Scale Squadron Fly-In, June 9-10, Prado Field
by Oscar Weingart
The Scale Squadron of Southern California sponsored a Scale Fly-In at the Pomona Valley Club’s Prado Field in Chino. About 40 flyers attended. I flew my Ercoupe, assisted by friend Paul Bowman of the Santa Fe Dam Club, Carl Lindou of the Corona Club and Larry Klingberg of the Scale Squadron. Over 60 lovely scale models were in attendance and the weather was breezy, but sunny and flyable. The field is outstanding, with a 900 ft. paved runway and a park-like setting. The runway has huge, smooth earth overruns at both ends and along the far side. There were 18 electric powered aircraft and many, many ARF's.
A line-up of Warbird ARF's
A "to die for" Bucker Jungeman
A hit of the first day was a visit to the club’s hanger at Chino Airport, where Paul and I got to sit in the cockpit of a better than museum-quality, full scale P-51D Mustang built in 1945. This pristine, impeccable aircraft belongs to Ken Wagner of the Pomona Valley Club. It was undergoing a 100 hour check and had only 1800 hours total time (in 62 years). Every square inch, both outside and inside, of this unbelievable plane literally glistened. The club sold 100 tickets, at $10 each, for a raffle in which the prize is a ride in the back seat of this Mustang. This same aircraft made a spine-tingling low pass over the Prado field on Sunday.
Ken Wagner's Full-Scale Mustang
Your Webmaster studies the P-51's modern GPS instrument panel
We got in a total of six flights with the Coupe, with Carl Lindou piloting two and with me piloting the other four.
Oscar's Coupe Soldiers on
On Sunday afternoon, awards were made for Best Military, Best Civilian, Best WWI, Best Electric and Best Reworked ARF. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my 33% Ercoupe, from the Balsa USA Kit, won the second place trophy in the Civilian Category.