Some Photos From the Planes of Fame Museum

Had a good time this afternoon at the Planes of Fame Museum located at the Chino Airport.  I'll post a few photos here, and the rest of the collection can be seen on Facebook here.

I've always had an interest in WWII aviation, so it was fun to walk around (and inside) of the "Kismet", a B-17G currently undergoing a complete renovation designed to get it back to flying status.

Seated under the wing we met a gentlemen who in 1944 at age 22 flew 31 missions over France and Germany as a flight engineer/top turret gunner aboard a B-17. It was an honor to get to meet and talk with him

The interior of the B-17G looking toward the waist gun positions. Those ribs along the top are sharp and the area is fairly small. I can now say I've been wounded aboard a B-17.

The right waist gun position complete with .50 caliber machine gun.

The nose of the B-17. The pilots sat up top with the bombardier riding in the nose and controlling the forward gun turret.

Two of the four Wright Cyclone engines that powered the B-17

Douglas B-25, probably most famous for the 1942 Doolittle "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" raid in which these planes were flown off the carrier Hornet for a direct bombing raid on Japan.

Although there were all kinds of exotic warbirds there, I had my photo taken with this Cessna 172 because this is the type of plane I used to fly. It's similar to the plane I flew into the Chino Airport in 1978 for the EAA Fly-in.