"Sketching At The Chino, "Planes To Fame" Airshow"...

The Seversky P-35... I think!

It was hot, and I was wasted after three hours of being outdoors in the Santa Ana heat of Chino, CA. A friend said it was around 97 degrees around noon, but out on the tarmac, it was more like 105. For
me, too Swedish for my own good, it didn't take much to send me back into a cool of a aircraft
hangar.

I love the Chino Air Show, and I miss it "big time" now that I'm living in 'da Bayou. I enjoyed it so much that I used to have a membership. The same climate that affects me so negatively, is the same climate that is so perfect for protecting anything metal. Anyway, I had to make the best use of my time, so after polishing off a bottle or two of "Planes of Fame" water, I decided to stay inside and draw until I gained my strength back, or the growl of P-51's and '47's extract me from my cool seat.

I managed to sketch a Boeing P-12 (F-4B) and this Seversky P-35. The P-35 was basically a precursor of the P-47 Thunderbolt of WWII fame. It's competitor for top spot in pre-WWII aircraft  competition was the Curtiss P-36, which basically was the big brother of the Curtiss P-40.

I did have to move from my cool seat up against stacks of water bottles to sketch this piece. A friend, NASA test pilot, and drone fanatic, stole my identity, by taking this picture of me while sketching the F4B.

Eventually, I did hear the growl of the Rolls Royce engines which compelled me to hastily boogie out to the flight line to take in some great fly byes. Later,  in the comfort of a patio chair around the Crowne Plaza hotel pool, I faked in the "tone" of the P-35.

Copyright 2014/Ben Bensen III