Warbird Information Exchange

I might have a chance to drop by Chino airport next week. For those of you who drop in frequently: Anything interesting visiting Planes of Fame right now or sitting on the ramp? Like Dottie Mae or any of the Friedkin birds?

Is the POF P-51A still painted in the RCAF markings?

August

I was there about 6 weeks ago or so. Dottie Mae was there, don't know if she still is, as she bounces back and forth between Chino and Idaho frequently.

The most exciting project going on right now is at the Fighter Rebuilders shop where they are finishing up the final restoration of the Fagen Fighters Hellcat (ex-Yanks) to airworthy condition.

All of the "normal" restoration projects of POF are still there being worked on, i.e. - P-59, Buchon, Val, etc.

Snafu is still there, and Strega/Voodoo are there together. Besides that I don't think there are any other interesting visitors. The P-51A is back to the Mrs. V scheme

Anything interesting at Chino right now?

Yep: No Northrop N-9M

I would not be surprised to see the N9M rebuilt in the future if they have drawings.


Any new info on the Friedkin Bf-109? Are they moving forward with the restoration or leaving it as-is?

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"They done it, they done it, damned if they ain't flew." December 17, 1903

I have no inside information and this is just my opinion, but I doubt they would rebuild the N9M. First off, there is hardly anything left of the airframe. Second, it would take an enormous amount of money and time to build essentially what would be a replica since so little original parts could be used. I don't know if they have the original drawings.

For whatever it's worth, they have not rebuilt the destroyed Hellcat from 16 years ago. From the pictures I've seen of that compared to what was left of the N9M, there appeared to be much more material to work with. That, plus the fact that there are many Hellcat parts, drawings and support available, whereas there is virtually none for the Wing doesn't give me confidence that they would attempt to rebuild it.

From what I know, there is increased emphasis on financing the opening of the new annex in Northern California. It will be a first rate, modern museum with large hangars to house many aircraft. That can't be cheap and has got to cost in the multi-millions, at least. I believe all fund raising is geared towards financing the move and opening up there.

Also, there are many other projects that need to be restored. Though I haven't heard if it's still a priority, there was a massive push about 7 to 10 years ago to fund the return of the B-17 to flight. At the time they said it would cost over 1 million to return it to airworthy condition, which was the goal.

So, with all of these projects, I would guess we're looking into the multi-millions. I just don't see a rebuilding of the N9M being a priority in light of this.

Regarding the Friedkin Bf-109. Last I heard, they thought it was a "time-capsule" aircraft and were going to leave it alone, especially considering how much of the original structure would have to be replaced for an airworthy restoration.

Hasn't been touched and the last I read online somewhere was that the owner was going to leave it as-is.

Just an FYI, in addition to the POF P-51A RAF movie paint having been removed back in late June, around the time of the Lewiston fly-in, the aircraft is currently being displayed at the Warhawk Air Museum in Idaho, where it will remain until after the air show there on the 24th/25th.

The Friedkin BF-109 was originally for sale for $150k. I looked it over and later got a chance to see it ar Chino. During the war, it landed on a frozen lake between the two battle lines. Eventually it fell through the ice and was fairly well preserved.
However, both sides practiced shooting at it, sighting in their rifles, machine guns, etc. it is riddles with hundreds of holes. One reason I took a pass on bidding on it is there are very few pieces of its structure that doesn’t have a hole in it. Talk about a data plate rebuild and having to buy or fabricate every part. It is extremely cool as is, and as a relic. It’s 100% original. My vote is to keep it like it is.

Correct me if I wrong - but doesn't Dan Friedkin have a ME-109 being restored to flying condition by Mike Vadeboncoeur at Midwest Aero Restorations ? If so then I would keep the Chino bird as a time capsule as well...

No, that isn't Friedkin's. There is an Me-109 at Midwest being restored, but the owner is Bruce Winter, the same owner who has the P-51, "Happy Jack's Go-Buggy".

is the Hinton Family G-58 ex GulfHawk IV (F8-f Bearcat) finished Painting yet ?

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WWI & WWII Warbird Fan.

I thought I would post my own update from my visit, for those curious about goings on at Chino. It was a quiet Thursday afternoon with very little going on. Fighter Rebuilders was buttoned up so I couldn't check progress on their projects. In the Friedkin hangar, I noticed the P-39 is getting quite a bit of attention. Could they be thinking about getting this in the air some day?

Visiting F-86E 51-13067 N186SE was on display in the jet hangar. The plane is painted as one of Joseph McConnell's "Beauteous Butch" Sabres, except the buzz number is correct to the plane's real serial.



POF's Navion N91161 has been a project the last few times I have visited Chino, and it was good to see it all done.



The Pilatus P-2 N5241M, which was in nice, accurate Swiss markings the last time I saw it, has now gone full foo fighter with mock Luftwaffe paint. Yuck.



The way things have been shoved around in the Axis hangar gives a nice juxtaposition of two important Heinkels, the He 162 and mock-up He 178. With bonus Horten glider overhead.





I had not seen this nice Fairchild 24 or Cornell before.





Over at Yanks, the most notable thing was that their Columbia XJL-1 seems to be coming together. They were dragging out one of the outer wings and, I think, getting ready to attach it to the airframe. Even though I've seen the other survivor at Pima, I didn't appreciate how big this plane is.



They finished their Ercoupe at some point in the past couple of years.



I noticed a few things in the Yanks boneyard that I had not noted before. One was the wreckage of Bushmaster 2000 N750RW. This is the one that was written off in 2004 when it tried to take off with the gust lock still on the elevator.



Also Hawker Hunter T.7 XL576, wrecked in a takeoff accident in 1999. With matching patio furniture set.



The most interesting thing in the pattern was Matt Nightingale's latest, an OV-10C with just a few hours on it post-restoration. BuNo 155493 apparently was loaned by the Marines to the Navy's VAL-4 light attack squadron during Vietnam. That unit had very high combat attrition and it seems likely this machine saw quite a bit of action.







August

That F-86 has been on display at Planes of Fame since at least 2013 (I photographed it sitting in the same spot back in 2014). The Aerial Visuals website has it as having been acquired by the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (which also owns a Korean War combat-vet F-86A that has reportedly been under restoration for some years now).

The POF P-39 is undergoing restoration, but it won't be to airworthy. One of the volunteers posted to Facebook a few months ago about it and said that too much would have to be replaced if it were rebuilt to fly. It is being restored to make it a more suitable static display.

Man I've got a soft spot for OV-10s. It was the first aircraft I did Aircrew Life Support on when I came into the USAF in 86.

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Mike in Florida
TSgt USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member