Today we are booked to return home ...
But we won’t be leaving until midnight tonight so we have a few hours to kill.
There is a reason, of course, why we are in Chino. There is a regional airport near here which houses the main collection of the “Planes of Fame” belonging to the “Yanks” Air Museum. Here they have a collection of about 180 planes ALL of which are flyable and some are flown regularly. We figure we will have a quick look and then go on to somewhere like Venice Beach and “watch the girls go by” until it’s time to hand the car back and depart.
These museums are amazing, gleaming, spotless displays and the aircraft although obviously used are amazingly restored to “active service”. This includes not only old propeller driven WWI varieties
but includes many jets of quite recent times, although this one is from an earlier era.
I don’t think/hope that these ones aren’t operational though!
We hang around so long that we discover the best kept secret in America, outside the airfield at least, that “Flo’s Diner” on the field serves the best food in America. Lunch is a very nice “Cobb” salad that I wish I could have had every day we were here.
Finally we have hung around so long that we realise we are never going to make it to Venice Beach but had better get going to the airport. Just as we are about to leave one of the attendants we have been talking to informs us that they are taking a passenger for a ride in a P51 Mustang in about 15 minutes. If you have $900 and a half hour to spare anyone can go for a ride. There are about 6 different WWII planes you can get a ride in, at various costs from $500 to $3000 for a half an hour.
We decide we don’t have the spare cash (courage ?) to do it ourselves but will hang around to watch.
For a completely unmuffled V12 engine giving about 1500hp this plane is amazingly quiet as it starts up and taxis by with the beaming passenger waving at the family who obviously sponsored this trip.
The flight takes them up the nearby valleys and hills and finishes with a pass over the top, unfortunately not very low, before returning with a now obviously ecstatic passenger.
For us however it’s getting a bit late and we need to be on our way to the airport.
We have now, of course, reached the optimum time for travelling the remaining completely across the middle of Los Angeles to LAX of 5pm on a Friday night! Rush hour.
We program the GPS to NOT use freeways and set off. It’s an amazingly direct route despite the lack of freeways but it is 51 miles of 6 lanes wide city streets and takes about 3 hours.
The car is dropped off without trouble and the shuttle to the airport is uneventful as is the straight walk through ticketing, security and boarding.
As we leave at midnight there is nothing to do but sleep and surprisingly I manage about 7 of the 14 hours but still have time to watch 2 movies and a number of documentaries. It is thankfully the easiest 14 hour flight I’ve ever had.
We transfer in Brisbane to a domestic flight but not before a 90 minute wait for a severe thunderstorm to pass through. The flight from here is the complete antithesis of the previous one. Despite being in a newer plane it is more cramped and there are at least 6 small children on board who have a relay going so that there is always at least one crying at the top of it’s voice and another sitting behind me kicking the back of the seat. To make matters worse I have been allocated a window seat, I normally will pay extra for an aisle seat but there is no option on this flight, and the passenger in the middle seat is a bloke with an obvious hangover and a security pillow which he clutches the whole flight even when lapsed into a catatonic state. Even shaking him hard will not rouse him so I am stuck here for the next 5 hours. I eat breakfast but dare not drink too much as I don’t have a spare bottle with me ...
This was an exercise in mind control and I am pleased to report no-one was killed during the flight and I am happy to be home free ...
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