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Today the museum was invaded by a platoon of cheerful visitors – three dozen preschool aged kids from CVUSD…

Reports from the frontlines indicate that there were no casualties amongst the docents. Actually, the kids were wonderfully well behaved and managed by their chaperones.  And in case you were wondering, the chocks sure came in handy to keep them still at group photo time…

All the extra fingerprints on the display cabinets were well worth watching the fun these kids were having; and yes, learning too.

Believe it or not, one young man came in wanting to see “The Spitfire”. Obviously a well educated home.  However, the young ladies did object to the term “wingman”. They would rather be called “wing girls”!

In other news…

The fencing in front of the new hangar was removed today!

The place looks nicer everyday!

And here’s a parting shot of how the C46 will look if we are successful with a rain dance….

Don’t miss all the fun at CAF SoCal….

… See you next week.

Under the direction of Professor Julie Brown 97 Students from Santa Barbara City College  will be competing for top honors participating in an Indegogo crowd funder campaign for our PBJ. They have been divided into 12 groups.  Each group is responsible for raising money for different parts of our PBJ (e.g. the top turret, the landing gear, etc.).  Go to our Facebook page to follow their progress and see which group will win the top prize!

After what seemed like an eternity of construction on our ramp; we finally have it back. (In reality it was out of operation for less than two weeks)

And now that we have our ramp back so is China Doll

Thank you Dan Newcomb for all of the photos above

Our New Hangar Is Really Big!! The doors are almost completed, ramp is almost finished. Good progress!!

We reached another milestone [in the PBJ restoration]  when we filled each engine oil tank with 35 gallons of W120!

-Dan Newcomb

Thank you Crankmeisters Russ, JC and Randy!

Pictured are (crew chief for the PBJ) Marc Russell, and Mike Hohls, operating the fork lift.

Thanks to Dan for the succinct report and the photograph (not to mention all the hard work).

—-Tuesday September 29 Update—-

Photo gallery updated with a few more pictures of our volunteers at work into the wee hours of the evening under another beautiful SoCal sunset.

—- Sunday September 27 Update —-

Put another successful airshow in the books for CAF SoCal Wing!

Thanks to our dedicated ground crew the Zero took to the skies to complete the wing’s presentation at the airshow.

The photo album appended to this news post has been updated with a few more pictures form Sunday’s activities.

Did you know the Hellcat was the first aircraft the Blue Angels flew (for about 6 months) followed by the Bearcat for about 3 years before transitioning to jets? You can bet there was a lot of interest in our warbirds at the airshow!

Again, we are grateful to all our dedicated volunteers and supporters as well as Point Mugu NAS for choosing to include CAF SoCal at part of their wonderful airshow saluting our active duty and veteran military.

See you next year!

—- Saturday  September 26 Update —-

Saturday’s flights for the Point Mugu NAS are in the books!

The wing did a fantastic job, even though our A6M3 Zero decided to be a bit temperamental with a misbehaving magneto. Saftey First! The P51, Bearcat, Hellcat and Spitfire more than carried the load and put on a great show piloted as follows:

Jason Somes F8F
Robert Hertberg F6F
Ken Gottschall P51
Steve Mcartney Zero
Steve Barber Spitfire

Many thanks to all our tireless volunteers for helping CAF SoCal notch up another mission accomplished.

A few photos from the show are appended to this post.

—- Friday September 25 —

In case you missed our Wings over Camarillo Airshow, or just to see our aircraft bore loud holes in the sky again, don’t forget the Airshow this weekend at Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

Our fighter aircraft and their dedicated volunteer ground crew and pilots are already at the base ready to put on another fantastic show.

There will also be a variety of other aircraft on display, including the magnificent Blue Angels, check the airshow website for details – but who are we kidding? you really want to come see our warbirds again. That’s OK, we won’t tell the jet jockeys…. See you there!

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Marines Captain Katie Higgins, the first female member of the Blue Angels visited CAF SoCal today for a presentation to an enthusiastic  group of Girl Scouts.

Captain Higgins’ inspirational speech covered most aspects of her duties with the Blue Angels as well as fielding difficult questions ranging from what got her interested in a Navy career, what it takes to be successful at such a demanding level of performance, how large is the C130 aircraft she flies, and yes, of course, what is her favorite color! (surprisingly the answer was not Navy blue!)

It’s safe to say more than a few of the young ladies in the audience were inspired to follow in her footsteps.

CAF SoCal salutes Captain Higgins, the Blue Angels and all of our service personnel for their outstanding service to our country and going above and beyond in inspiring the next generation of Americans – a goal we humbly share.

Thanks for visiting CAF SoCal.

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Santa Barbara City College Marketing Students have begun their competition for raising funds for various parts of the PBJ!

Twelve groups of student (65 from Sweden) have begun a semester long project to raise funds to help the CAF’s PBJ! Each group will have a section of the airplane to create either a Kickstarter or Indegogo crowd funder campaign.

On Tuesday September 22nd, the group that have adopted the wings for the PBJ as their project visited the museum’s restoration hangar to get a personalized tour and learn about the subject of their efforts.

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CAF SoCal greatly appreciates these student’s dedication and efforts towards helping an important icon of our heritage take to the skies once again.