Planes of Fame Museum, Valle, AZ - May 17, 2011 Visit

Planes of Fame Museum - Valle, Arizona

The Planes of Fame museum has two locations. The main one is in Chino, California, but there is also a small branch of the museum in Valle, Arizona. The advantage to the one in Valle is that it is only 30 minutes from the Grand Canyon, so my son, Shelby, and I were able to kill two birds with one stone and visit both the museum and the canyon in our two days here.

Link to all the pictures from Planes of Fame

Link to Planes of Fame Museum website

The museum facility in Valle is only one hangar, but many of the planes on display are in flyable condition and obviously maintained with loving care, and a lot of expense. Check out the T-28 pictures for example. It looked like you could eat of the cowling it was so shiny.

The Jennie that is on display has no canvas on the wings and fuselage and is kept that way to show the intracate and beautiful wood work and there are several other World War I vintage aircraft on display. Apparently many of the planes here have been used in Hollywood movies.



Outside there is a beautiful Pacific Air Lines Martin 404. Unfortunately it is not open to go inside it. Don't forget to walk around to the back of the museum if you visit. There is a small bone yard of vintage fighter jets that you can poke around. I've even added a couple of shots from the small terminal building next door which has a spit-polished selection of antique cars and motorcycles on display. Check out the Honda 90 actually used in Desert Storm. There is a canteen on either side of the tail rack. One is labeled water, the other, Scotch.

Shelby, my son, and I have a few family visits to make in the California Bay area in the next few days. We've been camping now for two weeks with snow in the Rockies and cold rain in Zion National Park so we are looking forward to a few days respite in a real house.

We'll be at the McMinville, Oregon museum this Thursday and I am really looking forward to seeing the Spruce Goose.

Thanks for following my travels.

Steven Howand

www.DiecastAirplane.com