Page 19 - World Airshow News Autumn 2024

Left: The B-17 “(The Movie) Memphis Belle” was escorted by the P-51 Mustangs “Bunny” and “Man O’War” on its
arrival at its new home at the Palm Springs Air Museum (photo by Britt Dietz@warbirdphotos).
Below: General Charles Q. Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an honorary Tuskegee Airman,
signs the tail of the Museum’s P-51 “Bunny” at Joint Base Andrews in Washington, D.C. (photo courtesy of Palm
Springs Air Museum).

Bob Pond eventually moved his en- T-28, T-6, and Stearman are also available
tire collection to the new museum, and to west coast airshows. Except for the sin-
it opened to the public with two hangars gle-seat P-63, all of these aircraft are also
on Veterans Day, November 11, 1996. A available for paid rides in the museum’s
third hangar was added in 1999 to house LHFE program.
the B-17 Miss Angela. Bob Pond passed “We really love doing airshows,” says
away in late 2007. Fred Bell, the museum’s Vice Chairman
& Managing Director. “Airshows allow us
REAL FLyING AIRpLANES to keep our edge, so to speak. We average
Today, the Palm Springs Air Museum about 125 to 150 hours per year on each
Aviation History in the California Desert maintains over 70 static and flying aircraft aircraft. We have also raced both P-51s
and the P-63 at the Reno Air Races.”
spread through five hangars and outdoor
While virtually all of the airshow flying
exhibit space. One hangar is dedicated to
World War II in the Pacific, another to the museum does is on the west coast, in
World War II in Europe, and a third hous- November 2023 they had the unique op-
es the B-17 Miss Angela. In 2017, the Gen- portunity for their Red Tail P-51 Bunny
eral Ken Miles Hangar was added for Ko- to fly to Washington, D.C. Bunny served
decided to pursue starting a World War rea, Vietnam, and Cold War era aircraft, as the centerpiece for a ceremony at Joint
II flying museum at the Palm Springs air- and in 2022, the James R. Houston hangar Base Andrews honoring the new USAF
port, they reached out to Bob Pond. opened to house an F-117 Stealth fighter. Chief of Staff, General David Allvin,
The Palm Springs location was histori- One thing that sets the Palm Springs and General Charles Q. Brown, the new
cally significant since the Palm Springs Air Museum apart from some other avia- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who
airport was used during World War II by tion museums is the number of aircraft also happens to be an honorary Tuskegee
the Army Air Corps Ferrying Command. that they maintain in flying condition Airman.
As an inland location, it was seen as safer and use for LHFE passenger rides and air- The Palm Springs Air Museum is also
from potential Japanese attack. That his- shows. The Museum’s two P-51 Mustangs, the new home of the B-17 Flying Fortress,
tory helped build momentum to start the Bunny and Man O’War, and their P-63 (The Movie) Memphis Belle. The airplane,
museum, and by 1994, fundraising was King Cobra Pretty Polly are frequent stat- owned by the David Tallichet family’s
underway. Construction began in early ic display and flying participants in west Military Aircraft Restoration Corpora-
1996. coast airshows. The museum’s T-33, C-47, tion, is on long-term loan to the museum.

World Airshow News 19 Quarter 4, 2024