Warbird Information Exchange

Just a few feeble attempts with my Iphone, but I'm sure the expert photographers will come along soon. This year they changed up the flight pattern a bit with a figure 8 type deal. (like a few years ago with the batch of P-51's) Much better IMO. Highlight (for me) was the P-36. Nothing else we haven't seen before but as usual a great variety of nice stuff.

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[Thread title is ridiculous btw]

Thanks for posting Mark.

Cool stuff indeed

I have to wonder how to keep an airplane like that P-36 under wraps for basically an entire life time.
She sure looks sweet!

Andy

Super pics that evoke strong feelings. That Seversky is really something else. I particularly enjoy the last two shots. Scalecraft display- awesome. And coke-machine aviation art- impressive. Jealous of you sunny Californians.

nice!!

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Great pics. Thanks for the post. Very enjoyable to look at after spending 2 weeks with " Lucky Lady"!

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A&P/I.A., A.A.S./Aviation Maintenance technology
Warbird salvage/recovery
One day I'll get that P-40!

Thanks so much for your photos (this thread and so many others), Mark.

Guess I'm just gonna have to drag my photo-snapping ex-wife (forever my best friend) and my moldy ol' video camera to Chino next year.................

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Steve Turner, USAF aircraft refueler 54+ years ago.

Thank you Mark for posting these. I'm going to make that show one of these years...

Those pictures came out great, Mark!

Thanks for posting them.
Andrew

Wow.....just one word.....TKS.....

NICE photos! It was a great show as usual and seeing the P-36 fly was a special bonus this year.

The 4-ship Heritage Flight with an F-22, F-86, P-51 and P-38 is better than you will see at about 99% of other air shows with Heritage Flights this year.

Would love to see some flying photos of the P-36 and some of the other great warbirds posted.

Along with the P-36 and AT-12 the Friday evening "Twilight" show also saw the Peashooter airborne. Quite a collection of pre-war heavy metal which made the show for me. I would have made the trip to see the P-36 all by itself so everything else was just icing on the cake! Congrats to PoF on another great show and I hope they were able to put lots of dollars in the coffer.

The P-36 wasn't "secret" to the Planes of Fame volunteers, but Matt Nightengale asked us to keep it quiet. It was rolled out and made it's maioden flight the week before the airshow "practice day." I understand it had about 6+ hours on it when it flew in the Friday practice. Overall a very nice-looking aircraft, it will go to Duxford and Steven Gray at some point when he wants it.

I hadn't seen the Bf 108 before, either. The AT-12 is one of my favorites and it flies infrequently but very well. The normal pilot is John Maloney. The normal pilot for the P-26 is Steve Hinton or John Maloney. From the pics I have seen, John probably flew it.

The Canadian F/A-18 was a very good show and came past the tower at Mach 0.97 on Saturday and Sunday. That was great to see and hear. I had dinner with the F-22 and F/A-18 guys Saturday night and they had some interesting things to say. The Canadians were quite happy to look at our A6M5 Model 52 Zero during it's major overhaul, and were very interested in the YP-59A.

The Raptor team presented the Planes of Fame with an autographed pitcure plaque and said they had a great time at our show and wanted to be asked back. Naturally, we will see that happens ... before the next airshow.

Friday was hot, Saturday a bit cooler and Sunday was very comfortable.

If anyone gets a chance next year, come see us in early May 2016 and catch the show.

We got our Northrop N9M-B Flying Wing's engine installed, but it wasn't run-in or flight-tested yet, so it didn't fly this year in the show. When I say "we," I mean oterh people than me. I understand John Maloney put in an all-nighter or two.

We DID have one bit of "interesting" action Saturday. There was a Cessna 206 pilot who called center and requested landing at Chino. He was told Chino was closed and that he could not land. He turned his radio off, squawked 7500, and landed straight-in anyway, right in the middle of Sean Tucker's act! He stopped short and taxied over to the far side of the south runway. Sherriff's cars responded and it turns out the pilot had no medical, the plane had no airworthiness certificate, and there is a recording of him asking to land at Chino and being told it was closed, and responding!

Not sure why anyone would DO that, but I AM sure his wallet will be sonewhat lighter when the FAA, State of California, County of San Bernadino, City of Chino, and Chino airport all get their respective bites out of him.

A second, less-interesting bit was that our TBF Avenger had a bird-strike on Thursday ... a Turket-Buzzard centered right in the engine opening. No damage, but we DID have to remove the cowling and clean out cooked Turkey-Buzzard. It wasn't fun, but the TBF flew all three days in the airshow. We probably had the only "bloody" Wright R-2600 in the entire show. More elbow grease (thanks, Justin!) and it's sparkling clean again today, ready to asault any birds that don't follow their agreement to "break down" when the TBF comes up from behind.

We had a two F-22's, one CF/A-18, a C-17, a Navy P-3, and some assorted interesting types. We has an EC-121 on static display, too, and you could go through it and look in on some obsolete electronics.

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There are two kind of aircraft, fighters and targets

Great info Greg ! Thanks ! Any update on the Hinton & friends' BearCat " GulfHawk 4th"? Too bad for the T.Buzzard ! Turkey-1, T.Buzzard -0 ! Thanks again !

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WWI & WWII Warbird Fan.

Thanks for the additional information Greg, very interesting. We wondered why the N9M did not participate this year and now we know! Also appreciate the info on the 206 "incident". We were there Saturday and heard wind of the situation but, of course, were not privy to the details. Very strange! Regarding some of your other comments I will add that the Me-108 was really beautiful and was one of the stars of the show for me. I am generally no fan of the blow torches but the Canadian Hornet demo was very well done and I actually enjoyed it for a change. Maybe it was just the BoB commemorative paint job or something but it seemed better than the "usual". And I may be sticking my foot in my mouth here but I was quite happy to see that Clay and the Lear stayed firmly planted on the ground! At least on Saturday. I have nothing but the greatest of respect for Mr. Lacy but the Lear routine does absolutely nothing for me. Now if we could just get "Tumbling Bear" to retire!

The F8F Bearcat that would be Steve's is slowly being restored. It has both wings on it now and is on the gear with the tail feathers in place. The "power egg" is already done. But ... it is Steve's airplane and so in not a paying job. They work on it when Steve has some slack time in the schedule. I have no projected target date and would ask Steve before I posted it anyway.

I, too, liked the Bf 108. We have one to restore but we need a fuselage jig. There is one on the field but it is not available to us for use. The engine is VERY similar to the Argus AS-10 used in our Fieseler Storch ... but not the same. In our Storch AS-10 you oil the top end every 25 hours. In the Bf 108 you disassemble the top end and clean out the grease residue every so many hours ... not sure of the time, but the maintenance for the two engines is very different according to a couple of people who should know.

Speaking of our Storch, the AS-10 is out being restored. Will be nice when we get it back.

The guy you have to feel sorry for is Cory O'Bryan. He starts the Boeing P-26 and had bruises on his inner thighs from hitting the flying wires as he cranks the starter up. Not for the faint of heart or people who hate to get bruised.

Clay's Lear flew Sunday. Tthe kids like it and that ain't no stock Lear! It has a LOT of modifications on it.

We volunteers don't get to see the P-26 or AT-12 fly any more than you do since we only fly at very irregular intervals, usually 2 - 3 years apart. The Flying Wing will be back in the air soon.

Target date for our A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen to come out of overhaul is December 2015 and the YP-59A is slated to follow it into Fighter Rebuilders ... unless it slips again. If it goes in on schedule, it may make next year's show. Many of us who have years of work in it certainly HOPE so. We are in the middle of final cleanup and paint of the fuselage interior now. after that, it's up to the guys in Fighter Rebuilders.

I have 2 years in on the starboard stub wing of the O-47 and we are only about half done. Of course we only work on it about 6 hours on Saturday, so 2 years isn't all that many hours.

Hopefully you all noticed that we stripped and polished the F-86 ... well ... the fuselage is polished and the wings are painted. We replaced slat bearings and did some general maintenance-type repairs (dings, screws, nutplates, etc.), and the engine is in fine shape. When I say "We" I mean the guys at Fighter Rebuilders, not the volunteers, All they have to do now is the stenciling. There are some 140 stencils for the Saber! Basically you write a short novel on the side of the plane ... when you get time to do it. "This Space Intentionally Blank, " and all that stuff.

One of my favorites flew; the Pilatus P-2. It is altogether a neat little trainer and has an air-cooled inverted V-12 that is basically a 12-cylinder version of the Argus AS-10. Not sure how many are flyable, but it is a very nice warbird and you can take a friend along and even let him or her fly the plane some.

Incidentally Mark Allen, those are some good pics! Thanks!

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There are two kind of aircraft, fighters and targets