Sorry folks, I just couldn’t find any worthy flying article links this week. Maybe all the usual writers were out on vacation or something.

I do have a few photos for you though. One of the many fun things about being based at Reno-Stead Airport is that it is often a fuel stop for some interesting planes.

In the past couple of weeks we have had visits from two very nice warbirds.

This Mustang arrived from Chino Airport in Southern California. The owner down there had sold it and the pilot was on a long round-robin flight to deliver it to the new owner – somewhere in the Midwest.

It was a beautifully polished version of the Mustang. That day the winds were blowing at about 25 knots, luckily close to down the runway.  They were forecast to increase to the 40-know range, so the pilot was not dragging his feet getting the refueling completed.

He was nice enough to do a fly-by on his way north. That really is a nice sound.

We had another arrival from Chino late last week.

This time it was the Planes of Fame P-38, flown by John Maloney on it’s way to an airshow in Idaho.

There were 10,000 of these made and, as best as I can determine, there are only 10 airworthy examples left. The P-38 is the only American WWII fighter that was being produced when Pearl Harbor was attacked and continued to be produced until the end of the war.

I looked at the meter on the fuel truck when they finished refueling. It said they had put 160 gallons in to the plane. At Stead’s current price (self-service, not full service truck price, which they used) they fill-up was a bit over $900.

Just one more reason why I don’t own one – though it sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Here’s a short (90 sec) video I took as John was leaving.