The Planes of Fame Airshow in Chino, CA is definitely our favorite event of the year! Incredible aircraft and our biggest public "tent city". The HUSC units pulled out all the stops this year, and it was the first time we were able to use a lot of our new equipment! We managed to get our pyramidal tent in time (thanks to your generous support) and did our best to put together the most interactive camp on the strip.
Mostly geared towards children (and those who are young at heart), the moment guests stepped into the tent they were walking into Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. They got their security clearance from Lt. Negrete, who explained the sort of work that the WACs are working on for D-Day. From there, guests were given an assignment that lead them throughout the tent on an interactive adventure. They learned French from Pvt. McDowell, map reading from Sgt. Hibbs, switchboard operations from Cpl. Hataway (on our new, working switchboard that was wired into the Airborne foxhole), and lastly air raid safety from Cpl. Mussenden. But before they left, guests were given the option to help out the backlogged mailroom.
Prior to the event, HUSC members wrote V-Mail to their fellow reenactors which were then delivered by young guests the day of the event. Our mail carriers thoroughly enjoyed searching for soldiers in the other camps to see what the messages were, and the reenactors enjoyed getting to read messages from their friends. The activity was so popular in fact, that we had guests coming back to deliver more. Needless to say we ran out of mail almost immediately!
Planes of Fame is always something we look forward to; the staff are so friendly and accommodating, and with so much public we're always on our toes! Even with the visit of a friendly field mouse in the tent during the night, we're already waiting for next year. Check out some photos taken by our members: