# California Air Museums. - March AFB at Riverside - Southern California Air Museum Trail,



## Kyushuj7w (Aug 8, 2021)

I'd been here a few times starting back in the mid 90's when they still had their small P-38 hanger adjacent to the AFB museum. Sadly those guys lost their P-38 to a well off collector. Two of the docents signed a print for me. One a serving with a photo recon unit and one serving with the 11th AF. Talked about the compressibility issue the P-38 had and other issues. Great guys, long gone now. 

I always looked at what other people are posting when looking for places to stop. This was the 2013 trip out west. .Wow has time flown posting these things make me feel my age  I'm sure a lot has changed. Into LA and out of Vegas. There are 5 great museums pretty much in a line starting with the Santa Monica air museum, Yanks, Chino, March and Palm Springs If anyone ever wants to try to get a group meeting going these are great places to visit. It's been a while and I'd like to go back. 

March AFB - more cold war related but some unusual subjects. Some pics are not the best quality as I was using my old version of the I phone in those days.
22550 Van Buren Blvd (at I-215) Riverside, CA 92518. Wonderful museum . Adults were $10 kids $5 back then on what I call the Air museum trail. We never got down to San Diego but cut over east towards the Grand Canyon. With the BB Iowa now on the bucket list it may be tme to go back as San Ddiego has some great museums I've yet to see. ......















Early jets The Folland Gnat always interested me. The Gnat is credited by many independent and Indian sources as having shot down seven Pakistani Canadair Sabres in the 1965 war. while two Gnats were downed by PAF fighters. During the initial phase of the 1965 war, an IAF Gnat, piloted by Squadron Leader Brij Pal Singh Sikand, landed at an abandoned Pakistani airstrip at Pasrur and was captured by the PAF. Two Lockheed F-104 Starfighters claimed to have forced the Gnat down. This Gnat is displayed as a war trophy in the Pakistan Air Force Museum, Karachi. After the ceasefire, one Pakistani Cessna O-1 was shot down on 16 December 1965 by a Gnat.[24]








The Gnats were used again by India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 against Pakistan. The most notable action was the Battle of Boyra where the first dogfights over East Pakistan (Bangladesh) took place. The Indian Air Force (IAF) Gnats downed two PAF Canadair Sabres in minutes and badly damaged one. The Pakistan Air Force claims that one Gnat was shot down, which was proved incorrect. Another notable dogfight involving a Gnat was over Srinagar airfield where a lone Indian pilot held out against six Sabres,scoring hits on two of the Sabres in the process, before being shot down. Gnat pilot Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was posthumously honoured with the Param Vir Chakra (India's highest gallantry award), becoming the only member of the IAF to be given the award.







A rebuilt BT-13 / Val conversion similar to what was seen at Chino. No real Vals survived the war. They had cleared out a large hanger for a event so most of the WWII aircraft were on the flight line.

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## Kyushuj7w (Aug 8, 2021)



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## Gnomey (Aug 9, 2021)

Nice shots!


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