This year’s Pacific Coast Dream Machines show was held on its traditional date of the last Sunday in April at Half Moon Bay airport on the Northern California coast some 20 miles South of San Francisco.

  As well as a major vehicle show (featuring everything from the Ford Model T to the latest Tesla electric sportscar), monster trucks, dragsters, and Bonneville streamliners, there is always a good turn-out for the fly-in part of the event.  Hosted by locally-based Eddie Andreini, the show generally features a selection of California-based warbirds.  As well as the two Andreini Allison-engined Yak-9Us (the all-red ‘Barbarossa’ flown by Eddie and the camouflaged ‘Ottobre Rosso’ flown by his son Eddie Jr), Kent Carlomagno brought his Pratt & Whitney R-2000-engined Yak 11 ‘Blyak Moose’ in from nearby Petaluma.  The Commemorative Air Force’s Southern California wing at Camarillo sent their F6F Hellcat and Zero, along with a T-6 that was used to give rides throughout the day.  The ‘Hollister Air Force’ was represented by P-51s ‘Straw Boss 2’ flown by Ed Grabel and Dan Martin’s ‘Ridge Runner III’, along with Terry Tarditi’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, and Ellsworth Getchell’s rare Bristol Centaurus-engined Hawker Sea Fury, as well as Jerry Gabe’s Allison-engined P-51A/D hybrid Mustang ‘Polar Bear’.  A fifth Mustang, in the shape of Stu Eberhart’s ‘Merlin Magic’ from Livermore, as also present.

  As well as the fighters, a number of trainers 9 T-28s, T-6/SNJs and a T-34) were also at Half Moon Bay, along with the T-33 Heritage Foundation’s Canadian-built CT-133 ‘Ace Maker’ from Yolo County airport.  A very nice polished metal Spartan Executive, normally based at Frazier Lake, also made the trip to ‘Dream Machines’.  The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sent their specially-modified survey DHC-6 Twin Otter from Monterey.

  Although there was no air show as such, many of the fighters made several passes (often in formation) during the course of the afternoon or on departure.  Added to which was a steady stream of arrivals and departures for the fly-in portion of the event, and regular flights by the ride-haulers, which included a four-place 1929 New Standard D-25, Bob Berwick’s Travel Air 4000 from Sonoma, the afore-mentioned CAF T-6, and several helicopters.  Unfortunately, gusty conditions caused the cancellation of the Zeppelin ‘Eureka’ which was scheduled to operate out of Half Moon Bay for the day from its usual base of nearby Moffett Field.

  All in all, another highly successful event, with something for all the family.  Hopefully the organizers succeeded in their efforts to raise funds for the Coastside Adult Day Health Center.