I'm glad that I checked the weather for Saturday the 11th because it was in the low 50's when Bub & I left Brea and actually warmed up to about 60 degrees when we left Norco at 9:45 AM. So the jeans/high boots/turtleneck sweater/leather jacket/'colors' vest/gauntlet gloves came in pretty doggone handy. 
Notice that we're all dressed like it's going to snow??Didn't get warmish until the afternoon outside at the Museum (if you call 64 degrees "warmish"), standing in the sun on the tarmac at the Museum, but didn't sweat at all. Felt nice.A bunch of the Chapter 446 Coachella folks (above, on the right) came by for the ride, looking really spiffy! (actually, if I didn't know them, I'd be kinda scared to run into them after dark, but what the hey!) We'll see them next week at their Charter signing. They said they have a TON of gifts and giveaways. I've never been to a Charter signing, sounds neat.
Bub, Gregg & I got voted in as dual members of Riverside Chapter 345 and can now be subjected to any and all Chapter 345 abuse without hesitation. On the left is yours truly giving the Safety Officer a lot of grief (you can tell because my hands are on my hips and he's standing there, dumbfounded) while Gregg and Barry look at me like I'm crazy. Jim Travis and Tony Barbano and looking at each other thinking, "Do we WANT this crazy Beverage Girl in the Chapter?" Well, the members voted us in, so tough luck, you two. And Barbano? You're a member of 422 South Orange County, so you're SOL as usual.
I wonder why they have us up against that box with our hands on top of it-I feel like I'm being pulled over or something. 
So we are OFFICIALLY voted in! Speaking of Tony, the latest addition to the Barbano-mobile is a uber fat tire-he had both wheels re-balanced (I mean, if you're gonna do one, might was well do the other) and filed down some metal screws under the back fender that rubbed a tad on the tire. He says it seems a lot smoother now. He passed us on the 91 at the 241 and I was wondering who was riding this insane 'looks like a cruiser but was ridden like a rocket' bike, until he passed us at (it seemed) Mach 1. Oh, yeah...it was TONY. He beat us to the meeting place by at least 1/2 hour before we did, and we were doing 75. 
Here are some pics of some of the more interesting bikes that came by.
Below is the 'Shaky Davidson" (the red bike).
We went in Group 2 with Jim Travis riding his, um, bike I guess you'd call it (looked like a dual sport with two square lockboxes attached to it) to I-15 S. to Cajalco Rd east to I-215 to Van Buren where the AFB Museum is. I'm not saying officially that there were some wheelies pulled in the parking lot when we left, I really didn't notice any...kinda.Yeah, I know it looks REALLY REALLY WEIRD, that missle seemingly coming out of my bike seat below left...
To the right below is the Freedom Shrine in the entry garden.
To the bottom left, my most fav
oritest area of the museum.
Lindberg and Amelia on the left. I think Barry actually WAS alive when Lindberg crossed the Atlantic. Certainly I WASN'T alive when Amelia Earhart was lost. To the right the entrance to the interior portion of the museum. Below right our guide/docent, Bob Manger, goes over the history of American flight and its applications at the turn of the century/WW1 and below left a WW1 display. 
I thought the gas masks were interesting-did you know that Americans saved their peach pits for use in the gas masks? And they observed 'Wheatless, Meatless and Sweetless" Days to help the War effort with food?
To the left, an OH-6 Cayuse LOH (Light Observation Helicopter) used for scouting in the Vietnam war. After it was used for military purposes, a lot of law enforcement venues used these as observation helicopters. This one was donated back to the museum from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Dept. and restored to its previous military coloring.
Just below, a display of our flyers in a Stalag Luft III.
Above is a Vultee BT13 Valiant "Vibrator" trainer. Below left, our guide at the 'Women in Aviation" display and below that, Women In Space: below right, we're walking towards the B-29 and the Blackbird.
Interesting things I gleaned from March AFB:-Our guide requested that anyone who drove their Harley to the museum please move their motorcycle to the gravel area so as not to drip oil on the tarmac. He also asked if anyone drove their "GoldWhiners" (GoldWings) to the Museum.
-March AFB was built in 1918 and people who lived nearby would complain about the noise. They were told that unless they built their houses in 1917 or before, they were SOL; besides, it's not noise, it's the SOUND OF FREEDOM. I thought that was CLASSIC.
-Did you know that Bob Hope did his very FIRST USO show from March AFB??
-I hadn't really realized that for quite a few decades now dropped bombs carried cameras and you could see the target up until the time of detonation. Cameras were/are also in the noses of aircraft and now with the HD cameras, they can see golfballs on the ground and can practially read its make. On the AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter, it was amazing that the pilot had the sighting device on his helmet.
-Our guide referred to the Pearl Harbor exhibit and specificially the USS Arizona memorial that was partially funded by a charity concert Elvis Presley did in 1961 (to the tune of about $64,000). The Arizona will close at the end of this year for refurbishing and the creation of a new visitor's center and museum. Groundbreaking on the visitor center etc. was this past summer. I wonder how long the memorial will be closed? Our guide told us that the concrete under the memorial was beginning to sag.
To the near right, I remember the Apollo program and the heartbreaking setbacks: to the above right, don't know what it is but it looked neat. Ruhland, you out there? Somebody set me straight!
The tour began with an 18 minute neat movie about the beginning of the AFB and its subsequent changes throughout the decades. Docent guide Bob Manger (who, BTW, was in the Air Force from '61) took us on a tour of the hanger and some of the aircraft and memorabilia there, then took us outside. I scanned in a map of the facility and I hope it comes through nicely so I can post it here. I will say that 2 1/2 hours is NOT enough time to do the whole thing right, I am DEFINITELY going back again (AND to the Autry, AND to the Chino Airport Planes of Fame, etc, etc, etc) but this time take the little tram tour that costs $3 a person and takes the pressure off the tender tootsies.
Below an AH-1 Cobra. I learned that this sucker could actually do a 
LOOP and the pilot of this thing had a virtual sight on his helmet and by turning his head, could fire. Check out the wingspan (or lack of) on the left on that A-4. Pretty cool, and 
check out the 
sleekness of the F-15 Eagle. 
There are videos all throught this blog, BTW. 
Below left is a B-47 with JATO & above right a MIG-21. Below right a video clip of the B-29 just like the Enola Gay-we got to go under her belly into the bomb bay.
After Lt. Gary Powers was shot down over Russia, we flew no more manned missions over that airspace; instead used the Lockeed D-21 Drone.
Below left, the turret gun oon a B-17 and below right, the B-17 itself. Whether it's on a motorcycle or a B-17, this is where bikers and pilots really have a lot in common. AMERICA.
Below these, the "Green Mountain Boys' EB-57.
To the left is a B-29 superfortress (left side of the pic) and an F-104 "rocket with wings" Starfighter. Some of the more interesting exhibits and aircraft to me were the Women in Aviation display: any and all of the space/NASA displays; the WW1 displays because of my grandfather being a 'doughboy' in the Army back then: and OF COURSE my alltime fave, the SR-71 Blackbird. I got some AWESOME pics of that sucker, almost poster-quality. Love that plane. BTW, my son and I went to Edwards AFB back in the '80's and took the tour when the Blackbird was still very much in commission. Very cool place.
Ok, are you HAPPY now, Barry? I got you your front view pic of the Blackbird.
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