Yanks Air Museum

Last updated
Yanks Air Museum
North American P-51A Mustang, Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California.jpg
Preserved North American P-51A Mustang on display
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in California
Established1972 [1]
Location Chino Airport, Chino, California
Coordinates 33°58′45.36″N117°38′47.81″W / 33.9792667°N 117.6466139°W / 33.9792667; -117.6466139
Type Aviation museum
FounderCharles Nichols
Website yanksair.com

The Yanks Air Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California.

Contents

Chino facility and exhibits

Yanks Air Museum houses one of the largest and most historically significant collections of American aircraft including the World War II fighters, dive and torpedo bombers. The aircraft collection begins with the 1903 Wright Flyer (only replica in collection) and continues through the 1980s era represented by the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet. The collection exceeds 190 aircraft, with some being the last survivors of their type. Yanks restores all aircraft to airworthy condition, and in the restoration of these rare aircraft only original factory specifications and materials are used.

The Chino facility encompasses 176,000-square-foot (16,400 m2) under roof and covers 10 acres (40,000 m2). In addition to the display hangars, public access is permitted, on a supervised basis, to the main restoration hangar and boneyard where historic aircraft are in various stages of restoration. Some of the aircraft will not be flown due to their rarity, but are restored to fully airworthy condition.

Greenfield project

Work is now underway to create a second Yanks Air Museum facility in Greenfield, California. The facility will include 440 acres (1.8 km2), the campus will be centered on the new 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) museum facility. An active airport will support both museum flight operations and the private aviation needs of museum visitors and local aviators. Other features include an advanced-technology education center, a hotel and spa, winery, restaurants, service facilities, shops and a recreational vehicle park. [2] After a delay of six years, the museum announced it was restarting work on the project in 2019. [3]

Aircraft collection

A total of 190 aircraft are displayed, covering the period from 1903 through 1984 including the Inter-War period that includes the Ryan Brougham, American Eagle A-101 and Swallow TP.

Rare types on display from World War II include the P-51A Mustang, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, P-47M Thunderbolt, North American B-25 Mitchell, Douglas SBD Dauntless, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver and Grumman F6F Hellcat. [4] Many of them were built in Southern California. [5]

Aircraft collection

See also

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References

Notes

  1. Ogden 1988, p. 72.
  2. "Greenfield Expansion". Yanks Air Museum. Archived from the original on 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
  3. "Work begins on next phase of Yanks Air Museum". Greenfield News. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  4. Ogden 2007, p. 168.
  5. Parker 2013.
  6. Miller, R. Hans (21 November 2021). "Port of Ephrata sells PBY aircraft from 'Always'". Columbia Basin Herald. Retrieved 1 December 2023.

Bibliography