Air Museum Lands a Big Exhibit

With the arrival of a second C-46 transport plane this week, the local wing of the Confederate Air Force has cornered the market on the World War II relics.

Tinker Belle, the largest twin-engine transport plane of the war, joins the resident China Doll, another C-46. While China Doll will remain at the World War II Aviation Museum at Camarillo Airport, Tinker Belle is in town to undergo repairs that will allow it to appear at air shows nationwide.

Of the 3,200 C-46s built, only two are still flying in the continental United States--and both are now on view at the runway outside the Aviation Museum at Camarillo Airport.

“The names are a joke since both planes are the biggest, clunkiest, blimps with wings you can imagine,” museum spokeswoman Pat Brown said.

Tinker Belle and China Doll are the largest of the thousands of World War II artifacts on display at the nonprofit museum.

One of its two hangars houses a gift shop along with thousands of items from the war years.

Some--silk maps, a compass smaller than an aspirin and designed to be used by pilots if they were shot down--are in glass cases, while other items are on tables. Shelves are filled with books and videos, and mannequins sport authentic uniforms.

Volunteers have organized donated items to fill the hangar. Across the street are more World War II artifacts stored in truck trailers until money is found to build more showroom space, Brown said.

The other hangar is used to renovate planes the museum takes in. Inside, piles of what looks like rusty junk are actually parts needed to restore an AT-6 plane originally built in the 1940s and that was, until recently, stored in a barn in Texas, said maintenance officer James Johnson, 71, of Thousand Oaks.

Johnson, who has more than 50 years airplane maintenance experience, heads a group of volunteers who build and repair the old planes during maintenance parties every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The Confederate Air Force began more than 40 years ago in Midland, Texas, to restore and maintain World War II aircraft to flying condition, fly them at air shows and educate people on the war’s aircraft history and keep the memory of those who served alive.

Today it has 90 aircraft in flying condition, 45 in restoration and 40 grounded.

The group has more than 7,000 members with 80 units in 25 nations, including France, England, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

The Southern California Wing, which was formed in March 1981, has more than 250 members and six World War II planes, including two American Trainers, a Grumman Bearcat fighter and a North American Mitchell bomber.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Mondays. Admission for adults is $5, children 7 to 16 are $2 and children under age 7 get in free.

A fund-raising event today will feature a re-creation of the Hollywood Canteen, with entertainment from the 1940s that will include a live band and movie star look-a-likes.

Doors will open at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $30 general, $55 for couples and $10 for children under 12.

Tickets are available at the door. Food and drinks will be sold inside.

For more information, call (888) 842-8365, or visit the Web site at https://www.WWIIAIRPOWER.com.