The airport was founded in 1945 by Dewey and Maude Cable and remains in the ownership of the Cable family today. It is claimed to be the largest privately-owned, public-use airport in the US and is home to an eclectic selection of aircraft.
The annual airshow follows a regular pattern, with a segment of airshow acts in the morning, with a break at lunchtime, when local car clubs stage a classic car parade and based and visiting aircraft stage flypasts. In the afternoon, the same airshow acts repeat their displays, followed by more flypasts and departures by the visitors.
The location is one of the most photogenic imaginable. With a mountain backdrop, the sun at your back for most of the day, and an early sunset, it is a photographer's dream. Couple that with a crowdline close to the runway, a varied selection of subject aircraft and a full moon on airshow weekend, and what more could a photographer ask for?
Add in an extremely photographer-friendly policy from the organisers, and Cable has been on my 'must-do' list every year since I started working in LA four years ago. In fact, 'friendly' is the best word I can think of to describe the whole event.
With free parking and a $7 entry fee, the Saturday crowd was the largest I've seen there, with car parks filled to overflowing and latecomers forced to street-park in the surrounding area.
After last year's overcast weather, it was a pleasure to arrive early on Saturday morning to find the airport bathed with lovely golden winter sunshine.
Planes of Fame at Chino generally send a warbird over for static display, this year it was the turn of the SBD Dauntless to make the lengthy cross country flight of around nine miles to attend. On departure after the afternoon airshow on Sunday, pilot Ron Hackworth made several low passes for the benefit of the attendees.
Another regular warbird attendee is the Commemorative Air Force's Cable-based FM-2 Wildcat (painted in an approximate representation of an FAA Martlet scheme). Pilot Carter Teeters made some flypasts in the Wildcat during the Saturday lunch break.
The aerobatic acts included locally-based regular attendees Rob Harrison ('The Tumbling Bear') in his Zlin 50, giving his usual high-energy performance, and Frank Donnelley (billed as 'Dr D's Old-Time Aerobatics'), who performs a nice routine in his clipped-wing Taylorcraft, featuring an engine-off aerobatic segment followed by an energy-managed deadstick landing, culminating in his placing the propeller spinner into the palm of announcer Steve Stavarakakis's, who stands hand outstretched on the ramp.
The traditional parachute drop was made from the CAF Inland Empire Wing's C-53 (the troop-carrying version of the C-47, better known in the UK as the Dakota) 'D-Day Doll', based at nearby Riverside Airport. Aviation legend Clay Lacy from Van Nuys performed a nice STOL and engine-off routine in his Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter.
This year, one of the visiting acts was Doug Jardine, flying his newly-acquired Sbach 342 (read more about the type in Issue 4 of Global Aviation Magazine) in place of his more familiar Sukhoi. The Sbach made an unusual sight, but its limited smoke oil capacity (around three minutes according to the announcer) meant that much of his routine was flown without smoke.
17 year-old Sammy Mason from Santa Paula was making his Cable debut, flying an aerobatic routine in the family Stearman. Both his father and grandfather flew aerobatics in Stearmans, so he is certainly carrying on the family tradition! I first saw him perform at the Camarillo airshow in 2010 where, too young for a pilots licence but old enough for a glider licence, he performed a nice aerobatic routine in his Fournier RF4 motor glider. Way to go, Sammy! Certainly one to watch for the future.
Another traditional aspect of the Cable airshow is the ability to buy reasonably-priced rides in a variety of aircraft. This year, flights were available in Robinson R44 helicopters, a nice Tiger Moth, a 1930 New Standard D-25 biplane, a North American T-6 and a variety of Cessnas.
Flypasts were made by formations of Nanchang CJ-6s, Vans RVs and Ryan PT-22s. Visiting and based aircraft on show included several O-1 Bird Dogs (including Planes of Fame's example from Chino), a nice military-schemed PT-17 Stearman and a Fairchild PT-19. Les Whittlesey's Waco ZPF-7 was another visitor from Chino on the Saturday.
A based McKinnon-converted Grumman Widgeon made a sunset flight on Sunday. Another unusual type for the US (although more common in Europe) was a Yak-18T, resplendent in full Aeroflot markings. Another former Soviet aircraft taking to the air was the CAF's Antonov An-2 'Big Panda'. This aircraft makes occasional trips to Edwards AFB to allow students at the Test Pilots School there to experience a large, slow-flying tailwheel aircraft.
The locally-based Fokker S-11 instructor (one of only 2 currently registered in the US) did not fly this year, but was parked out on the display line. Aero Trader's B-25 Mitchell (another Chino resident) was also on static display, but had to abort its takeoff run on departure due to a violent nosewheel shimmy.
A departing Learjet provided a moment of levity for the assembled photographers; after making a nice Flypast, the tower asked if they'd make another. "We can't afford it!" came the reply back over the radio.
A rather sad sight at the end of Cable's line of hangars is a dismantled Northrop F-89 Scorpion. Owned by the western Museum of Flight, and recently advertised for sale, it has been sitting forlornly at Cable for quite a few years now. Hopefully it will find a good home and be restored before too much longer.
2012-02-02 - Cable Airshow
Thank you for a wonderful write-up in addition to the beautiful photos. You captured the event beautifully. We had a record-breaking year and look forward to it again in 2013. Save the date .... January 12-13, 2013.
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