Planes of Fame airshow May 5-6th 2018 review

Hello everyone, I'm back from my enjoyable weekend adventure to Southern California to see one of the nation's best airshows in Chino California at the Planes of Fame air museum. This year was the first year since me and my dad have been attending that we got see both days shows, which turned out to be a really good investment. Saturday's show was rough. At 1 PM it was 98 degrees with no breeze, and many of the warbirds present didn't fly, and some weren't even there yet (There was another airshow in Palm Springs where many of the warbirds were at). Sunday however was much better, at 86 degrees and a slight breeze, and almost all of the aircraft flew at some point, plus at the end of the airshow on Sunday they opened up the hot ramp to the public first time ever, something they typically only did before the show in the morning. 2018's show wasn't my favorite, but it also wasn't the worst (If we just attended Saturday than that would be a different story).

Here is 2018's list of warbirds in attendance:
P-38's-4
P-40's-4
P-47's-2
P-51's-11 (2 air racing variants)
P-63-1
B-25's-3
A-26-1
PB4Y-1
F4F-1
F6F's-2
F7F's-2
F8F-1
F4U-1
SBD-1
TBF-1
DC-3's-2
Spitfire's-3
Pilatus-1
Yak-3-1
Tora Tora Val-1
A6M Tora Tora-1
A6M's-2
P-26-1
P-35-1
P-64-1
A-1-1
T-33-1
F-86-1
Mig-15-1
Total: 54

To be brutally honest, this year's show didn't really have any new or special flights that blew me away, and there were no aircraft present I've never seen fly before. That fact doesn't take away from the fact that I got too see 54 warbirds fly, a sight you won't really see anywhere else in the U.S, so I can never be truly disappointed about a show. It wasn't a bad show, not at all, it just wasn't special or new to me. About the only thing that stood out about this year was the amount of certain aircraft at the show, there were 4 P-38's that flew, and one other that was static, 2 P-47's, a C and D, 4 P-40's, 11 P-51's (9 of them stock, the other 2 racers), and 3 Spitfire's. This year was very light on aircraft that were not apart of the USAAF. Anyway, the day started off with the National anthem flight that consisted of the two P-38's, two P-47's, and a P-51, a cool way to start the show. Then an aerobatic performance buy Rob Harrison the Tumbling bear. After that, came the airshow's second ever Golden age flight, focusing on late 1920's and 30's aircraft. Included in the demo was the P-26 Peashooter, the Seversky P-35, a rare Lockheed 12, a Dutch PT-22, and others. Following the Golden age flight, the N9MB Flying wing did it's demonstration, along with the Oracle flight team. The European Flight followed after, and for the first time in my recollection, 2 Spitfires flew at the same time. The Intermission followed, and stories from veterans were shared. The Korean war demo was next, and Saturday's showing was pretty sad, the aircraft that participated just flew around in a circle, rather than making "strafing runs" like they've always had, not to mention the Mig-15 didn't fly at all on Saturday, so the F-86 and T-33 did their dogfight with an invisible enemy I guess. Sunday however the Mig-15 returned, making it better but still lacking it's usual coolness. One of the participating Tigercat's did it's demonstration which is beautiful and impressive no matter how many times you see it. The Oracle flight team went up again, and then the sparse Pacific flight took place, still a cool flight as always, but probably the smallest Pacific flight I've seen. Following the Pacific flight, a unique and never before done flight took place. The Authentic A6M Zero, a Spitifre, and two P-51C's flew around making high speed passes together which was pretty cool. Then the Bomber flight consisting of Two B-25's and the PB4Y on Saturday, and then an added PBJ B-25 and an A-26 on Sunday. Gerg Colyer did a T-33 demo, on a sad sidenote, this year was the first time in my attending the airshow that Sanders Sea Fury Aeronautics didn't do a demo, in fact they weren't even there. Speaking of Air racing warbirds, a short mock race between the P-51's Strega and Voodoo happened, they didn't obviously fly at the speeds they normally would, and it didn't accurately portray how awesome the Reno air races are, but it was still nice to see them fly around. The show's ended with the A-10 flight demo, and the subsequent heritage flight with a P-47 Razorback and a P-38. While this year's show didn't knock my socks off, it was still a good solid show that represented the museum and the warbird community well.

 

What? All those planes and no photos!

 

It's always a good feeling to come away from an airshow with even the slightest of contentment, knowing that it was worth the effort and money.

One airshow here in the UK has been a real dissapointment in recent years. Its held annually on the beach of the seaside town of Southport which is in the northwest of England. The show used to be excellent and had a good lineup of flying aircraft, but it has declined considerably in the past few years. On the flip side of the coin, the airshows that are held at Duxford airfield each year are superb and always have a plethora of flying and static aircraft to entertain the crowds...including 13 Spitfires flying in formation.  (There are indeed 13 Spitfires in this photo. One has peeled off and can just about be seen in the distance and forward of the second from top plane in the photo).

This coming July my son and I will be travelling to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire for the R.I.A.T (Royal International Air Tattoo) airshow. Held over 3 days, the show has both static and flying displays by many of the world's modern military airforces and also has vintage WW2 aircraft in attendance.

Watch this space for a full report!

 

Awesome!

 

My eye snagged on the Rapide Dragons(?) or Dragon flys on the ground left and right...lovely looking aircraft. - Didn't see the DH.84 in the list...

 

They are beautiful aircraft, as far as I'm aware there aren't any in the U.S, when it comes down to RAF or Commonwealth aircraft, the U.S has barely any. I think there are 5 or 6 Spitfires in all of the U.S, 2 Hurricanes, 1 Mosquito, 1 Lancaster, and about 20 or 30 Sea Fury's, as well as a Fairey Firefly. Compared to European numbers, the U.S is missing out on a lot of British aircraft I'd love to see, so far I've only ever seen Spitfires, a Firefly, and Sea Fury's fly, the other's I've never seen fly.

 

There are a lot of millionaires in the US so it does probably the best in terms of private ownership...
"Acquired primarily as radio and navigation trainers for use under the Empire Air Training Scheme, the Dragons were also used in communications, rescue, freighter and air ambulance roles. During World War II, 42 of the RAAF's Dragons were written off, and after retirement in 1948, the survivors were used by a variety of airlines and the Royal Flying Doctor Service"

RAAF Museum.

 

The Lanc is Canadian, but they do a lot of work on the American air show circuit. She has shown up at MAAMs WW2 Weekend occasionly.

 

With luck, in a few weeks, I will be seeing a similar sight. But, the two aircraft will be much larger...They are named Doc and Fifi. I really hope to see them flying together, and not one up and the other on static.

 

I got too see the Two fly at Air Venture last year, beautiful sight indeed, can only imagine seeing droves of them take off out of Saipan or Iwo Jima.

 

One of the De Havilland Dragon Rapides that is in the photo was offering pleasure flights around Duxford airfield. If my memory serves me right the price was around £100 for a 15 minute flight.

On the subject of Lancasters, I had the honour of seeing both the British and Canadian Lancs flying in formation at an airshow when the Canadian aircraft was over here in the UK doing displays at various airshows for a few months. The roar of those 8 Merlin engines was something to behold.

 

Results of Akron Beacon Journal, "Beacon's Best 2017" - MAPS Air Museum

If you fly into Akron-Canton for the Hall of Fame don't miss MAPS.
Planes of Fame show last spring was spectacular.
I don't see one scheduled for this year yet.

However, on the left coast it is a busy time in May and June: Enjoy, friends.

Mothers Day Open Cockpit Day: Lockheed Electra Jr - Yanks Air Museum

Women in Aviation: Open Cockpit Day - Yanks Air Museum

Fighter Open Cockpit - Yanks Air Museum

 

Wings of Freedom - Witchcraft Consolidated's B24J

I love the witch flying the machine gun. I'll try and get my video posted here after I figure it out, she is taxiing at MAPS, Canton.

Dad was a NAVTRA pilot for B-25 Mitchell Ops at Maither during the LeMay era.

B-24J Liberator Witchcraft, World War II bomber in flying status by the Collings Foundation

 

1981 Blue Angels Team by rkline56 posted May 12, 2018 at 9:54 AM

 

I wasn't at the show last week, JJ.
Glad you had a great time.
But I saw this one in '12.

A6 M5 Mitsubishi Zero - I believe this is a great replica. There were comments after the video mentioning that only the landing gear are original equipment. The Allies bagged most, if not all of the IJAAS Zeros.

 

That's one of the great things about the show, you get to be only about 30 or even 20 feet away from the aircraft when they start their engines, you can hear the backfires and battery humming when you're that close. It's a special experience and a rarity to be that close to those beautiful machines, any closer means you're flying!