Warbird Information Exchange

Ok...I'm ready for the "Who is this dummy?" but I'm gonna' ask anyway.
First, a little background.
Mrs. Mudge and I are considering going to the PoF airshow in May. It takes quite a bit of schedule juggling on her part but we're gonna' try if we think it's worth it. Looking at PoF's list of "flying" and "static" aircraft makes me wonder if it's worth the hassle and expense (ie. flights, rental car, motels.) we'd have to go through to get there. (We're in WV.)
Here's the question to youse troops that are yearly visitors to the show...Are there aircraft from other places that participate in the show? What might they be? The only reason I ask is that we have already made plans for MAAM (3 hr. drive), Flying Legends (42 hr. swim ), and Thunder over Michigan (8 hr. drive). Chino is a pretty hefty trip to see much the same things we'll see at the other three.
Opinions please.

Mudge the researcher

Well, Brian Sanders should be there. The P-40 Pauls usually attend, as do many of the central and northern California contingent. Firefly attended the last two years from the San Diego area as well. Some of Bob Pond's aircraft from Palm Springs always attend. Stephen Grey often has something special at the show. Planes of Fame should also have a couple of aircraft in the collection resurrected that haven't flown in a number of years.

Always the best show on the west coast or I personally will give you your money back (for the admission tickets, not the whole trip!).

I made the trip from Texas 2 years ago and felt it was well worth the $ and effort. I have seen many of these aircraft types before but I wanted to see a West Coast Warbird show. There were a few types that I felt I wanted to see in the museum too. So... I made the trip... and loved it! Now for this year it is a struggle to figure out what other West Coast show to do! Pick another one or return to Chino? Still thinking...

All that to say. It is worth it.

_________________
Blue Skies,
Dan
http://www.flytoanothertime.com

OK...thanks for the info so far.
Let me modify the question a bit.
For those of you who have been to the PoF airshow AND Flying Legends AND "Thunder", is it worth the trip.
I know measuring it against Flying Legends may be a little unfair but.....

Mudge the pedant

The Chino show is a must, for the variety of types that fly in the show.

I have been told that since the 50th anniversary of POF is approaching, that they plan to fly some of the types that haven't flown in a while this year.

We plan to take the B-25 this year to help them celebrate their anniversary.

I went to PoF in 2002 when they were doing runway work so the show was, I gather, more limited than normal, particularly warbugs etc.

Nevertheless there was plenty of good stuff - PoF residents, John Paul's P-40, Spitfire XIV + B-17 from Palm Springs and a spattering of other visiting West Coast warbirds, not to mention the H-21 and HUP-3.

I've never been to Thunder but I've been to every Legends so for a comparison:

static: Legends has a good line-up with an attractive background but there is no option to walk around the aircraft and the view is into the sun while the flightline is open. Chino: parked on the ramp with relatively benign barriers around so better chance to look around but less attractive backgrounds (they didn't put the barriers back after the Sunday show so there was even more opportunity to look around then)

show: Legends has non-stop activity for 2-3 hours with many multi-aircraft scenarios and tailchases, occasional solo displays and aerobatics and a tight mass flypast at the end. Chino had a similar length show with, generally, solo flypasts, fairly limited aerobatics and well-separated group flypasts including the finale. Chino also included modern military aircraft plus vintage jets. Chino scored for me in a big way by having the participants taxiing along the crowdline giving a good opportunity to see the aircraft and pilots. This doesn't really happen at Legends because of the crowdline layout.

cost: pales in comparison with the travel costs. However Legends = £25-£30/day ($40-50) + £5 or so for the flightline walk, Chino = $10/day with a $2 discount coupon for a further reduction.

pre-show day: both shows seem worth visiting on the Friday for arrivals, practice and the general movements around the airfields.

I'd definitely go to the Chino show if I had the time and money. The PoF collection itself is worth the effort and they don't display away too often. When I went I also tagged on a trip to the Watsonville Fly-In a week later.

HTH

_________________
Tony Andrews

I attended for the first time last year. I happened to have a business meeting the following week, and decided to arrive a few days early and take in the show. Had a great time, saw a number of aircraft types fly that I hadn't seen fly in many years.

Great show! I definitely want to go back again.

Its worth going to CHINO to see the NORTHROP flying wing fly.

Well worth a visit in my view - As a Brit, I always attend Flying Legends, but happened to coincide a visit to LA with a PoF show at Chino in October 2000 - it compare excellently with Leg Ends and I thoroughly enjoyed it (and had been at Midland for the CAF Airsho the day before). On that occasion there were plenty of unusual types, an excellent Sea Fury routine by Brian Sanders and, as Vanguard says, Steve Hinton in the N9M! Go and enjoy!

OK...youse troops have convinced us. Didn't really take much "arm twisting" did it? I was probably looking more for someone to talk us out of it.
Obviously, didn't happen. Then again, who amongst us would try to talk anyone out of going to watch warbirds fly? Not bloody likely

Mudge the easy

Actually the 50th is Jan 11 or 12 2007. I'm not sure if they are celebrating early this year or not.

John