2024 Central Coast AirFest Review

The Central Coast AirFest, held in Santa Maria, CA, is quickly becoming one of the biggest airshows for warbirds on the U.S. West Coast. Located in California’s Santa Barbara county, the rolling brown hills and open skies provided an excellent setting for thousands to come out and to see these magnificent airplanes. Held a month earlier than previous AirFests, this most recent airshow also heralds the opening of the Chino-based Planes of Fame Air Museum’s expansion onto the Santa Maria Public Airport. 

By far the biggest attraction for most readers of this site were the warbirds. The Planes of Fame Air Museum came out with a good showing, featuring their SBD-5 Dauntless, TBM-3 Avenger, P-38J Lightning 23 Skidoo, P-40N Warhawk, P-51A Mustang Miss Virginia, P-51D Dolly/Spam Can, P-51D Wee Willy II (which has had the name Old Crow painted on the cowling in memory of Colonel Clarence “Bud” Anderson, himself a California native), B-25J Mitchell Photo Fanny and the F8F-2 Bearcat. Planes of Fame also displayed their BT-13 Valiant, once owned by Aircraft Spruce founders Bob and Flo Irwin, in the static line at the AirFest.

For the Planes of Fame’s P-38 (44-23314), coming to Santa Maria is a bit of a homecoming, as it was actually assigned to Santa Maria during WWII with the 483rd Air Base Squadron, where it was flown on training flights along the California Central Coast by pilots getting ready to deploy overseas to Europe or the Pacific. After the war, it was kept in Santa Maria as an instructional airframe at the Hancock College of Aeronautics at Hancock Field, the pre-war airfield on the contemporary site of Allan Hancock College, which had a booth at the AirFest.

Also present were Lost Coast Warbirds of Humboldt County, CA, who brought in the P-51 Reno Unlimited racer Bardahl Special and the B-25J Sweet Dreams, formerly Old Grey Mare. Steven Hinton also took Bardahl Special for some incredible high-speed passes during and after the show. Bardahl Special was not the only Reno Unlimited racer to be at the show, as Clay Lacy’s former purple P-51, now flown in its iconic all-purple scheme as Plum Crazy by Vicky Benzing of California Aeronautical University (CAU), who also performed aerobatics in her Boeing-Stearman PT-17, powered with a Pratt & Whitney R-985.

Other warbirds present included the Warhawk Air Museum’s P-40E Kittyhawk in British North African colors, the Yak-3U raced at Reno as Miss Trinidad (originally constructed as a Let C-11, a Czechoslovakian copy of the Yak-11 trainer), the P-51D Blondie, the P-47D Dottie Mae, the Palm Springs Air Museum’s Bell P-63 Kingcobra Pretty Polly, and Walter Bowe’s P-51A modified to look like an XP-51 with nose-mounted .50 caliber guns. This was the aircraft previously flown as Polar Bear, and was flown at the Reno Air Races after it was restored by Pacific Fighters in Idaho Falls, ID. 

Sanders Aeronautics of Ione, CA, also brought in two of their legendary Hawker Sea Furies, represented by 924, one of only four airworthy Sea Furies to be powered by its original powerplant, the Bristol Centaurus radial engine, and Argonaut, powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800. Sanders also flew in their TBM-3 Avenger as well, which is marked as a postwar TBM-3U, as flown by US Navy utility squadrons during the 1950s as the Avenger was being phased out of the Navy inventory.

At last year’s AirFest, Bernie Vasquez performed a great aerobatic routine in the P-47D razorback Thunderbolt Bonnie, flown down from the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot, ND, following its appearance at the final Reno Air Races in 2023. Now, Vasquez repeated this routine, but in the Curtiss-built P-47G Snafu, flown down from Charles Sommers’ collection in Sacramento. Snafu’s appearance was a welcome for many locals and international visitors alike, as this aircraft has performed both in the UK and France when it was based out of Duxford, and at the Planes of Fame Airshows hosted in Chino. 

Perhaps the biggest draw for warbird aficionados is the appearance of two airworthy De Havilland DH.98 Mosquitos, represented by FB Mk.VI PZ474 of Charles Sommers’ collection, and the Lewis Air Legends’ T Mk.43 NZ2308, both having been rebuilt by Avspecs Ltd of Ardmore, New Zealand. The roar of four Merlin engines overhead was not only music for the attendees on the ground, but for pilots Bernie Vasquez and Steve Hinton. This represents the first time in 37 years that two Mosquitos have been in formation together, with that last formation being in the skies over England on September 29, 1987 between Kemit Weeks’ Mosquito B.35 RS712 and Mosquito T Mk.III RR299. In addition to flying together for the crowds at the show, Bernie and Steve took off shortly after the show for some formation photoshoots off the coast in the late afternoon before returning to Santa Maria. This is also noteworthy for these two particular Mosquitos as PZ474 had been transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force as NZ2384, and served in No.75 Squadron, RNZAF, alongside NZ2308. Another significant milestone is that although PZ474 attended last year’s AirFest in Santa Maria, this year’s AirFest marked NZ2308’s debut at an American airshow, though it had previously been flown at the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow in New Zealand from March 29-31 before its shipment to the United States. 

There were also rides being flown after the flying demonstrations, as the Erickson Aircraft Collection of Madras, OR, flew their B-17 Ye Olde Pub (formerly known to long-time readers as Chuckie and Madras Maiden), the Planes of Fame in their two P-51Ds, and the California Aerofab Flight Academy of Chino, CA, flew rides in their T-6G Texan, Boeing-Stearman PT-17, and their Piper L-4 Grasshopper. The Flight Academy also displayed their booth on the static line with their Beechcraft Twin Bonanza (affectionately called the T-Bone).  

Modern military aircraft were also present, with the A-10 Demo Team making an appearance in the A-10C Thunderbolt II/Warthog during their final tour. Flying a demonstration flight with their A-10C Memphis Belle III, painted to commemorate the F-105 Thunderchiefs flown by the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing during the Vietnam War. Fittingly, the A-10 Memphis Belle III joined the P-47D Thunderbolt Dottie Mae for a Heritage Flight to cap off their performance. Another demonstration was performed by an MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364 (VMM-364; the Purple Foxes) and another by the Navy’s F-18 Demo Team, which later performed a Legacy Flight with the Planes of Fame’s F8F Bearcat.

In addition to the modern military jets, there were also aerobatic displays featuring older jets, such as Gregory “Wired” Colyer’s Lockheed T-33 Ace Maker and Jason Somers’ MiG-17 (originally a Lim-5 built in Poland by PZL-Mielec), whose afterburner was on full display as he made several high speed passes while Coyler took Ace Maker for some high loops. 

This year’s AirFest was also noteworthy in that it was the first time that the National Aviation Heritage Invitational (NAHI) vintage aviation competition was held at Santa Maria. The competition was previously held at the Reno Air Races since its founding in 1998, but with the closure of the Reno Air Races in 2023, a new venue was needed, and Planes of Fame President Steve Hinton invited the NAHI to be hosted in Santa Maria. As part of the competition, Ed Kurdzeil’s Fairey Firefly TT.6 was flown up from Gillespie Field in El Cajon, while Charles Wentworth flew his WACO ZQC-6, Chris Galloway flew in a WACO SRE, and Benjamin March brought in his beautifully restored SNJ-4, with NAHI Chief Judge Taigh Ramey overseeing the competition.

Among the various local businesses present at the show, there was also the Santa Maria Museum of Flight, located on the northwestern side of the airport. The museum was open during the show, offering visitors a chance to both see its collection of airplanes but also to explore the local aviation history of Santa Maria, which dates back to the 1920s, which you can read more about in our article HERE. But soon, the Planes of Fame Air Museum, which has been headquartered in Chino, California for the last 50 years now, will make its permanent presence felt at Santa Maria. On 23 acres of land adjacent to the airport’s Radisson Hotel is the future site for the Planes of Fame’s Santa Maria location, with steel beams for the first hangar laying on the site. This new location is set to open its Building Alpha by 2025 as part of Phase One of the Santa Maria, with room for more hangar facilities to be added over the coming years. 

It should be noted that the expansion to Santa Maria does not mean that the Planes of Fame will leave Chino. The museum’s goal for the new facility is to rotate flyable aircraft back and forth between the two sites, and likely some of the aircraft at the facility in Valle, AZ (which had been closed to the public but turned into an aircraft restoration facility), will be brought to Santa Maria as well as aircraft from Chino. In addition to the aircraft display hangar, the Planes of Fame’s Santa Maria location will also include a gift shop, restoration and maintenance facilities, and a center for education and event hosting. For more information, visit their website HERE. With any hope, the new museum will be open in time for the 2026 Central Coast AirFest, which promises to be a must-see event, just as this AirFest certainly was. 

Adam Estes

Raised in Fullerton, California, Adam is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in History. Fascinated by aviation history from a young age, he has visited numerous air museums across the United States, including the National Air and Space Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He volunteers at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino as a docent and researcher, gaining hands-on experience with aircraft maintenance. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation history, he is particularly interested in the stories of individual aircraft and their postwar journeys. Active in online aviation communities, he shares his work widely and seeks further opportunities in the field.

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