The show that we attended on March 31
was a little different than normal. This show was an air show/car show
combo held at the Riverside municipal airport. This was the15th annual
Wings and Fins Aircraft and Car Show put on by the Riverside Municipal
Airport and Classic Chevy's of Riverside. And they had a record crowd of
over 80,000 people that day. The weather was a warm 85 degrees and over
200 hot rods showed up for the event which was a good turn out.
It's been years since I've been to an air show so
this was a real treat for me with all the vintage and military
aircraft on display. And it didn't stop there either because they had a carnival, tons of food vendors, souvenir stands of all types and they
even had some remote control (R/C) aircraft flying too.
The show registration opened at 7:00am so that
meant we would need to leave the house before 6:00am because it's about
45 miles away. My wife didn't want to get up that early so it was just
Larry and I this time.
The show hours were from 9 am to 4:pm and they had
a pancake breakfast that started at 7 if anyone was hungry. The proceeds
all went to Cystic Fibrosis and some other charities which is a very
good cause. Admission was free for spectators but it costs you five
bucks to park.
Larry and I were there right at 7 which meant we
had some pretty good parking. Once we had things all setup, Larry wanted
to eat but after looking at that long line, I told him I'd catch up with
him later. Now this ended up being a good thing because it gave me a
chance to walk around before all the crowds showed up. And I'm glad I
did because I had no idea that there would be that many people there that day.
I'm going to show you some aircraft first and then I'll get to the
car show a few pages later. I guess I could bounce around but I thought
it best if I didn't.
After a short walk from the food line, the first thing that caught my eye was the row of
vintage aircraft gleaming in the morning sunlight, and what a cool sight
that was!! It was very quiet at that moment because the gates weren't
open to the public yet. This gave me a chance to see a few things without a mob of
people around. There's something very cool about vintage aircraft
in the morning.
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