Jet pilots visit for upcoming photo shoot
CHICO » Wednesday morning started out with rumbling skies as the reconnaissance U- 2 aircraf t started circling the Chico Municipal Airport around 8: 30 a. m., working on touch-and-goes.
Then it got louder.
Closer to noon Wednesday, two F- 18 Hornets landed, but it was the take off in the early afternoon that got people’s attention, as they roared over Chico heading south.
In between, sweeps by the orange-and-white Air-crane helicopter, with a dangling water pipe, plus visits by the National Guard Blackhawk helicopters kept aviation enthusiasts glued to their windows.
While the U-2 is a regular visitor, and the Blackhawks and Air- crane have nearly taken up residency at the airport to fight the North Complex West Zone fires, it was the F-18s from Naval Air Station Lemoore, near Fresno, that captured Wednesday’s attention.
The pilots were scouting out what the airport looked like in preparation for a magazine photo shoot in October.
They had come to see the A-7 Corsair at the Chico Air Museum that was dedicated to Navy pilot and former Butte County supervisor Larry Wahl of Chico.
The air museum staff acquired the Corsair several years ago and restored it, then painted it in the colors and insignia of the VFA25 squadron that is based at Lemoore.
“It happens the VFA25 squadron painted their F-18 in the legacy colors that mimic the colors flown back when they were flying the A-7Corsair II,” ChicoAir Museum president Brian Baldridge told his publication.
“We painted our A- 7 Corsair II in VFA-25 colors based on pictures from Larry. The Lemoore people thought the ‘old’ and ‘new’ generations of VFA-25 aircraft would look good together in a picture.”
Those pictures will be taken in October, for a spread in “Combat Aircraft” magazine.
Baldridge pointed out that the Chico plane also carries the same logo on the tail, and the green trim was unique.
The museum spent several years acquiring and restoring the aircraft, which they unveiled in March 2019 in a surprise event forWahl, who is also a member of themuseum.
Wahl flew that plane in the Vietnam War.
While in ChicoWednesday, the pilots were scheduled to dine at Foodies Cafe and tour the air museum, which is still closed to the public under COVID-19 restrictions.