News

What a great way to start a new year!

The December 2016 edition of Commemorative Air Force’s monthly publication, The Dispatch, included a feature entitled “What’s Your CAF Story”.

CAF volunteers from all the wings responded with their personal reasons for choosing to serve with the CAF and some anecdotes  of their experiences during their tenure at the various locations.

The following excerpt from the feature is what our own Len Canter, a docent at CAFSoCal since September 2009 had to say about a very moving experience at the museum:

I am a docent at the commemorative Air Force museum in Camarillo, California. I enjoy working with the aircraft and even more, the interaction with the folks that come in every day to see these historic planes. Some aviators who flew these aircraft come in with their grandchildren to show them their history. Some whose relatives flew these aircraft and lived to tell their stories, and some who died, their decedents coming in to discover that history on their own. Talking about the aircraft to our visitors and explaining the history is only part of it. Listening, hearing their personal history very often is my reward.

I want to share with you a story. It’s just about a woman. A woman whose story touched my heart.

 

SHE WALKED INTO THE MUSEUM

 

She walked into the Aviation Museum. She was about my age, maybe a few years younger, with her son and a granddaughter. She was here to see a Hellcat, the type of aircraft her father had flown in the Pacific during World War II.

“Can I see it?” “Yes, you can. It’s just over here.” We moved toward the plane, her son and granddaughter busy looking over the items in the gift shop. “Can I touch it?” Kind of a strange request – but I moved the yellow barrier aside and said “yes.” She touched the folded wing of the bird and began to weep. I stood by and watched as she began to speak. ‘‘I was never able to meet and know my father. He was a pilot in WWII and was sent to the Pacific where he flew a Hellcat.

Very near the end of the War, he was involved in the battle at Okinawa, where he was shot down and killed.”

“Can I walk around it and touch it some more?” “Of course,” I said, not saying what was crystal clear to me. Your father paid so much more than the price to allow you the time to spend with this aircraft.

I shared with her how ironic that her father had been shot down and killed in the plane with the best war record in U.S. military history. He was shot down during one of the last battles of the War, possibly the only time since mid-1943 where the Japanese were able to put up an aircraft that could beat this aircraft.

“Can I sit in it?” “No,” I said, thinking of the insurance consequences, how high the wing was off the ground, her age and my lack of familiarity with the cockpit of this aircraft. I did not know how to open the canopy. “No,” I said again, “but let me think about it.”

We finished the tour and parted company. She thanked me for the tour and her experience with the Hellcat. She, her son and granddaughter, disappeared into the display area of the museum where our dedicated members had put together their tributes to our servicemen.

I found another tour to guide and as we passed by the maintenance hangar, I spotted a short ladder, thought about it for a second, and picked it up. I finished my four carrying the ladder with me. I spotted the woman with her son and granddaughter.

I approached her and asked her to come with me. I placed the ladder next to the wing of the Hellcat and invited her to use the ladder to climb up on the wing.

With some effort on both our parts, she was up on the wing. “Can I touch the canopy?” “Of course,” I said.

 

She cradled the closed Plexiglas canopy, looked down into the cockpit and again wept, as she reached out to connect with the father she had never known.

Thanks for sharing the story with us Len, and thanks for taking the time to send it in to CAF HQ – we are all very proud (and a little envious of your interaction with this visitor!)

We are thrilled to announce the selection of our dear friend David Price as one of the recent inductees into the Commemorative Air Force’s Hall of Fame.

The ceremony will take place at the 2017 Wing Staff Conference in Dallas, Texas.

David Price and his P51D Mustang “Cotton Mouth”

David Price joined the Commemorative Air Force in February of 1993 as a Life Member.
Price is a multi-talented pilot and friend of the CAF Southern California Wing. He is one of the founders of the prestigious Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California and Chairman of  American Airports Corporation. Price developed and chaired the Museum of Flying at Santa Monica Airport, is a graduate of USC and the UCLA School of Law, and served as an officer in the US. Navy, obtaining his wings as a jet fighter pilot in 1955. He enjoys flying World War ll aircraft, especially his P-51 Mustang.

Please note that the CAF SoCal facilities and museum will be closed on December 24, 25, 26 and December 31, January 1 and 2.

We are open to the public on December 27 through December 30 and will resume our normal operating schedule starting January 3, 2017.

Happy Holidays

Here’s a short video worth a thousand words showing some of the activities going on at the ramp on Saturday Dec 17

Friend of the museum, Alan Kirby came to visit us for the third time in as many years from the frozen east, Boston Massachusetts area  to tour the museum and take another flight with our Warbird Ride program.

An avid Warbird fan and a private pilot with 1200 hrs flight time, Allan’s interest in aviation was sparked at the age of 11 by his uncle who was a B 17 pilot 36 missions over Germany and a full Air Force career including the B52A.   Allan has fond memories of flying in his uncle’s Bonanza and hearing about his wartime and military career.

We were glad to have Alan back with us to fill out his punch card which now includes the PT-19, SNJ-4 “BlueBird” and SNJ-5 “290”.

Al Kepler treated Alan to a great flight on a crisp day with a beautiful sky, and even threw in a touch-and-go and a few extra landings for good measure.

Alan left us knowing what a swell bunch of guys (and gals) keep CAFSoCal going.

Your donations and participation in the Warbird Ride program helps keep these warbirds flying! We look forward to having you back, Alan – Tail winds and fair weather, until next time.

Visitors to the museum may have noticed that our beautiful Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero is absent from the CAF hangars.
The aircraft has been grounded at Minter airport near Bakersfield since September after a rough engine report which has turned into a need for an engine overhaul. This is the result of normal wear and tear on the engine – but there’s never a good time for it.

We hope to have it back home as soon as possible but it may be months.

You can help bring the old bird home and back into flying condition by contributing a few dollars to our Mitsubishi Zero maintenance fund.

Every contribution gets us closer to funding the needed repairs and is much appreciated. Banzai!

The 2nd annual Mentor West Fly-In gathering organized a mass flyover of the Santa Barbara Veterans Day Parade on Saturday the 12th.

The mass formation was the largest fly-over for a Veterans Day parade anywhere in the United States and included a P-51 Mustang, multiple T-34’s, Nanchang’s, Yaks, a C47 and our very own B-25 PBJ and Executive Sweet of the AAF.

Launch and recovery of all these aircraft from the Camarillo airport made for an especially exciting day at the museum.

A compilation video from Don Ramm of the T34s and our SNJ doing some join up and formation practice. – Thanks for sharing!

And a compilation video of T34s of the Mentors West group in formation for the flyover of the Santa Barbara Veterans Day Parade, November 12, 2016. Video by Don Ramm

Another compilation video of T34s formation flying practice.
Video by Allan Hughes

Further photos and videos will be added to this news posting as they become available.

Last Saturday was a busy time at the CAFSoCal hangars!

Our ramp was over run by many classic Hot rods for the Roy Pool memorial.

The blue 1965 Comet sure looked good parked next to our Bluebird SNJ.

Bill, an attendees at the Truckee Airshow in 2016 visited our B25-PBJ and sent in the following account of his friend , Captain John Baeta, who was about to celebrate his 96th birthday had had a close call in a B25. A video of the event was taken by an officer at the base where John was flying combat missions during WWII and  was given to John by that officer at a squadron reunion years later. We’re fortunate to present the video and the story here.

Captain John Baeta, 1944

“Captain John Baeta served as a B-25 pilot with the 499th Squadron of the 345th  Bomb Group (The Air Apaches) at San Marcelino, The Philippines. On April 4, 1945, Captain Baeta, flying a B-25-J, had taken a replacement pilot on an orientation flight, which included practice bombing a shipwreck in the San Marcelino harbor. Upon returning to the base, a mechanical malfunction prevented the nose gear from locking down. After several passes by the control tower and trying suggestions from a representative from North American Aviation, the plane’s manufacturer, Captain Baeta decided to make a wheels up landing rather than have everyone on the flight parachute from the airplane. After circling the base for two hours to burn off fuel, Captain Baeta elected to land on a dirt strip beside the runway rather than the steel mat runway which could have caused a fire. The landing was successful, but the aircraft suffered  significant damage and was cannibalized for spare parts. ”

“The wheels up landing was not Captain Baeta’s first close call. On March 11, 1945, he was leading a flight of three B-25’s on a bombing and strafing mission along the Indochina coastline. Flying at 150 feet after completing a strafing pass, Captain Baeta noticed the oil pressure on the right engine was falling steadily. Soon a fire began in the engine and after extinguishing it with CO2 from the emergency extinguisher, Captain Baeta climbed to a higher altitude before feathering the engine. Unable to return to San Marcelino, he headed toward a designated air rescue pick-up point, a barren sand and coral reef about a hundred miles away. Upon reaching  the area, Captain Baeta landed the aircraft in the water just off the reef, and all six crew members were able to wade ashore. The two other B-25’s on the mission had followed the crippled aircraft to the area and dropped life rafts and other supplies to the crew. After several hours on the reef, they saw a Martin PBM Mariner overhead. The Mariner had been searching for a different aircraft lost earlier that day. They were about to abandon their search and return to base when they heard about a B-25 landing at the designated rescue point. Upon seeing the crew’s signal flares, they landed the flying boat nearby and Captain Baeta and his men paddled out to the aircraft. After spending the night aboard a seaplane tender, a PT boat took them to an airbase on shore where a B-25 had flown in to return them to their base at San  Marcelino.

Captain Baeta is currently 96 years old and resides in Sacramento California.”

Thanks Bill, for the video and the story.

It is our mission to ensure that the sacrifices made by countless of our service members do not go forgotten, and you have helped us bring one to light.