Fighter takes flight P-40

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Fighter takes flight P-40N
Restored WWII plane back in sky over Sonoma Valley

By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A rare World War II fighter, painted in a purposeful flat olive drab, flew over the Sonoma Valley this week, the engine a dull roar as the plane banked and dove.  “It sounds great ... It’s a beautiful thing to see,” said Jack Wallace, 86, of Petaluma. “Just to hear it is great.”

Wallace was one of a handful of World War II fighter pilots among the crowd of 75 at the airport Wednesday to see the fighter, a Curtiss P-40.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to fly, I’m pleased,” said Chris Prevost, 46, owner of Sonoma Valley Airport and Vintage Aircraft Co. He estimates he’s spent 10,000 hours over several years restoring the craft.

Prevost’s fighter is one of only two dozen P-40s still flying, out of 13,700 built. It is valued at about $2.5 million.

The Curtiss P-40 is a single-seat, propeller-driven plane first built in 1938 and was hopelessly outperformed by the German and Japanese fighters of the day.

“We found out the only way you could fight a Zero and live is you make one pass at it and then get the hell out of there,” said Ray Melikian, 90, of Visalia, an Army Air Corps pilot with a special relationship with the plane.

When the plane, which was deteriorating in Australia, was sold to Prevost, a historian used the serial number on the plane to trace its history back to Melikian, reuniting the pilot and plane.

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http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090130/NEWS/901309992/1033?Title=Fighter_takes_flight