Top 10 from the 2013 Flabob Flying Circus

I'm going to break with tradition this week, and instead of featuring vintage photos in this special mid-week post, I'm sharing some photos of vintage aircraft that appeared at this past weekend's Flabob Flying Circus in Riverside, California. For those not familiar with it, the annual event at Flabob Airport is a magnet for antique and classic airplanes, and the relaxed atmosphere there allows fly-in spectators to mingle with planes and pilots the way airshows used to be. If you're a fan of classic planes, make sure to add this to your calendar next year. Since there was no judging or prizes for the best aircraft on display, I thought I'd offer up the official Vintage Air top-ten list (meaning my personal faves!).

In first place was this knock-your-socks-off, absolutely gorgeous art-deco paint scheme on a beautifully restored Travel Air D-4D owned by Richard Zeiler. Named Sky Siren, the 1929 beauty was restored by AeroCraftsman and painted by Flabob fabric and paint guru Nando Mendoza.

Second place goes to a plane that is well-known to Flabob visitors, the replica DeHavilland DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House. Built by the late Bill Turner for Tom Wathen (who owns several other Golden Age replicas, as well as the airport itself!). The original DH.88 was designed and built by DeHavilland specifically to be entered in the 11,000 mile UK-to-Australia MacRobertson Trophy race in 1934. Flying against a daunting field that included Douglas' new DC-2 and Boeing's 247.

When the race was over, the DH.88 had beaten its next closest rival, the KLM DC-2 by almost a full day, this despite having to finish the last legs with one engine throttled back due to oil pressure problems.

Third place goes to this highly modified Ryan owned by Gary Jackson. Originally an Army PT-22 (c/n 1391, AAF s/n 41-15361), it was modified by John Gokchoff's Component Air at Santa Paula with the installation of a Fairchild Ranger 6-410B engine which approximates the original Menasco engines used in the ST-A sport trainers that Ryan first built.





In fourth place is this super-clean 1930 model Travel Air 4000, owned by San Diego dentist Stuart "Cap'n Mac" MacPherson, who started his aviation career years ago flying in Richard Bach's Great American Flying Circus (hence N4321's current colors).









Fifth place (and a fair amount of curiosity) goes to this Curtiss "XF9-1" replica-of-sorts. Approximating the Curtiss XF9C/F9C Sparrowhawk, the detail that's gone into this beauty is astounding.

The aircraft's FAA registration records lists this as a John Pike-built Model 1929XF, with a year of manufacture of 2010.

In sixth place is this utterly gleaming 1946 Beech D18S, owned by Rick Loomis. As much as I'd love to own a Twin Beech, I'd hate to have to polish this one!

Seventh goes to this purple A75N1 Stearman (purple, unfortunately, doesn't "translate" well in digital photography) that flew down from Washington for the event.











In 8th place, with more gleaming aluminum is Lee Maxson's 1951 Cessna 195, which flew in from Chandler, AZ.

Ninth goes to the replica 1905 Wright Flyer which is still being built at Flabob, but which was far enough along to taxi down the crowd line. My neck hurts just thinking about trying to fly in that position.

And tenth, out of many, many more fabulous planes on the Flabob ramp, is this WACO UPF-7 from Gilbert, AZ.












Finally, we were saddened to see this beautiful 1937 Rose Parrakeet suffer a rather nasty groundloop on landing, but thankfully the pilot was able to walk away. It is seen here being righted, though one cringes at the thought of the stresses on that crankshaft! Hopefully, repairs will be forthcoming!

A Fairey Named G-AABY

When this article originally posted, I had little information on this aircraft beyound it being a Fairey IIIF, but one of my regular readers wrote and was able to provide some key details to "the rest of the story"...so here's the revised piece, with a big tip o' the hat to Luc!

Given the other aircraft in the background, this snapshot of G-AABY was
probably taken at one of the European airshows attended by the Fairey.
The lack of race number 15 painted on the side would suggest that this
was taken sometime before the plane left for Australia on October 20,
1934 in the MacRobertson Race.

So much of the Archive's collection is focused on American aircraft, I thought it would be a nice break to feature this shot of a British Fairey IIIF.

The F model was the most populous of the Fairey line, and first flew in 1926 and entered active service in 1927. The robust aircraft remained a frontline spotter and general transport aircraft until well into the 1930s, and was finally declared obsolete in 1940.

This particular airframe carried civilian registration G-AABY (c/n F1129) and was used as a Fairey factory demonstration aircraft, starting in 1929. After performing at airshows across Europe, G-AABY was then entered in the 1934 MacRobertson Trophy Air Race from London, England ot Melbourne, Australia, flying with a field of 19 other aircraft, including a Boeing 247 flown by Roscoe Turner. G-AABY was crewed by pilot Flight Officer C. D. Davies and navigator Lt. Cdr C. N. Hill. The race started on October 20, 1934, but unfortunately, the aircraft was forced to drop out of competition in Cyprus, and finally made it to Australia over a month later, on November 24. G-AABY was later sold and re-registered VH-UTT. It was subsequently used as a transport to and from the gold mines in Papua New Guinea.

Airshow at the Dawn of the Jet Age

These two snapshots, which came from a large bin of photos at a Long Beach CA antiques shop, catch a moment in time at an airshow (location unknown - comment if you recognize it!) from the late 1940s or early 1950s. The P-80A-1 Shooting Star shown, 44-85284, was one of the first 344 Block 1 production aircraft, and was later upgraded to a F-80C with an improved engine and an ejection seat.

The Lure of Airshows

The largest event of these three mystery shots is this one...I've seen some photos
of the National Air Races that appear similar to this venue.

During the Golden Age of aviation, airshows were the thing...much more of a hoopla-filled civic event than the are today, which is truly a shame, in my book. The three photos featured today are mysteries...there is no information accompanying them to indicate when or where. If you recognize any of these venues, please comment!

Curious crowds gather behind these planes. The line-abreast formation is remniscent of a race

This gathering has less of a formal feel to it, and seems more like a gathering of barnstormers.

Lightnings After the Dance

Handwritten on the back of this small snapshot is "1946, Memphis Tenn."

During World War II, over 10,000 P-38 Lightnings were produced by Lockheed, and was the only US fighter that remained in continuous production throughout the entire duration of America's participation in the conflict. But as soon as hostilities ceased, the Army Air Corps had a huge number of surplus aircraft on its hands, ones that were quickly made obsolete by the new-fangled jets. The last P-38 was retired from US military service in 1949, and some were transferred to friendly foreign governments, some were sold on the civilian market and used as air racers, but most were scrapped to recover the aluminum.

Today's post features two photos that came from unrelated sources, but both of which show P-38s in 1946. The first shows a plane at a Memphis open house. In the background can also be seen a C-46, B-24 and C-54.

A mix of P-38s and B-24s at a scrapyard in Ontario (presumably Calif.).

The second shows what became of so many of the machines that brought America and her allies victory. The caption written on the back reads, "From atop the Ford, scene at Ontario, May '46." The P-38 in the foreground is tail 213377, which makes this one of 548 Block 10 P-38Gs that were built.

It's scenes like this that make me extra thankful that at least a handful of these old vets were save and still fly!