Planes of Fame Air Museum

Planes of Fame Air Museum Where Warbirds Fly and Aviation History Lives! World-famous aviation museum based in Chino, Californ Come see us!
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While the journey from 10 original aircraft to over 150 has been a long one, our mission has never changed. It is the Mission of Planes of Fame Air Museum to preserve aviation history, inspire interest in aviation, educate the public, and honor aviation pioneers and veterans. And although the Museum spans the history of manned flight from the Wright Flyer replica to the Space Age of Apollo, many m

ore chapters remain to be written and many more stories told before the vision of a young Ed Maloney is finally fulfilled.

So many GREAT photos were posted to our Central Coast AirFest photo contest post a few days ago that we found it tough j...
11/07/2025

So many GREAT photos were posted to our Central Coast AirFest photo contest post a few days ago that we found it tough just grabbing a few to post! Thank you to everyone who posted their favorite shots. Here's a collection of just a few we saw posted!

The coming December 6th Hangar Talk is not just about the P-38 Lightning that will be flying, but we will also be presen...
11/07/2025

The coming December 6th Hangar Talk is not just about the P-38 Lightning that will be flying, but we will also be presenting a special Holiday Edition of our wildly popular Junior Aviators' Day event! That's right, this special event will have all sorts of wonderful activities for kids, families, and adults alike! Meet Santa and get your Christmas family portrait taken (tickets on sale soon!), enjoy fun Christmas entertainment, food vendors, and much more! Keep those calendars marked and bring the whole family for December 6th here at the Planes of Fame Air Museum located at Chino Airport.

Taking a walk through history... we're open 10am-4pm through Sunday this week.
11/06/2025

Taking a walk through history... we're open 10am-4pm through Sunday this week.

⭐COMING SOON! Join us on December 6th, 2025, for our final major event of the year here at Chino Airport as we present a...
11/04/2025

⭐COMING SOON! Join us on December 6th, 2025, for our final major event of the year here at Chino Airport as we present a special Hangar Talk Flying event and Junior Aviators Day! Not only will we be flying our famed Lockheed P-38J Lightning, but we'll also have a day full of special activities for the kids and families, including meeting Santa! We will have food trucks on-site, our re-enactors and Museum Guides, and fun stuff for our youngest visitors. Our Gift Shop is open and stocked with loads of aviation themed apparel, toys, logo keepsakes, books and many more items perfect for Christmas! It'll be a great day to spend with the family and the kids all happening Saturday, December 6th, at the Planes of Fame Air Museum!

PHOTO CONTEST: There were so many great photographic moments from the Central Coast AirFest 2025 at Santa Maria Airport ...
11/03/2025

PHOTO CONTEST: There were so many great photographic moments from the Central Coast AirFest 2025 at Santa Maria Airport last month... we want to see your FAVORITE shots! Post your best photos in the comments, and we'll share some of the best ones to our page later this week!

11/02/2025

We had some technical glitches due to Facebook not playing nicely today and couldn't bring you the F7F Tigercat starting up live, but we made sure to record the firing up of the aircraft and taxi for this month's Hangar Talk flying event to post later when Facebook decided to cooperate!

It's a great day here at the museum for our November Hangar Talk flying event featuring the F7F Tigercat! We also have t...
11/01/2025

It's a great day here at the museum for our November Hangar Talk flying event featuring the F7F Tigercat! We also have the Ed Maloney model contest taking place with incredible models and dioramas from all ages!

🎃👻 Happy Halloween from Planes of Fame!Our P-40 Warhawk is ready to scare up some airspeed this spooky season! With thos...
10/31/2025

🎃👻 Happy Halloween from Planes of Fame!
Our P-40 Warhawk is ready to scare up some airspeed this spooky season! With those famous shark teeth, it’s the only “creature” you’ll want sneaking up behind you in the skies. 🦈✈️
Stay safe, have fun, and keep your wings spooky!

LESS THAN 48 HOURS - THIS SATURDAY! Join us at Chino Airport, CA for our November 1st Hangar Talk Flying Event featuring...
10/30/2025

LESS THAN 48 HOURS - THIS SATURDAY! Join us at Chino Airport, CA for our November 1st Hangar Talk Flying Event featuring the F7F Tigercat! Doors open at 9am, with the event starting at 10:30am. Following some exciting presentations and a small-scale model contest, we will fire up the F7F Tigercat for a flight demonstration over the museum. The event is included with standard museum admission. We'll have food vendors, lots of aircraft to see, special displays, and more! don't miss it THIS SATURDAY!

Plenty of Treats This Event SaturdayCome See the Fast and Powerful Grumman F7F “Tigercat”Be a Judge at the 8th Annual Ed...
10/29/2025

Plenty of Treats This Event Saturday
Come See the Fast and Powerful Grumman F7F “Tigercat”
Be a Judge at the 8th Annual Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest
Plus a Great Hangar Talk!

We’re saving the “tricks” for Halloween, but we’ve got plenty of “treats” for you and the family this Saturday, November 1, 2025.
Through the graciousness of Rod Lewis and his Lewis Air Legends, we’re thrilled to have the beautiful Grumman F7F “Tigercat” as our featured aircraft for the month, flying over the Museum beginning at 12:15pm. And Saturday marks the judging for our annual Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest. All visitors will receive ballots to vote o n our many entries. “Hangar Talk” promises some great topics that will teach and inspire. Like we said – lots of treats for everyone!

Doors to the Museum open at 9:00am and regular admission prices are in effect. Museum Members always get in FREE!

🔴8th Annual Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest
From 9:00am until 11:00am we’re holding the Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest. This annual event, open to all Museum members, volunteers, and our Junior Modeling Club Members, features six different categories this year and dozens of entries on display in the Maloney Hangar. All guests to the Museum serve as judges for this great contest.
Upon entry, you’ll receive colored stickers to place on your favorite models. At the close of voting, we’ll tabulate your choices and at the end of Hangar Talk announce the winners in each of the six categories. It promises to be a lot of fun and a chance to see some fantastic scale models!

🔴“Hangar Talk” at 10:30am in the Maloney Hangar
We’ve got four wonderful presentations scheduled for this month’s “Hangar Talk.” Each of these tells a unique chapter in aviation history and should be filled with fun facts and interesting tidbits.
Here’s what’s in store:

🔴Remote Control: The Hollywood Origins of Drone Warfare
More and more we keep hearing about “drone attacks” in military engagements. From Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) attacking Naval vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to Russian drone attacks on civilian targets in the Ukraine to Ukrainian responses via drone against Russian troops, the drone has become a growing part of combat. But did you know that the pioneering work in drones came out of Hollywood during World War II?
In this presentation we’ll look at the man behind one of the first unmanned aerial vehicles used to train soldiers during the Second World War and how his efforts launched an industry that has both important civilian uses as well as military ones.

🔴The Aircraft Carrier as a System of Power – Part One: Steel and Strategy
With this month’s Hangar Talk we begin a new four-part series on a critical component in naval aviation – the development, evolution, and utilization of the aircraft carrier. Part One looks that the early beginnings of naval aviation and how these efforts led to the transition of existing ships into “carriers of aircraft.” From there, the presentation will explore the evolution of the carrier and the role they continue to play in military strategy today.

🔴TECH NOTES: Gravity and its Effects on Human Pilots
In this presentation we turn our attention once again to the science of flight and explore the effects that gravity has on our frail human bodies while they fly through the air. And while aircraft can be designed and built to withstand the strong forces that aerial maneuvers place on the machine, these same gravitational forces can prove deadly to the human occupants of the aircraft. We’ll look at the challenges faced by scientists to combat the effects of “G-forces” that ultimately led to the development of sophisticated equipment to measure these forces and resulted in special G-suits to prevent G-LOC (Gravitational Loss of Consciousness).

🔴 WWII Goes Star Wars Plus the Scale Model Contest Winners
In this fun presentation, we’ll look back nearly 50 years at the phenomenon of the movie “Star Wars” and the role that World War II aerial combat played in helping frame both the story and the special effects. “Star Wars” creator George Lucas studied over 25 hours of footage from World War II dogfights and jittery newsreel imagery, and war movies while doing research for his epic space trilogy. Film clips from gun cameras and WWII-era movies were even used as placeholders while the special effects team created their magic. To go along with this presentation, a display of Star Wars models will help accent the WWII influence that is pervasive through the movies. Upon completion of this presentation, we’ll announce the winners of the Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest

✈️The Flight of the Grumman F7F “Tigercat”
At 12:15pm on our Hot Ramp we present this month’s aircraft flight presentation. This month we’re pleased to present a rare bird that is visiting the Museum. Thanks go out to Rod Lewis of Lewis Air Legends for kindly letting us fly his beautiful “Tigercat” aptly named “Here, Kitty, Kitty!”

The Grumman F7F Tigercat was developed in 1941 for the U.S. Navy as a powerful, twin-engine carrier-based fighter and ground attack aircraft, intended for use on the new Midway-class carriers. Although its first flight was in 1943, it arrived too late for World War II combat. However, the U.S. Marine Corps used the Tigercat during the Korean War for night fighting and ground support.
It was notable for being the first U.S. Navy carrier aircraft to have tricycle landing gear and its heavy armament of four 20mm cannons and four .50-caliber machine guns packed a wallop!
Following a brief outdoor presentation about this amazing aircraft, we’ll fire up both of the air-cooled 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines right in front of the crowd. Get ready to feel the rumble in your chest as you experience 4,200 horsepower just a few feet away!

The Tigercat will taxi away and we’ll conduct our “Member’s Only” raffle for a ride to one lucky winner in one of our WWII-era trainers. Then the Tigercat will put on an aerial display over the Museum for all of us to enjoy. This is a great chance to get some outstanding photographs. Upon the aircraft’s return, guests will be able to meet the pilot and ask questions.
Plenty to See and Do!

Your admission gets you access to all seven of our hangars and the over 100 aircraft and historical memorabilia on display. The B-17 will be open to visitors, and our food trucks will be on-site with lots of delicious options. Museum Guides are on hand to tell you the stories of the Museum and our collection and the Gift Shop is stocked with some cool items for purchase.

All in all, Saturday, November 1, 2025 at the Planes of Fame Air Museum is a great way to spend the day!

✈️ DID YOU KNOW⁉️ The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the U.S. Navy’s first twin-engine fighter, and when it first flew in 194...
10/29/2025

✈️ DID YOU KNOW⁉️
The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the U.S. Navy’s first twin-engine fighter, and when it first flew in 1943, it could hit speeds over 425 mph, far outpacing many single-engine fighters of its era.
Despite its impressive performance, the Tigercat was too large and heavy for most aircraft carriers and never saw combat in World War II due to its late introduction. Instead, it found its niche as a land-based night-fighter and reconnaissance bird during the Korean War.
➡️ See the Tigercat FLY THIS SATURDAY (11/1) at Chino Airport for the November Hangar Talk Flying Event!

Address

14998 Cal Aero Drive
Chino, CA
91710

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+19095973722

Website

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Our Story

Visit Planes of Fame Air Museum at Historic Cal Aero Field in Chino, California. The Planes of Fame Air Museum was founded in 1957 by Edward Maloney. It is the oldest independently operated aviation museum in the United States.

The museum collection spans the history of manned flight from the Wright Flyer of 1903 to the space age Apollo Capsule. We house over 150 Aircraft and displays. Many of the Aircraft are flyable, including the P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-40 Warhawk, B-25 Mitchell, P-38 Lightning, F-86 Sabre & Russian Mig 15.

Our Mission is to preserve aviation history, inspire interest in aviation, educate the public, and honor aviation pioneers and veterans.

We are a non profit 501 (c)(3) organization that has grown since 1957 through donations and dedicated volunteers. For more info please visit: www.planesoffame.org