IPMS Santa Rosa Visits

Aerocrafters

The IPMS Santa Rosa gang bundled up with parkas and loaded down with cameras!

Alan Davilla arranged a special treat for us to begin the year. Alan works at Aerocrafters, where they specialize in restoring warbirds and other military aircraft. They are located at the Santa Rosa Airport and are owned by Steve Penning and Lynn Hunt. Aerocrafters opened in January 1992, and have grown to occupy nearly 50,000 square feet of hanger, shop and storage space.

Aircraft restored or worked on at Aerocrafters include: HU-16, PBY-5A, Sea Fury, T-6, T-28, B-25, A-26, BT-13, PT-13/PT-17, P-51, P-63, Provost, Strikemaster, Folland Gnat, F8F, MiG-15, MiG-17, PZL TS-11, Aero L-39, F9F-5, Yak-3, Yak-52, MaxHolste Broussard, Nanchang CJ-6, Taylorcraft L-2, Stinson L-5, L-18, Fairchild 24, Cessna UC-78. In the following photos, you'll catch a glimps of other projects as well.

The main hanger filled with nearly completed projects. Click on the photo for a larger view.

The main hanger was dominated by two B-25s. The one in the foreground is in flying condition and open for us to explore. Also on the floor were a P-51D (now completed, flown and shipped to it's owner in France!), L-39 Albatross (now flying), MiG-17 and Sea Fury. Those in a disassembled state offered an opportunity to photograph some unusual details.

More detail photos below.

Out on the flightline, we were treated to a walkaround tour of Jimmy Rolleson's Lockheed Loadstar. This one is the very rare ex-military C-60 variant restored in the mid 90's.

More detail photos below.

Another well traveled Aerocrafter's veteran on the flightline that day was this Grumman HU-16 Albatross. The Albatross is one of Aerocrafter's specialties. They have restored 12 of these birds. This one was ex-Navy, rescued from Davis-Monthan. Owner and pilot Rick Grant was on hand, getting ready for a trip to Palau, but spared a few minutes to spin a few tales and let us climb on board.

HU-16