Upon my visit to Palm Springs I browsed through a visitor’s guide that I found
in my hotel lobby. Much to my surprise I notice that there is an air museum in
Palm springs that has a big collection of World War II Air Craft.
On my way home I decided to stop in and take a look. I was amazed as to what
I had found. When I walked into the first hanger there in front of me stood a rare
PBY Catalina “Flying Boat” and it is still operational along with all of the other
aircraft in the museum. Of course I had to pull out my sketch book and brand new
fountain pen that I purchased from a fellow vendor at the South West Arts Festival
from that weekend.
My Sketch of the PBY Catalina
I also came across a B-17 next door. For a small donation of 3 dollars you
can crawl through this air craft with or without a guided tour, I have never
been in a B-17 before.
B-17 outside of the hanger.
Looking around I could find just about every aircraft used in
WWII along with mural size paintings by world renowned artist, “Stan Stokes.”
USS Valley Forge CV-45 Painted by: Stan Stokes
Needless to say I had made a day of touring the museum and I decided to stay
another night. I will definitely have to return for an extended visit with my painting
supplies to document this treasure.
Please spread the word to all aviation enthusiast about the palm springs air museum,
they can really use the support to keeping this treasure open to the public through
these lean times. The volunteers are dedicated to this and were a delight to talk with.
Most of them are WWII vets who flew these planes.
Visit the air museum on line at:
http://www.palmspringsairmuseum.org
