered in France as F-AZFP in 1989. Don Hanna and Chancellor Air of Costa Mesa, California acquired it in September 1989 and registered it as N2088V. Warbird Associates of Wilmington, Delaware bought it on June 6, 1995 and registered it as NX959AD.

An assistant hand cranks the inertial starter on Boeing P-26 Peashooter, N3378G. P-26 N3378G flew for the Army Air Corps as 33-123. It carries Boeing construction number 1899. It was transferred to the Guatemalan Air Force as 0672 on May 11, 1943. The Air Museum of Ontario acquired it in 1957. The Autonetics Division of North American Aviation restored it to airworthy condition in 1962.

Steve Hinton applauds as the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engine of P-26 N3378G coughs to life on the second try.

Spitfire LF IX E, NX2TF

P-40N NL85104

Vought F4U-1A Corsair, NX83782 is registered to the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino, California. It is the oldest airworthy Corsair. It flew for the Navy as Buno 17799 and still carries that number on its tail. It was used as a movie prop by MGM Studios. The Ontario Air Museum acquired it in 1970. It was restored to airworthy condition in 1977.

P-26 N3378G

P-26 N3378G was joined by the Beechcraft Bonanza for a short photography session.

Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat, N198F coughs a cloud of oil droplets as its R-2800 radial engine starts up. It 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.

F8F-2 N198F

F4U-1A NX83782

F8F-2 N198F

P-26 N3378G

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, NX147PF No Guts, no Glory has been registered to Prevenance Fighters Incorporated of Las Vegas, Nevada since November 22, 2006. It served the U.S. Army Air Corps as 45-49192. Its construction number is 39955731. It was transferred to FA Peruana as FAP119 in 1953. Vintage Aircraft International Limited of Nyack, New York acquired it in 1969 and registered it as N47DD. It arrived at Harlingen, Texas on September 5, 1969 and made its first flight after restoration in 1972. Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation of Chino, California bought it in April 1975 and sold it to Yesterdays Air Force/Kansas Wing at Forbes Field, Topeka, Kansas in February 1977. Robin Collard of Del Rio, Texas acquired it in January 1980, but it crashed after an engine failure on take-off for its delivery flight on February 8, 1980. John Ward of Saugus, California bought it in June 1980 and started its restoration at Tuckee-Tahoe Airport, Nevada. The Fighter Collection at Duxford, United Kingdom acquired it in 1984 and had it rebuilt by Fighter Rebuilders at Chino. It made its first flight after restoration in August 1985. It arrived at Duxford on January 22, 1986.

F4U-1A NX83782

F8F-2 N198F and F4U-1A NX83782

F8F-2 N198F

F8F-2 N198F and F4U-1A NX83782 were joined by the Bonanza.

Lockheed P-38J Lightning, NX138AM 23 Skidoo is registered to the Air Museum at Chino. It was built as Army Air Corps 44-23314. It was acquired by the Hanfield School of Aeronautics in Santa Maria, California in 1950. Jack Hardwicke of El Monte, California registered it as N29Q in 1954. He sold it to the Air Museum in Ontario, California in 1960 where it sat on static display for seventeen years. It was restored to flying condition, making its first flight on July 22, 1988. It then went to the Planes of Fame East museum in Minnesota. Bob Pond purchased it in October 1989 and registered it as N38BP. It returned to the Air Museum at Chino in 1998. It is powered by a pair of Allison V-1710 twelve-cylinder engines.