Aero Vintage Books

There was a small aircraft collection at Norton AFB at San Bernardino, California, from about 1958 to 1964. Though not officially organized as a museum, the collection was a source of aircraft for use as studio props in films of the period. The collection was disbursed in 1964. There has been a bit of a mystery about this collection, as it existed in the days before people paid much attention to aircraft types, serial numbers, and disposition of aircraft collections.

The background of  why the collection was established and why it was disbursed is only anecdotal, at least according to all the available sources. These accounts suggest that a base commander was intent on establishing an aircraft collection, something of a west coast USAF Museum, but that it never received official approval and flew under the radar. Thus origins of the collection are fuzzy. One source suggests that the sole remaining B-49 flying wing, RB-49A  42-102376, stored at a Northop facility at nearby Ontario Airport, was earmarked to be moved to the collection at Norton. It ended up being scrapped at Ontario in late 1953, so it is possible that the efforts to organize a collection began before that early date. Other sources suggest the aircraft collecting started in 1958 or 1959. Many of the aircraft came from Edwards AFB, possibly at the conclusion of test programs. 

Aircraft from the informal collection came to be used as studio props in several Hollywood productions. Specifically, F-86A 48-263 ended up in both Bombers B-52 and The Hunters.  Another good source states that P-51D 44-63810 was used in a very little-known TV series about an ex-AVG pilot that was now a private detective and used the Mustang as transportation between cases. The Mustang was painted in an olive-drab scheme and may have supposed to have been a P-40 in the series. (More information on this TV series would be most welcome.)

At some point, most likely 1964, the collection was ordered disbursed, either by USAF officialdom or a new base commander.  Reports about how it was disbursed are interesting and contrary to the normal process. Evidently, the order went out to just get the airplanes off Norton AFB…no questions asked. A call then went to local museums to come and get any desired aircraft. Few, if any, formal transfer or loan agreements were  executed. 

A major recipient of the Norton collection was Tallmantz Aviation’s International Flight and Space Museum. Another was The Air Museum at Ontario Airport. Known aircraft in the collection, including a B-47B and a B-45C, disappeared after the collection was disbursed, leading one to think they ended up being scrapped on site.

Any further information about the aircraft collection at Norton is welcome. The list below is, I think, the first comprehensive listing of those aircraft contained in the little-known collection.