Riverside, CA on February 9, 2002

The following pictures were taken at Riverside Airport in Riverside, CA on February 9, 2002. There was apparently a warbird formation clinic happening at the Commemorative Air Force hangar or something, and I had heard that the SoCal RV pilots might be making fly-bys. Well, to say it was windy would be an understatement. When I woke up and checked the weather, Riverside was calling for winds gusting to 36 knots. I figured the RV bunch wouldn't make it...at least not the taildragger folks. But that afternoon, I wanted to fly anyway, so my buddy and fellow aviation enthusiast Damion and I hopped in my nosedragger Mooney. The latest winds at Riverside were reported in the METAR as gusting to 40 knots. So I figured we'd bop on up there, poke around, and see how it is. We flew up over RAL and saw all the warbirds on the ramp. Had to check 'em out, so we dropped in. From 3500' over the airport, tower told us we were the only plane in the area and we were cleared to land on 34, however we wanted. I spiralled down and made a nice steep approach with the help of the hefty wind. Can you believe I didn't even slip it? Wow...that's a first...

Anyway, we were the only people on the ramp. Just us and about 20 or 30 warbirds. Cooooool...

There were Texans everywhere...

And a whole bunch of Nanchangs...

Bonanza?

I don't think so...it's one of the T-34s.

You'd never know these aren't Bonanzas unless...well, I guess if you have a clue you know these aren't Bonanzas. But the lineage is unmistakeable. These suckers were made in the 50s. Wacky.

We walked all around the main ramp and checked 'em all out. Then we got back in the Mooney to take off, and as we taxied to runway 34, we noticed all the planes over by the Commemorative Air Force hangar...had to shut down and check 'em out.

First plane we came to is this Lancair. I know, I know, friends don't let friends build plastic planes. But this thing is sweet.

And now for the cool part...there were about half a dozen P-51s in a row.

I don't know what the hell this thing is. I think it's a Bearcat or something. Weird. Mid-wing, funky stubby gear, strange shape.

Had to get shots of the Mustangs from the other direction...

It's hard to see here, but this is that funky Bearcat thing. You can see CLEAR THROUGH the gear well. Just a big gaping hole. That's the hangar you see through there...

Here's another shot of the funky little gear on this sucker.

This old Army jeep was pretty cool. Damion pointed out the rack on the dash for holding your rifle.

Unmistakeable. You don't need to see anything but this and you know it's a 'stang.

More shots of this pretty little plastic Lancair.

And back to business...here's the good old Mooney. Can't beat this plane for a spam can. We were doing 207 KNOTS groundspeed on the way home. That was on 10 gph. Love it. Ok, yeah, yeah, we had a bit of a tailwind...

I like this shot...you can't see the bird shit all over the vertical stab...

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Dan Checkoway ()