2013 Airshows
Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH

Planes of Fame 2013 Airshow Warbird Photo Review
"Lightning Strikes Chino"
Warbirds at Chino Airport, Chino, CA - May 4-5, 2013
"The Gold Standard of Warbird Airshows"  

Actually there were five Lightning Strikes as five of six of the flyable P-38s in the US were overhead all together at the show. 

Sunday's one and only P-38 formation fly-by.

P-38L "Thoughts of Midnite" owned by Comanche Fighters (Tom and Dan Freidkin) in Houston, TX.

P-38L "Honey Bunny" from Vintage Fighters (Jack Croul) in Hailey, ID and Chino, CA.

There was no nose art on this P-38 when at this show.

P-38J "23 Skidoo" owned by the Plans of Fame Museum.

P-38L "Tangerine" is from the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon and just came out of restoration.  Actually the aircraft is registered to Jack Erickson of Erickson Helicopters as many of the aircraft in that Museum are actually Mr. Erickson's aircraft.

Spectators are are allowed out onto the flight line from 8-10:30 in the morning where all of the fighters and light bombers are located.  Once the flying starts the start-up and taxi of the warbirds all takes place in front of the crowd.  Here we are looking west down the flight line.

P-38F "Glacier Girl: own by Rod Lewis of San Antonio, TX and flown by Steve Hinton.

There were issues on Saturday's one fly-by.  Number four was able to pull in a little closer so one could capture four in the lens when directly overhead but not five P-38s as number five was off flying by himself.  Wind was a factor.  So was pilot inexperience in the P-38 for one of them.  By happenstance it turns out I was able to talk with the daughter of one of the P-38 pilots on Monday's flight out of Ontario, CA.  She told me after the show on Saturday they went out and did some air to air photo work and also changed out to a more experienced formation rated P-38 pilot for Sunday's event.

This F-5C belongs to the Yanks Air Museum which is also at Chino and has a nice collection of flyable aircraft, at least on paper.  While this photo recon version of the P-38 carries an N number it currently is not being flown.

According to my memory there were another 42 premium warbirds flying at the 2013 Planes of Fame Airshow, so the P-38s, while the lead item in the advertising were just a small part of the entire show.  See my table below for the entire listing.

Airfield orientation for photographers:  Facing south and the sun with an east-west the show line.  The sun was out for Saturday but the smog will reduce the clarity on many photos.  Sunday was for the most part cloudy and overcast.

The over 70 photos on the page are a mixture of both Saturday (Blue Sky) and Sunday (Gray Sky).  Not all of the warbirds at the event are pictured here as I have picked what I think are the best photos that capture the essence of each part of the event along with the rarer of the warbirds flying.  The best way for someone to experience this great show is to go to it.
 

Missing Man after National Anthem:

Who would have thought one could put together such an opening to the show with such diverse aircraft?  P-26, P-40C, P-51 and F-86.  Needless to say once past the crowd the F-86 poured the coals to the engine. 

The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the front line fighter for the US Army Air Corps in the early 1930s.  Ten years later it was the P-51 Mustang and 20 years later it was the F-86.  The opening formation captured 20 year of technological advancement.

Pacific Battle Demonstration: This 25 minute long section of 12 warbirds gave the crowd at least 10 passes of each with the exception of the PBY and J2F.  The fighters and bomber take off, and go into a right hand traffic pattern behind the crowd and by the time the last one had taken off the first one is coming around to start the series of high speed, low banana passes.  Extreme in its simplicity, it maximizes the spectators' satisfaction because there is always a warbird in front of the crowd.  This is a lot of flying.  For the $20 admission fee and free parking one can not beat the price of the show itself.

How fast is a Bearcat and how slow is a PBY? Very fast and very slow!!  Here the Bearcat passes the PBY like it is standing still.

Here the D4Y "Judy" dive bomber is tugged out to the flight line.


Here it is taxiing down the runway.

The Corsair on the left is the oldest of its type still flying.

This Grumman F3F "Flying Barrel" is a one of a kind flyer and was the front line fighter for the US Navy just prior to WWII.

This may be the oldest Corsair flying, but it can still show its stuff as this pilot in particular was very adept at getting down really low. Low is standard at Chino.  Really low like this is always a bonus!

The Planes of Fame Airshow does an excellent job of bringing in WWII veterans to speak on their experiences during the war which are broadcast over the PA system before the flying starts and during an intermission the show has.  So who is this young lady?  Was she a WASP?  No.  This is Margaret Kerry telling her story of entertaining with the USO during the war.  She was born in 1929 and started dancing in movies when she was four and some of us may have even seen her in the Spanky and our Gang series that replayed on TV in the fifties.  Also for those of us that remember the original Tinker Bell from the 1950's animated Walt Disney Peter Pan film might see a resemblance between Margaret and Tinker Bell, as Margaret did the modeling for the animators for ten months to transfer her movements and posses to be used in the film. Also, I hope when I am her age I still have all the enthusiasm she showed at the show!!

Korean Battle Demonstration:  This 30 minute section of the show included 11 warbirds which again used the behind the crowd pattern to put the maximum amount of warbirds in front of the crowd in the shortest time.  Adding to the showmanship was a T-6 "Mosquito" Forward Air Controller (FAC) that was flying 400-500 feet or so down the show line doing figure 8's.  All the aircraft went to a discrete frequency which was then broadcast over the PA system as the FAC contacts each aircraft as it turned base to "tell" him where to drop its ordnance in this scenario.  This added a totally new dimension to the show and is the only time I am aware a show has done this to this extent.

One does not see too many five bladed Sea Furies around any more.

n

Corsairs inbound on one of their many low passes for the day.

This is something new in that I have never seen a Skyraider extend the speed brake.


Not good for the home team here.  During the scenario the Mig-15 comes in attacks the UN Aircraft and then one of the T-33s that are simulating P-80s breaks out to try and defend the rest of the aircraft.  Bad idea!  The FAC then scrambles the F-86 which launches to engage the Mig-15 and rescue the T-33/P-80 and the others. 

Advantage F-86 after a high speed "dog fight" back and forth in front of the crowd.

P-38 Heritage Flight:  This was different.  The continuation of Heritage Flights without the current US military aircraft.  Works for me.

"23 Skidoo" and "Thoughts of Midnite" coming around the corner for the first pass.

This is a Sunday photo and shows the traditional Heritage Flight Criss-Cross, which I missed on Saturday.  Actually on Sunday I was in a better position to photograph it.

European Fighter Demonstration: This 30 minute section was similar to the previous warbird demonstrations.  Lots of fly-bys, engine noise and low passes.

This the first time I have seen any of the FW-190s start up or fly.

P-63 is from the Palm Springs Air Museum and is a regular at the show.

Note the markings on the Spitfire.  This is a China-Burma-India Theatre roundel non-standard British identification.  The normal red has been removed to make sure there was no chance of it being misidentified as a Japanese aircraft and subject to friendly fire.

This P-51 photo was taken on Saturday from the east portion of the crowd line which faces runway 21-3.  The aircraft line up on 21 as can be seen from this photo and the pilot is starting his bank for his banana pass down the main show line that lines up with runway 26-8, which is where airshow center is located.

Here on Sunday I was down on the west end facing the show line on 26-8 as the same P-51 can be seen in the banana pass.  Each location gives a different prospective on the warbirds as they come by.

P-38 Five Ship:  This 25 minute block of flying was shown at the top of this page.

P-38 Aerobatic Demonstration:  Sunday only due to a mechanical issue on Saturday

Steve Hinton was flying P-38F "Glacier Girl" for the weekend and also did the demo in it on Sunday.

Dennis Sanders Sea Fury Aerobatic Demonstration:  Ten minutes.  Dennis and his brother Brian are the sons of Frank Sanders.  The Sanders name and Sea Furies have been associated for as long as I can remember.  All three of the Sanders can do a ground level aerobatic routine in the aircraft.

Just a touch fuzzy but I was trying to capture the Sea Fury down low with the second one in the foreground.

Bomber Fly-bys (B-25 and C-47):  20 minutes. The B-25s flew the racetrack pattern behind the crowd while the C-47s turned away from the crowd due the disparities in air speed.

B-25s in a fighter break for landing.

This C-47 worked real hard to give us the transport version of a low, high speed pass.

Northrop N9M Flying Wing Demonstration:  Ten minutes.  This has become a staple of the show each year

Clay Lacy Lear Jet Aerobatic Routine:  Ten minutes.

On Saturday before going into his routine Clay Lacy needed to burn off some fuel so he gave several low passes like this.  Clay has over 50,000 hours of flight time and has been a winner at the Reno Air Races.

John Collver T-6 "War Dog" Aerobatic Routine:  Ten minutes.

Bonus:

On late Sunday after noon I heard some radials start up down to the west of me which puzzled me as the B-25s and C-47s that were also located down there  had already launched and were in the air.  (Note the C-47 flying in the background.)  Due to tents and the grandstand between me and the sound of the engines, I could not see what aircraft this was.  Then appearing from the west on the ramp was the Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer that had been on static the rest of the weekend.  What an unexpected and welcome surprise!

This was a Sunday departure only.  For most if not all of us it was the first time we have seen a Privateer fly.

f
For five dollars this all color program was a good deal. 

Titusville (Tico), FL   NAS Key West, FL   Chino, CA   Indy 500 Fly-Over   Reading, PA WWII Weekend   CWH Show, Hamilton, ONT   Dayton, OH   Muncie, IN   Topeka, KS   Purdue University, IN   Thunder over Michigan, Belleville, MI   Hillsdale, MI   Marion, IN   Waukegan, IL   Glendale Airport, Kokomo, IN   Rome, GA   Peachtree City, GA   Houston, TX   Urbana, OH B-25 Gathering   B-25 Doolittle Memorial Fly-over at Dayton, OH