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The B25-PBJ, F8F Bearcat, F6F Hellcat and Mitsubishi AM63 Zero along with the P51 ManO’War of CAF SoCal’s fleet made a successful appearance at the 2018 Air Races.

The performances included flight demonstration, aerobatics by the Bearcat as well as a mock dogfight including the PBJ, Zero and Hellcat.

The Mustang took the place of the Hellcat on the first day of the show.

In addition, spectators had the opportunity to see our aircraft close up in the pits, tour the PBJ, speak with the crew and purchase rides aboard the PBJ and the Mustang.

Countless people at the venue did just that and left with a better appreciation of these historic warplanes, and almost 60 took it one step further and experienced flight aboard the PBJ or the P51, with two lucky individuals doing both!

Sixty rides in four days! This represents a new high bar in our efforts here at this all-volunteer organization.

The races were magnificent as always, and a spectacle to be heard as well as seen.

We look forward to participating in the 2019 edition of the Reno Air Races, and can not emphasize enough the professionalism and courtesy that the organization extended to us as they hosted our participation.

Here are a few images of our aircraft at the Reno Air Races 

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It is our pleasure to introduce you to Dan Miroballi, 92 years young and with plenty of patience to spare.

As you’ll hear in Dan’s own words in the video below, he is a WWII Air Corps veteran on whom the war ran out on before he got a chance to make his mark aboard a P51.

Some 70+ years later, he finally got that P51 ride, and it is our honor to have provided it for him.

Saturday September 1st was the date for our latest Living History Presentation Series organized and conducted by CAF Col Rob Hertberg.

This installment covered the 23 year restoration of the PBJ, Presented by CAF Col Marc Russell, and the  operational history of VMB611, the unit in who’s honor the PBJ was painted, presented by CAF Col Rob Hertberg. The presentation concluded with a trip report presented by CAF Col Arash Afshari, of the 2017 cross-country tour by the PBJ and her crew shortly after becoming operational to participate in the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Raiders at the USAF National Museum at Wright Paterson AFB in Ohio. 

The following is a two part YouTube playlist of videos prepared by CAF Col Lon Magdich covering the entire presentation. 

If you’d like to dig deeper into the PBJ’s 2017 mission, follow this link to the trip report from that event, which includes photos, full length videos of the veteran interviews and more.

Don’t miss our next presentation on the Grumman F8 Bearcat, taking place on October 20th.

ManO’War and the Zero completed a successful mission to the Truckee/Tahoe Airshow 14-15 July, 2018.

Along with the Executive Sweet B25, it is safe to say that the warbirds were the main event at the airshow.

The three aircraft put on a crowd-pleasing demonstration, made all the more special since this was our new Zero pilot, Jon Ingoldsby‘s first performance at an airshow in a fighter.

The weather cooperated and the machinery worked flawlessly thanks to the meticulous maintenance crew. An all-around great outing by the wing.

Many thanks to all who helped plan and support this event, as well as the organizers of the airshow for hosting us.

We look forward to the 2019 show with an even bigger appearance.

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We are all anxious to hear news about our latest restoration project  

Below is a quote from Dick Troy, the P47 crew chief,  with some details as to the status of the project: 

A couple of things are going on with the Bolt. At first glance it may seem to be just occupying space but looks can be deceiving. The team has emptied all the boxes that came with the Bolt and most have been labeled. It has yet to be determined if any of those parts will be useable. The bulk of the work at this juncture will be composed of trying to locate missing parts, locating the log books for the aircraft and attempting to obtain the maintenance and repair paperwork that was generated after the accident.

Additional major components that are missing is the aircraft engine and the propeller hub and related items . These are just a sampling of the parts that are missing. As we all know memories tend to fade over the years and major players expire or move on so the simple issue of contacting anyone with useable knowledge about any of these items is very difficult. I have made some progress in these areas by locating the pilot that was flying the aircraft at the time of the accident. He is in the DFW area and is quite busy but he told me he would help in locating these items and providing whatever helpful information he has but on his terms. All of these issues need to be resolved prior to commencing any meaningful progress toward the restoration. All of these issues are fixable but they are going to take some time to straighten out. Closer to home we are designing a support gantry for the fuselage so it can be raised, lowered or rotated as the need arises so the maintenance crew will not have to work from ladders or lay on their backs to work on the belly. That’s about the extent of what’s going on st this point in time. One thing I have learned about the restoration process is patience, patience and more patience. 

Until next time please stop by the office and we can have some dialogue on our long range plans for the Bolt.

Best to you

R.J. Troy

Crew Chief Rep P-47

Use this link to donate to the P47 restoration project.
Thank you!

We will be participating in the Truckee/Tahoe Airshow the weekend of July 14th.

The Mustang will be available for rides starting on Friday July 13th and after the show for the weekend.

Head over to our rides page and book your flight.

Time slots are limited, so don’t delay or you might miss the opportunity to experience this iconic warbird over the beautiful scenery of the Sierras.