FW190 at Planes of Fame

I must confess that I really am a big fan of these new build FW190s.  What once was absent from the skies now flies again.  No matter what era of aviation, no matter what type of airplane, I love to see types that haven't been seen in the skies return to tell their story again.  Hats off to the organizations, men and the money that they invest in returning these rare aircraft to the air.  What other aircraft types would you like to see fly again?  Lockheed Vega, Northrup Gamma, Northrup P-61, Vultee P-66... who knows!?


Links - Planes of Fame - Frasca International

Chino Wrap Up

To wrap up the posts on Chino here are the links to the pictures from that long weekend.  As noted were spent some time at the Yanks Air Museum shooting pictures of their outstanding Curtiss Robin.  Detailed Robin pictures are here.  This is one of three Curtiss Robins they have.  This one being powered by a Challenger radial.

The welcome shade from the California sun was provided by my friend Les Whittlesey at his hangar.  The hangar that he calls the Cal-Aero Aviation Country Club.  If you want to develop a serious case of hangar envy take a look at these pictures!  Thanks again Les for the place to hang out! (The picture above is my wife and I standing with Les's award winning Lockheed 12.)

The complete gallery of edited airshow pictures is here.  A great Warbird Airshow and an amazing long weekend with my lovely bride.

Chino Saturday

It is Sunday morning and we are enjoying the slow start to the day. Saturdays show was worth the trip from Texas! Lots of sunshine and cool breezes. We walked the show line in the morning to get pictures and then watched the airshow from the shade of my friend Les's hangar. The large gathering of Mustangs, the formations of two Hellcats, Corsairs and Lightnings highlighted the day. Rudy Frasca's FW190 replica was on static display next to the Lyon Air Museum's B17. Word is that it made a few flights the few days before the show. Still good to see it on the show line!




So, one more day of show to go!

Friday Chino Visit

After snagging the car and checking into the hotel we made our way to the Chino airport. A friend of mine has an awesome hangar on the field (pictures to come) so we said a quick hello to him. One of the goals for this trip was to shoot pictures of the Curtiss Robin at The Yanks Air Museum. Thru a friend I made contact with the director of the museum who let me take some detailed photos of the Robin. Our friend Alan was due to arrive in his Super Swift in the early afternoon. So walking the field, visitig the museum and watching airshow practice made for a very nice afternoon. The three ship Mustang acro act, The Horsemen flew a great practice show. Sounded great and was very tight formation. To many Warbird aircraft types to name now but I counted 13 Mustangs on the show line. My first time to see the award winning Happy Jacks Go Buggy! Can't wait to see the freshly restored A36 Mustang! Weather looks good and the Warbirds seem ready!




Alan made it in his Swift after some scheduling issues with the airshow practice. We looked over some of the show line and then went to dinner. Good to catch up on flying stories with him. Winding down the evening and looking forward to the show tomorrow!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday Travel

The morning of day one of vacation I ended up stiring at about 5am. Airshow excitement started building! I dozed a time or two and finally got up about 6. My wife and I were mostly ready for the flight to Ontario, CA. So we wrapped up the packing and loaded up. Mom Linn made the airport drop for us.

Being fairly seasoned travelers my wife and I make the airport lines and boarding with ease. Most of the morning entertainment comes from watching little kids pull tiger striped roller bags and trying to tune out chatty passengers in the seats near us. Chatty Kathy and her new friend Chatty Nancy didn't stop talking until the beverage cart came by! The chatting started up again after a sip of the $300 drinks with a free trip to CA thrown in.

This will be my fourth trip to Ontario/Chino for an aviation event. The first with my bride. I prayed all week for cool temps and blue skies so we could enjoy the show together. Chino is one of those rare airports in the U. S. that offers a very large collection of historic aircraft all in one place. Just the place you want to go for an airshow with family and friends!

We will arrived late morning and plan to swing by the Chino airport in the afternoon. Check back later for an update of our Friday sightings.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone