Planes of Fame Air Museum

Finally! Here are some photos from the Planes of Fame air museum out in Chino, California that I visited during my Walt Disney Studios trip. I visited two air museums out in Chino but I've been told there are more.

Above is a 1932 Gee Bee. These things were built for speed with a thick wide front. You can see a Gee Bee in flight in the 1991 ROCKETEER movie. While I don't think this plane was used in that movie, many of the vintage aircraft at this museum have been used in movies like PEARL HARBOR.

Above: A demo space capsule. This wasn't an actual one used during the Apollo missions but this was a mock up made in the 1960s for demonstration uses.

Above: A Shoestring. Nice colors but a small plane.

The museum also has a sizable amount of foreign aircraft. Above is a 1939 German Messerschmitt Ff109 E used during WWII. The pilot was shot down but survived and landed the plane onto a lake. All that damage seen above is from it sitting on the bottom of the lake for years. However, this plane is due for restoration.

Above: While the hanger said it contained a Lightning plane from WWII, it must have been out on tour because inside was a Japanese 1940 Reisen Zero. This was used in the movie PEARL HARBOR.

Above three photos: A 1944 Hamaki "Cigar". I guess, rather than trying to restore it, they made a nice jungle crash display out of it. Kind of cool.

Another Japanese aircraft, a 1944 Shusui Swinging Sword. A very unusual shape.

Above: A 1960 Soviet Mig.

In one or two of the hangers, there were display cases surrounding the inner walls that contained probably the ultimate collection of aircraft models. Above is a model for a Jaguar jet.

Above: A model for a P-51 Mustang.

Above: A model for a B-25J Mitchell bomber from WWII.

Above: And a model for the recently retired Space Shuttle fleet. These are my personal favorites. I barely remember the last of the Apollo missions to the moon in the 1970s but I clearly remember the first Space Shuttle launch in April 1981. I even had to buy a die cast toy of the shuttle from the gift shop which I conveniently rationalized as buying for art reference but the shuttle is just too cool.

Above two photos: A 1942 B17E, The Swamp Ghost. This plane has had a VERY interesting journey. Read the photo of the sign below to read the backstory. I might have to watch the movie PEARL HARBOR again which, as I remember, had great effects but a lousy story and terrible directing and editing. I really didn't care for the movie at all but wasn't there a bit at the end about America's response to Pearl Harbor and the first mission and a downed plane? I wonder if this plane is related to those missions?

And finally, below, the Piccadilly Lilly! Or, at least, that was its screen name in the 1960s TV show 12 O'CLOCK HIGH. It was used in other movies and TV shows and seems to have the name "Kismet" on it. It was retired from the military in 1958 and last flew in 1975. But it is being restored for flight.

And below is a model of what a B-17, The Flying Fortress, looks like. There would be a gunner in the tail and the nose, two on the sides, and then in turrets on the top and bottom. The crew would also have a pilot and co-pilot/navigator along with a crewman who would drop the bombs and another to photograph the drop. So that is a crew of about 10.

Monster Cards Set 3 with Gray Tones

I'm taking a break from the Planes of Fame air museum post (I still have to Photoschlop some of my pics) and am posting some more Artist Sketch Cards. This set I posted weeks ago but finally got around to painting in some gray tones tonight.

Yanks Air Museum

I've been watching a lot of old TV shows of late instead of my usual diet of old movies on Turner Classic Movies. Part of it is just having some "Comfort" TV but also it is a love for history. Many of the shows on ME TV are as old as me. Some I've caught on reruns over the years but many I missed. And since I do prefer black and white, old 1960s shows like COMBAT! and 12 O'CLOCK HIGH appeal to tastes. Both of those shows were produced in the 1960s but tell stories from the 1940s with WWII.

I particularly have liked 12 O'CLOCK HIGH. Sure, it is full of inaccuracies (using a 50 star flag instead of a 48 star seems to be the biggest faux pas one can make) and they don't always get the stock WWII footage correct (aircraft with Air Force markings apparently came AFTER the war) but it is the storytelling that is appealing. At the end of each episode, they thank the use of an air museum field down in Ontario, California, where the show was filmed.

The program did use a B-17 bomber (The Flying Fortress) as the main aircraft. Sometimes, when I want to learn more about the history of a show, I'll poke around Wikipedia and the rest of the internet and do some research on the history of the show. In the case of 12 O'CLOCK HIGH, the main B-17, the "Piccadilly Lilly" as she was dubbed in the show, still existed at an airfield in SoCal. Since I rarely have time for stops to explore on my drives to Comic-Con and since the Wig Wam Motel was in the same region, I decided I could fit in a little exploring for it before driving back to the Bay Area.

And so I stopped at the YANKS AIR MUSEUM in Chino, California (near Ontario) and checked out the vintage aircraft on display.

Above is a 1916 Jenny, or at least what is left of one. The Jennys were the standard bi plane of WWI.

Above is a 1920 Pigeon Flying Boat. Made of wood, I don't know how practical this thing was.

Above and below is a 1939 Electra. Maybe the chrome is what is doing it but this is a beautiful bird. This is the same type that Amelia Earhart flew on her last voyage.

Above is a 1941 Owl. Used for surveying, it was also an easy target so they stopped making them.

Above and below: A 1941 Warhawk.

Above and below is a 1945 B25 Mitchell.

Above: A 1945 P51 Mustang. These birds could go quicker and farther (note the gas tanks below the wings) than previous fighter planes. They started to use one in the later episodes on 12 O'CLOCK HIGH due to production costs (B-17s involved having a larger crew or cast while the Mustang just needed one). And, if I remember correctly, they were the aircraft featured in the 1970s show BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP/BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON.

During WWII, many breakthroughs were made in tech to give one's side an advantage. By the end of the war, the Germanys had perfected the rocket. Above is a 1944 V-1 Buzz Bomb which they could launch at England from the continent rather than sending flyers with bombs.

Below is the Japanese response to the end of the war with a 1944 Ohka Kamikaze Bomber. These were essentially flying bombs for Kamikaze pilots to fly into ships. It could attach to the bottom of some of their larger aircraft. I think the wheels are added since they really didn't need landing wheels because the pilots were not expected to return or survive.

Some land transport was sprinkled through the museum like a jeep.

Above is a 1946 Bell 47D Helicopter. These are the same types used during the Korean War a few short years later and on the M*A*S*H TV show.

After the war, jets became the aircraft of choice by the military. Above is a 1958 Delta Dart. Apparently, one of these things landed its self after the pilot bailed out.

Above: Nose art.

Above: Extreme view of the front of a jet.

Above: An early version of a helicopter.

Above: Yanks has three hangers. One for old propeller aircraft, one for the jets (above), and then one with their current restoration aircraft being worked on.

Above: The more modern age as we enter the Space Age. From the "Lovell" tag on the suit, I can only assume this is Jim Lovell's NASA suit. But was this used during the Apollo 13 flight?

And above is a Soviet cosmonaut suit. I'm convinced, by the size of these things, that it was best to be short and light if one wanted a career in flight.

Above: This bird ain't gonna fly! A flight simulator.

There were plenty more aircraft at the Yanks Museum. From an artist's point of view, it was interesting to see the designs used. I also believe that art is not created in a vacuum and that history plays a part in influencing art.

But where is that B-17 I talked about? Where is the Piccadilly Lilly? Well, I asked the lady at the desk and her response was, "Oh, that is at the OTHER air museum down the street!!"

And so, next time...The Planes of Fame Air Museum!!

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

I wanted to do something with my day after the Walt Disney Studio tour besides just driving back home. Disneyland would be an all day and evening thing and the rest of my group were going on Tuesday, my travel day, plus I'm holding out for the Magic Kingdom with my niece and nephew in June. While I wouldn't go as far as to call it a Bucket List thing, I've always wanted to check out one of those Wig Wam Motels. And that is what I did.

There use to be many of these things but there are only three left now with one in Tennessee, one in Arizona, and the last in Rialto, California. I guess they parodied the Arizona one in the movie CARS but I haven't seen it (some Disney/Pixar fan I am!). They are a throwback to a time a number of decades back when people turned architecture into something Kitsch like the Brown Derby in Hollywood shaped like a derby.

The concept is to have small individual motel rooms shaped like indian teepees. The idea is so corny and fun that I had to spend a night in one so I made the drive from the Disney Studios to the local one in Rialto (San Bernardino border). I was warned that is was farther out than Burbank and, sure enough, it was about a hour and a half away. But that was okay since I had other business out in this area (which I'll get to in later posts).

I'm guessing there might have been about 20 rooms. The photos make it look nice but the area in Rialto was a little rough and run down. Technically, Route 66 doesn't exist anymore but it is still celebrated with even some local towns like Fontana doing Route 66 brickwork on the street. But not all parts of the old Route 66 are in such good shape.

I think the three Wig Wam Motels along with all the previous ones were all located along Route 66. After spending the night, I did drive for about 45 minutes down Route 66 to explore and see what was left.

Inside the teepee, the rooms are very small but cozy. The windows are small and low and the only other room is for the bathroom and shower.

These are older motels so things that we might usually find at a motel like free hairdryers were not here. Even the water heater (hidden in a compartment) was making some god-awful noises.

There was this cool old run down van parked out back. Just for show but it had some character. In all, I'm not sure if the "Kitsch" factor surpassed the "kind of old and dumpy" factor but it was something to do at least once in your life, right?

Next time: The Air Museums of Southern California!
Get your flight suit, Maverick!
While it ain't Miramar, we are going to Chino, California!!