Planes of Fame – Media Day Flight
Story and Photos by Phil Myers
On Wednesday, May 5th Planes of Fame Air Museum, located in Chino California, hosted it annual Media Day. The Media Day was kicked off with an Airshow overview by Frank Mormillo, the museum’s media coordinator. Following Frank, was the president of the museum, Steve Hinton. Steve spoke about the museum and the airshow. Also in attendance was Steven “Steve O” Hinton, the current Air Racing National Champion.
Steve was flying his P-51D “Wee Willie II” and Steve O was flying a P-51C “Princess Elizabeth.”
As my first air to air I didn’t know what to expect. I flew in the backseat of a Cessna 195, which had excellent visibility. As we joined up , the Hintons joined us and flew a very tight formation, both with each other and with our photo ship! At some points during the shooting, an 18mm was not wide enough!
The annual Chino Air Museum is May 15 and 16, 2010 with this year’s theme being “A salute to the Greatest Generation.”
The Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino is home to one of the biggest collection of warbirds in the world. World class pilots such as Steve Hilton, Kevin Eldridge, and Steven Hinton fly these pieces of aviation history. As with any organization like this, there are many people behind the scenes who volunteer countless hours to keep these warbirds flying.
These volunteers all share a common bond, the love for aviation. Some of the volunteers are past veterans who flew in some of the aircraft type displayed at the museum. Other volunteers include businessmen and airline pilots. Without these volunteers, the Planes of Fame Air Museum would not be the success that it is.
During the Media Day on May 5th, these volunteers cleaned, waxed, and prepared the aircraft scheduled for the air to air photo shoot – “Wee Willie II” and “Princess Elizabeth.”
Picture Captions –
Volunteers Scott Turner and Gino Proctor prepared “Wee Willie II” for it’s photoshoot.