Keeping an Airborne History Flying into the Future

Calabasas resident Marc Russell isn’t about to let the “ghosts of the sky” turn into static relics of a bygone era.

He’s one of the volunteers with the vintage aircraft group Commemorative Air Force who spend their spare time in a hangar at Camarillo Airport, rebuilding planes and putting them back in the air, where they can serve as reminders of World War II.

“It’s a piece of history that’s becoming rarer and rarer all the time, so it’s important we get this plane out there flying,” said Russell, 42, as he took a break from refurbishing Pride of the Yanks. The B-25J Mitchell bomber is similar to the planes used more than 60 years ago during the daring Doolittle raids over Japan -- an event credited with boosting American morale four months after Pearl Harbor.

Other planes at Camarillo include a C-46F Curtiss Commando dubbed China Doll, similar to the transports that flew paratroopers and cargo over the “Hump,” a nickname given to the Himalayas by World War II pilots flying supplies into China. Today, China Doll, Pride of the Yanks and other planes evoke a sense of nostalgia in Charles Valentine, 79, of Camarillo, who flew similar aircraft during his long military career, which stretched from World War II to the Vietnam War. He volunteers 25 to 40 hours a week to tend to China Doll.

At the time, Valentine said the flights were “just a job.” But over the years he has come to realize the significant role they played during his military service -- and in his life. “It’s part of my heritage, you might say,” said Valentine, shortly after running a maintenance check on China Doll before it took off for Riverside. The planes make more than a dozen appearances each year at air shows, primarily on the West Coast, thrilling crowds with a visual flashback into this country’s military history.

Perhaps most fascinated with the planes’ past are the 300 members of the Commemorative Air Force’s Southern California Wing, many of whom are pilots or retired aerospace workers. About 30 to 35 of them meet several times a week in Camarillo, refurbishing and maintaining a fleet of about 10 planes, roughly half of which were flown overseas during World War II.

“I love the romance of the war bird-era planes,” said Scott Drosos, 50, of Lomita. “How often do you get to see airplanes from this vintage? They’re a thrill to be around.”

“It brings it alive when you’ve ridden in a B-25 or a B-17 to know the same kind of airplane was used in a different era,” added Andrew Conley, leader of the CAF’s Inland Empire Wing. “I can’t imagine what it would be like having other planes trying to knock you out of the air.”

About a dozen of the wing’s 80 volunteers meet most weekends in a hangar across from the main terminal at Riverside Municipal Airport. The wing’s three aircraft are an L-4 Grasshopper liaison plane, a Ryan PT-22 Recruit training plane and a C-53 Skytrooper transport plane.

The Commemorative Air Force was previously known as the Confederate Air Force, but changed its name in 2002 to more accurately reflect the group’s mission. (Devoted primarily to preserving World War II-era American aviation heritage, the nonprofit has no connection to the Civil War.)

The volunteers also have a proactive reason for preserving the planes: “We want to teach lessons we learned during World War II so our heirs don’t have to go through it,” said Valentine. There’s a sense of urgency to their mission, as more than half a century has passed since the war ended -- a turning point that led to the destruction of many of the planes.

“A lot of them were chopped up after the war,” said Drosos. “They didn’t need them anymore.”

Some survived and were reincarnated, often by the private sector. Pride of the Yanks, for example, was formerly known as “BIG OLE BREW n’ little ole you,” reflecting the business of a previous owner. One of China Doll’s owners, according to volunteer historian Ron Fleishman, “cut holes in her sides, put spray booms on her wings and used her as a pine cone beetle sprayer.”

Correcting changes made by past owners is part of the refurbishment process for Russell, a United Airlines pilot, as is restoring Pride of the Yanks’ wartime equipment, including its machine guns and gun turret.

When it comes to refurbishing, volunteers can be short on funds, but not enthusiasm. Dan Newcomb, 56, of Bakersfield said the goal is to rebuild the planes better than their original condition. “We try to make these things so that 50 years from now they’ll still be flying,” he said.

On a recent afternoon, a group of volunteers painstakingly fitted a piece of aluminum “skin” onto Pride of the Yanks’ fuselage. More prohibitive will be finding the estimated $50,000 or more to cover the cost of new fuel tanks.

“The expense of doing this is enormous,” Russell said. The group, he said, could always use more sponsors and volunteers. Besides working as pilots and maintenance workers, volunteers help run the Southern California Wing’s aviation museum.

“There’s so much history, you hate to see them sit in a museum,” said Drosos as he worked on Pride of the Yanks. “By the time this one gets flying, there will be fewer and fewer of them up there.”