Glacier Girl and the Birth of the P-40....

Post by **p51** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 7:04 pm

I went out to the Planes of Fame Museum (Chino, CA) to photograph the P-38E Lightning 'Glacier Girl' (if you haven't heard of her... you haven't been paying attention to ANY warbird news!) who was there on her last leg of her journey to being a perminate museum resident near Las Vegas. So, she was at the museum for a few days. Well, I was invited to take photos of her in front of the main 'Cal Aero Field' (original WW2 hanger from back when Chino Airport was a USAAF training station) hanger. I've done this many times with various aircraft (F-86, MiG-15, Spitfire Mk XIX, etc.)... but this time was special. I thought I'd share with you all two shots from the session...

<img src="http://www.planesoffame.org/pof-gg.jpg">

<img src="http://www.planesoffame.org/pof-gg-2.jpg">

Also... Steve Hinton (who works at the museum) was testing out a very special little plane, it was the first time this fully restored and only flyable Curtis precursor to the P-40 (you can tell by the back half of the plane) had taken to the air. She was amazing to see.

<img src="http://www.planesoffame.org/pof-p36.jpg">

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:04 pm

Holy cow!!! Where the hell did that P-36 come from?? I never saw it before. Is it a new restoration???? VERY NICE!!!!

Thanks for the shots. The P-38 is priceless..........

-Ski

Post by **p51** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:49 pm

Brand new restoration. Steve Hinton was testing the plane on it's first flights to make sure it's working right. I got to see it do a few high speed passes over the museum then come in from landing.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:45 am

Sweet......... It is soooo cool to see such a rare plane fly!

-Ski