Valle, AZ: June 27, 2009
Planes of Fame Grand Canyon, an auxiliary of the Chino, California based air museum, has nearly three dozen warbirds and classic aircraft on display as well as a selection of vintage automobiles. The museum includes aircraft from the Planes of Fame collection,
vintage aircraft from the Friedkin Family Chino Warbirds collection and vintage automobiles from the collection of Valle Airport developer John Seibold.

Saturday, June 27 is the date for the museum’s annual High Country Warbirds Fly-In.
Plenty of up-close warbird flying action will be featured throughout the day, and even opportunities for the public to experience the thrill of orientation flights in warbirds such as the P-51 Mustang.

Also at the 2009 High Country Warbirds Fly-In, members of the P-38 National Association will conduct their Second Annual General Membership Meeting. Commemorating the combat history of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane which was flown by America’s top aerial aces of WWII, a panel of pilots will conduct a symposium where they will repeat tales of war and bravery. One of the legendary aerial aces will actually be in attendance for the symposium. The pilots will also answer questions, sign P-38 photos and be available for photographs. Steve Blake, author of “Lightning Strikes” and many other historical aeronautical books will also be on hand. Two pilots who were part of the 82nd Fighter group in Italy will also be present. The symposium will take place at 1:00 pm, Saturday at the newly constructed P-38 display located inside the museum. Before the symposium, at 12:30 pm, members of Archie Jackson’s family will be present to help dedicate the new P-38 display.

The museum is a non-profit institution relying on admission fees, donations, facility rentals and proceeds from the use of aircraft in various productions. A membership program also exists which is available to the public and has a special benefit for members allowing them to enjoy orientation flights in some of the warbirds.

High Country Warbirds Fly-In will begin at 8am Saturday. Flying activity will be conducted throughout the day with the gates closing at 5pm. Member supported orientation flights will also be available Friday June 26th and Sunday June 28th.

Planes of Fame Grand Canyon is located 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon’s south rim (at the intersection of Highway 64 and Highway 180). Parking for the event is free. Food and other vendors will be on site. Admission is: $8 for adults and $2 for children under 12. For more information, call 928 635-1000 or visit www.planesoffame.org.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 am by Leslie Connell and is filed under Events, What's New. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.