California Flight Museum

12/03/2015

Untitled Album

03/06/2013

This is one of our airplanes a Mig-21 U , ex Hungarian Airforce , Russian Built supersonic fighter/trainer . Reg Finch is in the front seat having given a ride to a " Make Wish " recipient .

09/11/2012

F-16 Flight Simulator is now flying in Beligium

07/22/2012

Dear Museum Friends , Check out this " Over the Top Gun " group fresh out of the F-18 simulator yesterday doing combat and demonstrating maneuvers never seen before by our Marine corpse hosts . They keep bringing us back so that they can learn and adopt these refined techniques not found in any textbooks ! They are great hosts and we enjoyed their hospitality afterwards in the " Heritage " room where you can debrief without worrying about too much credibility or actual facts . It is the F-18 training squadron VMFAT 101 at MCAS Miramar . See if you can pick me out of the group . ( Hint : I am the best looking one ! ) I hope to fly the F-16 simulator in Belgium next month when we tour and celebrate with the locals in the Lorraine district . They were so glad to see us go they celebrate almost every year at " Kermis " time . I have to get back to my surfing . Sorry ! Reg .

06/23/2012

Brown Field to the Del Mar Polo Field

06/23/2012

Dear Museum Friends , Here are some pix of our flight from Brown Field to the Del Mar polo field last Saturday . The coastal marine layer prevented us from going directly and showing off the beautiful San Diego downtown area . Instead we took an inland route over Gillespie field to a point well north of MCAS Miramar to the coast all the while dodging the complex Class " B " airspace around San Diego . Near the coast we descended below the lowering marine layer , the houses on the approach and snuck in to the shortened Willis Allen Polo field . Champagne never tasted so goood ! Anjuli McDowell took most of the excellent pix . Cheers . Reg.

04/02/2012

Wings of the Red Star: The Phantom's Foe Mig-21 3/5

Dear Museum Friends, I have attached a short Mig-21 video of our plane made during the Dean Martin ownership circa 1988 narrated by Peter Ustinov and flown out of Burlington Vermont for the Navy Pax River test pilot school. Yes, that was before the curtain came down. Dean is the guy in the blue suit. His "Mig Pilot Vodka" vats inside a metal building near the Burlington airport blew up shortly after, leveling the building, vaporizing priceless Mig parts and leaving a smoking crater in the ground . It was good stuff! We take smaller sips during our debriefs to conserve our dwindling supply. No one was seriously hurt except for a few singed haircuts, eyebrows and a few "What the ..!!" facial expressions frozen in time. They do do things a little differently in Vermont! We are still flying our collection and also enjoy working on these magnificent machines! Visit if you can. Cheers, Reg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQwaNBXtI8&feature=related

The fighter which came to embody the red menace in the eyes of the west, the Mig-21 still serves with several air forces fifty years after its first flight. ...

01/09/2012

Older Pictures

01/02/2012

Happy New Year everyone ! I hope the new year will bring you good fortune , health , happiness and the food for the soul called aviation ! Reg Finch .

12/04/2011

It is an " Ab initio " trainer used in several Pacific countries' air forces , designed by one of my professors at SDSU : The late Ladislao Pazmany . We have been restoring it for several years after we dug it out of a farmer's field in Ramona , California . It was donated to the Museum by the late Mr. Pio who worked with Paz on the prototype and independently developed the only retractable PL-2 , which we have . It is not exactly a Mach 2 airplane , but it has it's charms , including side by side seating , 125 HP Lycoming , sliding canopy and all aluminum construction . Paz was a strong believer in aluminum leading to many lively debates in class as we tried to explore the new ( 1985 ) composite construction methods . We keep our airplanes covered to keep the dust off . It is a handsome airplane resembling the Siai Marchetti 260 . We painted it in the Thai air force colors because they have the best looking paint scheme of all the plane's operators . Much work remains including installing a glass instrument panel , hooking up a myriad of systems and sitting in the cockpit making airplane noises . We have talented individuals such as Dennis Cullum designing and building the radio harnesses and even building an intercom system from scratch ! How many people do you know that can do that ! If you are local please visit and admire this new addition to our collection . We hope to fly it in the airshow circuit next year . Mrs. Pazmany will be proud ! As a good Argentine she likes to be proud !!

12/03/2011

It is an " Ab initio " trainer used in several Pacific countries' air forces , designed by one of my professors at SDSU : The late Ladislao Pazmany . We have been restoring it for several years after we dug it out of a farmer's field in Ramona , California . It was donated to the Museum by the late Mr. Pio who worked with Paz on the prototype and independently developed the only retractable PL-2 , which we have . It is not exactly a Mach 2 airplane , but it has it's charms , including side by side seating , 125 HP Lycoming , sliding canopy and all aluminum construction . Paz was a strong believer in aluminum leading to many lively debates in class as we tried to explore the new ( 1985 ) composite construction methods . We keep our airplanes covered to keep the dust off . It is a handsome airplane resembling the Siai Marchetti 260 . We painted it in the Thai air force colors because they have the best looking paint scheme of all the plane's operators . Much work remains including installing a glass instrument panel , hooking up a myriad of systems and sitting in the cockpit making airplane noises . We have talented individuals such as Dennis Cullum designing and building the radio harnesses and even building an intercom system from scratch ! How many people do you know that can do that ! If you are local please visit and admire this new addition to our collection . We hope to fly it in the airshow circuit next year . Mrs. Pazmany will be proud ! As a good Argentine she likes to be proud !!

10/14/2011

For those that are not familiar we are at the Brown Field airport . The fly-in will be near the new tower . Follow the signs . We look forward to your visit . Reg Finch .

10/10/2011

Dear Museum Friends, we'll be putting some of our aircraft on display at the EAA fly-in next week-end. You are welcome to join us. We'll have a few chairs there and EAA has food and refreshments for sale. We'll start moving aircraft at 10 am on Sat. If you have an airplane you'd like to bring I am sure the EAA would welcome you. Let me know.

10/10/2011

Pictures from Green Flight Part 2 have just been posted. It took place in Santa Rosa, CA. "E Genius" from Stuttgart is in my never humble opinion the hardest to beat. Next is a modified Stemme motorglider with an added electric motor in the front by Embry Riddle of Florida. Next the E Genius again , being pushed by team members to the spot for the battery depletion test after the efficiency flight. A minimum of 30 minutes reserve at reduced power was required to qualify.
Next: Phoenix from Florida. E Genius cockpit. Pipistrel cockpit and
winner with an equivalent fuel consumption of 423 mpg/seat !! @ 80 mph.
And lastly, the winner, Pipistrel's unusual propeller. After the contests
everything was moved to NASA Ames for the awards on Monday.

10/10/2011

The Green Flight Awards were given out on Oct. 4th at NASA Ames at Moffett Airfield. The winning team from the University of Pennsylvania won $1,330,000 from Google and NASA. Second place went to "E Genius" built by a German team from the University of Stuttgart. They received $120,000. Look up "Café Green Flight Challenge" for more information.

10/10/2011

Green Flight Part 2

10/06/2011

NASA AMES

09/11/2011

Creation theory may be wrong; collider hasn't found 'God particle' | Deseret News

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700175444/Creation-theory-may-be-wrong-collider-hasnt-found-God-particle.html?s_cid=e_share

GENEVA — Creation is at the center of religion, and it is also at the center of a search, not for God, but for the "God particle." In

09/05/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vR1llleas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vR1llleas

09/05/2011

Vintage Wings of Canada > Home

Follow a group of adventurous Vintage Wingers as they make a pilgrimage nearly 1400 miles down to and back from the mecca of the warbird world, in the rarest warbird in North America. Follow this link to see more:

http://www.vintagewings.ca/Home/tabid/40/language/en-CA/Default.aspx

Friday, July 29th, 2011. Imagine a foursome of golfers at the Huron Pines Golf and Country Club near remote Blind River, Ontario, about to tee-off fro...

08/16/2011

A top notch professor at SDSU just volunteered to help with an aircraft design I have been working on for several months. He offered his services and possibly those of 2 other world class designers . Dr Joe Katz is ex NASA and invented the "Panel Method" for computational fluid dynamics ( CFD ). You may recall that I ran a wind tunnel study a couple of weeks ago of a model of my design at SDSU. So, this is the next and exciting step in the evolution of a new concept!

08/12/2011

The test was cancelled due to weather (low ceilings I presume). The word glider tells source of power: gravity. My curiosity surrounded the propulsion system because of the difficulties of "Scram jet" propulsion at even much lower speeds (Mach 10). When I saw the word "Glider" in subsequent messages I knew that the breakthrough would not be in propulsion. Gravity works for a while until we run out of altitude. We know what the effects are but not how it works. All very confusing! Reg Finch

08/12/2011

Those of you living in Southern California may be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the lift off from Vandenberg AFB this morning at 7 am of this exciting new technology demonstrator. To keep the Scram engine running and to actually provide positive thrust for any length of time has been the challenge. The announced speed goal of March 20 is much higher than previous tests, which were only modestly successful. This is a totally different and new form of propulsion. Stay tuned!

08/08/2011

Hello , My name is Reg Finch and I am the President of the California Flight Museum . I fly the Mig-21 U in the background . A former adversary during the cold war and still a front line fighter in several 3 rd world countries . It is a delight to fly and does everything fast . We generally fly it to the local airshows and provide rides for " Make a Wish " foundation and other worthy causes . Please come and visit us at our Brown Field facility . We are located near the terminal building . All the very best .

08/05/2011

We have a Face book presence finally thanks to Amanda Jereige and her brther . This is a bit of an experiment and we'll see how useful it is in the next several weeks as opposed to just emailing as we have done in the past . We'll post significant news items as they occur If you have any suggestions you can email me at [email protected] . Cheers . Reg Finch .

07/28/2011

Nonprofit:
The San Diego Flight Museum is registered as a 501-3(c) non-profit corporation. Those who volunteer their time, money or relevant equipment towards operating the San Diego Flight Museum can not only participate in experiencing, learning about and contributing to some of the finest engineering of this century but can also receive many tax benefits according to their contribution.

07/28/2011

Restoration and Flight

07/28/2011

Airplane Showcase

07/28/2011

California Flight Museum