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The Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino, California hosted a flying display of numerous warbirds in early October. I shot these pictures on Sunday, October 8.
To avoid any confusion, I would like to point out that I have no affiliation with the Planes of Fame Air Museum. I was just a spectator at their airshow.
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 as a one-third 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.
In 1971, the outer wing panels of the N9MB were stored in a vacant lot near the Ontario Airport with a number of airplanes from the Planes of Fame collection. They are at the far left, next to the forward fuselage of B-36H, 51-5720.
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.
F6F-5 Hellcat, N4994V at an airshow at George Air Force Base on May 4, 1975.
Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless NX670AM is registered to the Air Museum
at Chino, California. It was built as Navy BuNo 28536 but
delivered to the Royal New Zealand Air Force as NZ5062. After the
war it was used as a wind machine by MGM Studios. Wings from
another SBD were recovered from Guadalcanal to return this
Dauntless to flying condition in 1987. It flew its first flight
after reconstruction on February 7, 1987. Note the perforated
dive brakes and the swinging bomb cradle. It is powered by a
Wright R-1820 radial engine.
19 years ago: Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless, NX670AM on display at the Air Museum Planes of Fame on October 18, 1987.
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.
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. It is powered by
a Wright R-1820 radial engine.
F8F-2 Bearcat, N198F on the flightline at the Chino Airport on September 2, 1978.
Grumman F3F Flying Barrel N20FG is owned by Cinema Air of
Carlsbad, California. It was manufactured by the Texas Airplane Factory. It is powered by a Wright R-1820 radial engine.
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
North American P-51D Mustang 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.
The Planes of Fame Museum's Republic P-47G "razorback"
Thunderbolt is registered N3395G. Its original serial was
42-25254. It was manufactured under license by Curtiss. It was
purchased by the Grand Central Aircraft Company of Glendale,
California in 1944. Cal Aero Technical Institute used the
airframe as a mechanic training aid from 1950 to 1955. The
Claremont Air Museum acquired it in October 1955. It was restored
to flying condition at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The
restoration began in 1958, and it first flew in 1963, when it
received its current registration. It flew as Roscoe's Retreat
for a while. It crashed during an airshow at Pt. Mugu Naval Air
Station, California on October 23, 1971. The next time it flew
was in 1976. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial
engine.
NX498SD is a single seat conversion
of a Yak-11 trainer. It has been retrofitted with a Pratt and
Whitney R-2000 radial engine. It is registered to Samuel Davis of
Corona, California.
At the right is North American
P-51D Mustang, "Wee Willy II", owned by Steve Hinton
and registered NL7715C. 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.
Debut of the Red Baron RB-51 Griffon powered Mustang at the Mojave Air Races in June 1975. The vertical stabilizer was enlarged and a ventral fin was added not long afterward.
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, is registered to Ted Melsheimer of
Carson City, Nevada as N47DF. It was built as 45-49335, but it
carries tail number 45-49385. In the early seventies it was owned
by Vintage Aircraft International of Nyack, New York. It was
reassembled by the Confederate Air Force in Harlingen, Texas in
1973 and flew as "Unadilla Killa" of the 354th Fighter
Group. In 1974 it was sold to Tom Friedkin of Palomar,
California. In April 1975 it went to the Military Aircraft
Restoration Group at Chino, which stored it at Barstow-Dagget
airport in California for several years. It crashed on take-off
on March 7, 1980 at Barstow. It was rebuilt in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After that it was based in Caspar Wyoming through 1986. It was
loaned to the Liberal Air Museum in Liberal, Kansas until 1990.
In October 1990 it made a forced landing near Flagstaff, Arizona
while it was being ferried from Topeka, Kansas to Chino. It is
powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine.
P-47D Thunderbolt, "Unadilla Killa" at
George Air Force Base on May 4, 1975.
P-47D Thunderbolt, "Unadilla Killa" at Barstow in 1978 or 1979. Photo courtesy David Gibson.
"Joltin' Josie", Lockheed
P-38J Lightning, NX138AM 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.
Lockheed P-38J "Joltin'
Josie" and William Greenwood's two-place Supermarine
Spitfire Mk. Tr 9. The Spitfire is registered N308WK. It was
provided to the Irish Air Corps as 163 in 1951. The Irish used it
as an instructional airframe at Baldonel Air Base, Eire until
1968. Samuelson Film Services in Elstree restored it to flying
condition for the movie Battle of Britain in 1968. At the time,
it received the registration G-AWGB. Sir W. Roberts of Shoreham
acquired it in December 1969. It was sold to Don Plumb of
Windsor, Ontario in 1970 and registered as CF-RAF. Plumb
converted the trainer to a single seat configuration. In 1975 the
registration was revised as C-FRAF. Later in 1975, it was sold to
Thomas Watson of the Owls Head Transport Museum in Maine and
registered as N92477. Woodson Woods of Scottsdale, Arizona bought
it in October 1979, at which time it received its current
registration. Woods converted it back to its stock trainer
configuration and displayed it at the Carefree Aviation Museum.
It was acquired by Aero Meridian Corporation, also of Scottsdale,
in November 1982. Greenwood bought N308WK in 1983. It is powered
by a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine.
Brian Sanders in Hawker Sea Fury FB
Mk. 11, "Argonaut" with smoke generators on the wing
tips. Its original Bristol Centaurus engine has been replaced
with a Wright R-3350 radial engine.
General Motors FM-2 is a license
built version of the Grumman F4F Wildcat. This one has been
registered as N29FG since July 1991. Air Service Control
Incorporated of West Bend, Wisconson registered it as N90523 in
the early fifties. They sold it to Frank Tallman's museum at the
Orange County Airport, California in 1960. Wade Porter of
Columbus, Indiana bought it in 1963 and sold it to the Yankee Air
Club of Sunderland, Massachusetts in 1966. It joined the Damned
Yankee Air Force at Turner Falls, Massachusetts later that year.
William Whitesell of Medford, New Jersey acquired it in 1969 and
sold it to Doug Champlin on Enid, Oklahoma in 1971. He moved it
to the Champlin Fighter Museum at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona
in 1978. Tom Friedkin of Cinema Air in Houston, Texas bought it
from Champlin in December 1990 and registered it as N16TF. He
moved it to Cinema Air of Carlsbad, California and re-registered
it as N29FG the next year. It is powered by a Wright
R-1820 radial engine.
General Motors FM-2, N29FG was displayed at the Champlin Fighter Museum on December 31, 1981
Aichi D3A Val replica is a modified
Consolidated-Vultee BT-15 that was sold to the civilian market in
the 40's. It was modified to represent a Japanese Val for the
1969 movie TORA TORA TORA. The modification consisted of an extra
3 feet of fuselage added between the rear cockpit and the tail, a
large fiberglass dorsal fin, raised sides of the fuselage and
lower canopies. The modifications also incorporated large
fiberglass wheel pants. Its Wright R-975 engine was replaced with
a Pratt and Whitney R-1340. After the movie was completed the Val
was sold to the San Diego Aerospace Museum. The Planes of Fame
Museum collected the Val back in 1973. It was returned to
airworthy condition for the new Disney Pearl Harbor film.
Visit Muche's Warbirds Val Replica page for more information.
Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" NX46770 is
registered to the Planes of Fame Museum of Chino. It was captured
by U. S. troops at Asilito Airfield, Saipan on June 18, 1944. It
was shipped to the U. S. for evaluation, arriving in San Diego,
California on July 16, 1944. It was flown for approximately 190
hours by Navy pilots at Patuxent River Naval Air Station,
Maryland. Ed Maloney acquired it for the Air Museum in Claremont
in 1950. It first flew after restoration on June 28, 1978. It is
powered by an original Sakai 21 radial engine.
The A6M leads a pair of Corsairs and a Mustang at the Chino Airshow on May 20, 1984.
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.
P-40N Warhawk, NL85104 at the Chino Airport on October 18, 1987.
North American B-25J "Photo
Fanny" 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.
B-25J, N3675G was painted olive drab over gray and named "Betty Grable" when it appeared at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station airshow on April 28, 1990.
North American B-25J Mitchell,
"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.
Ted Itano's B-25J, "Pacific Princess" was painted as a Navy PBJ when it appeared at the Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station airshow on October 17, 1982.
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.