Warbirds Wings & Wheels 3

I have always wanted to get out to the Estrella Warbirds Museum but never managed to find a time to do it. While perusing around the Cruisin’ Morro Bay car show I happened upon a flyer sitting on the teal blue leather of an Oldsmobile. Another car show… At the Warbirds Museum?! HOT DIGGITY DAFFODILS!. A quick check of the calendar and my plans were set; the next Saturday I would finally get see what this museum was all about.

I gathered up the crew and that Saturday we set on the long and bumpy road to the museum. Thankfully we took the plush Saab and not the Mini with the go-kart like suspension as the road out there wasn’t exactly smooth. As soon as you walk through the gate you are greeted by some miniscule aircraft on the front lawn (sorry, I somehow missed taking a picture of it and don’t remember what it was – go check it out for yourselves!). To the left, herds of people were walking along side the tons of polished steel getting into the show – To the right, there were the shells of old aircraft yet to be restored, a military tank from the Vietnam era, and a long range missile from yesteryear. We went right.

The first jet we stumbled upon puzzled us. An Italian flag on the wing, english on the side, and I seem to recall a bit of Japanese in there somewhere. It was TINY! The pilots feet would be sitting in the nose of this thing. Never having seen a fighter-jet (re: something other than a commercial jet) in person before, I figured they all must be this small and was surprised at how big they look in the movies. As you can tell from the pictures below – that assumption was quickly overturned. After taking a look at the other various projects they had in waiting we stumbled over to the actual show area where we were greeted by one of the volunteers who help restore the various aircraft they have on the facility. I wish I had remembered his name, ’cause he was a hoot!

Before arriving, I was half expecting the museum to be a hanger in the middle of a field with maybe an old B-52 and a couple of Cessnas, but to my delight, the grounds are well kept with a huge variety of aircraft. I couldn’t believe the machines they had here. Everything from F-14s, to a retired Coast Guard helicopter, to an F-18 flight simulator! The cars were nice and all, but the planes were amazing!! I’d like to go back when there aren’t so many people and cars and get a real good look at the jets (perhaps setup some sort of modeling and/or moto shoot? …Anyone?… Beuller?). Overall, a great show! The warbirds were really the showcase for me and were rather refreshing to have a change of scenery in the sea of muscle cars.

Anyway, enough babbling. Get your butt over to the museum and check it out for yourself!

As always, enjoy!

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