Nurturing a Love Affair for Vintage Planes

He’s no pilot, but Joe Peppito of Newbury Park has kept aircraft in the sky for more than 50 years.

“Any time (the pilots) have a problem, they call me in,” the 70-year-old retired airline mechanic said Sunday, cleaning his hands after working on the malfunctioning tail fin of a 1945 Navy SNJ-4 trainer.

“When they beat them up like this,” he said, pointing to the tail of the bright yellow vintage aircraft, “I’m the guy who puts them back together.”

Peppito and other members of the Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force are hosting the organization’s annual open house, a free display of World War II-era planes that continues through today at Camarillo Airport.

“I’m doing exactly what I was doing 50 years ago, working on (these) airplanes,” Peppito said. “To me, that’s a privilege.”

Hundreds turned out Sunday at the Camarillo Airport for the second day of the three-day open house. The show features more than a dozen planes, including the China Doll transport plane and a Bearcat fighter, one of a handful remaining in the world.

Music of the big bands of the 1940s played from a stereo as vendors sold copies of wartime newspapers, with headlines such as one from the San Francisco Call-Bulletin that read, “Yank Naval Victory Grows” from July, 1943, and “2 Million Yanks Home by Xmas” from September, 1945.

Nearby, organizers accepted $1 donations for a tour of the China Doll while other vendors sold T-shirts, framed photographs and hats with images of the aircraft.

All proceeds were to benefit the nonprofit Confederate Air Force.

“Our mission is to educate the public on the contribution men and women made in fighting World War II,” said Steve Barber, a Ventura stockbroker who was flying Sunday in a Navy training plane for the public while also practicing for the Point Mugu Air Show four weeks from now.

“It’s important to remember what they did and the sacrifices they made,” said Barber, 47, a Vietnam veteran.

The vintage planes brought back memories for Ed Thomas, 68, who spent much of World War II patrolling the North Atlantic, seeking out enemy submarines as a nose gunner in a B-24 bomber.

“There’s something about flying in a World War II aircraft,” he said. “They’re noisy, they vibrate. You can feel it through your whole body.”

Thomas, a retired financial planner, is another member of the Confederate Air Force who spent Sunday answering questions and spinning stories from his war experiences.

“These are real airplanes,” he said fondly. “The planes they’re building these days are so fast and sophisticated that you’re not a pilot, you’re a computer programmer.”

Larry Black of Woodland Hills brought a video camera to record the day for his parents. His father was a Navy pilot during the war.

“I just like the old planes,” he said, shutting off the recorder for a moment. “My mom and dad are from that era, so I thought I’d play the tape for them when I get home.

“This is the kind of stuff you can only read about nowadays,” Black said. “You never get to see it anymore, so this is just like a piece of history.”

Along the runway, where civilian private planes took off and landed throughout the day, Steve Cohen of Thousand Oaks came to see the famed Bearcat, a plane known for its speed and agility.

“I love watching these planes fly,” he said, standing a little farther away as the Bearcat began its ascent.

“It’s more of a nostalgia thing,” said Cohen, the head groundskeeper at the Calvary Church in Westlake. “These planes are so well taken care of that they’re probably safer than any of the ones they make today.”

He stopped for a moment as the silver fighter lifted off only a few dozen yards away, unflinching at the deafening noise.

“I like the loudness,” he said. “That’s one of the things I like most.”