Wings, Tracks, and Wheels 2026 Recap!

Let’s kick off the update with a look down what I was calling ‘Jeep row’. From WW2 Jeeps to the post-war M38s. This event has grown every year, and started from humble, simple roots, and has exploded into a must-attend for many reenactors and vehicle owners in Southern California. Let’s take a quick step back and talk about how it got started.

This is the poster for the 2026 event, the fifth annual one. Back in 2022, I had the idea of putting together a military vehicle meet-up event at the Planes of Fame Air Museum (Chino Airport, CA) where I’m a volunteer photographer and head of the museum’s Facebook. I got the go-ahead, and Wheels, Tracks, and Wings (what it was called at the time) was born. It was a one-day event, and we got what I thought was an impressive ten Jeeps and four other military vehicles.
The event proved popular, and I had a vision of this becoming a large military vehicle gathering, which was, sadly, lacking in SoCal. The next year, 2023, we had about 25 vehicles total and expanded the event into a 2-day event with a full reenactor camp. In 2024, we saw just over 40 vehicles show up, and the event continued to grow. Last year in 2025, the event saw 10 aircraft take to the skies for the event, nearly 50 vehicles in attendance, and just over 3000 guests showing up! My little idea of an event has really taken off!

As the lead for the ‘Living History’ section of the event (the reenactors and military vehicles), I have to get to the event on Friday, the day before the first day. I spent a few days detailing the Jeep, getting her ready. Fixing some scratches, checking fluid levels, applying new ‘nose art’, etc. On the way over, the Jeep struggled and started to backfire quite a bit. It was very alarming. I was able to fix the issue once I arrived, which I’ll detail in the NEXT update (since this one is already so large). With the gas prices in California right now, it almost cost me $50 to fill up the Jeep.

I was the first one to arrive early in the morning. With my issues now fixed on the Jeep, I stopped to take a quick shot in the stillness and quiet before the literal storm of Olive Drab green that would descend into this field and the ones behind it in just a few hours. The concrete pad the Jeep is sitting on isn’t just some random pad in a park. This is actually part of Chino Airport, and this pad used to be a building way back in the 1940s. At the time, the airport was known as Cal Aero Field and was a major Army Air Force training base during World War 2. This building here was either barracks or an administration building. Pretty neat history in this spot! So let’s dive into the event…

I should point out that I was very busy this year. I was directing vehicles in/out of our ‘Tank Arena’ along with bringing in reenactors for various demos throughout the day, and keeping an eye on the operations of both areas to make sure there were no issues. As such, my photos were pretty much limited to when I had time to snap some shots, which was few and far between. I barely got any shots of the reenactor area, and not a single warbird flying. But, I wanted to capture what I could, including cool line-ups like these three M38s. This makes up three of the four M38s we had in attendance this year and shows a neat progression from the M38 to the M38A1.

Over in the Inland Empire Military Vehicle Preservation Association (IEMVPA), we had two Dodge WC vehicles on display. I loved the large 48-star flag on this WC-1.

One of the really unique and clever ideas the Planes of Fame Motorpool volunteers had was taking the M816 Wrecker and hoisting the M151 (early version) into the air. Why not show how the Wrecker can work? The M151 has been non-functional at the museum for a while now, and I’ve wanted to get it out on display for some time. The crowd loved seeing the M151 suspended in the air.

The past few years, we’ve had a wonderful replica WW2 Kubelwagon built on top of a VW Beetle chassis. On Sunday, we were lucky enough to get a REAL 1944 Kubelwagon to also appear (the one on the right)!

Okay, so enough of the primer, let’s get to the show! We did the opening ceremonies differently this year. I had the idea to move it out into the Tank Arena so more people could see it and, most importantly, include the museum’s M4A1 Sherman Tank (which has a demo at the end of the day). We had several reenactors line up for a special playing of the national anthem, a gun volley salute, taps, a speech by an Eisenhower reenactor, and firing off a single shot from the tank.

On Sunday, we expanded the ‘eras’ represented in the opening ceremonies with WW1 all the way to Vietnam, plus some women reenactors.

We also had a set of US Marine reenactors who recreated the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.

And here’s the M4A1 Sherman Tank one of the mornings doing what it does best… KABOOM! The firing officially opened the event.

Now, moving on to another historic line-up of history. Last year, I put together the first ‘Jeeps through History’ parade. Not much of a parade, as it is a look at each vehicle, this demo is choreographed to the music of the era for that vehicle with a narrator talking about how each iteration advanced the Jeep forward. While we couldn’t get the modern-day Growler this year, I did add two vehicles to the line-up on Saturday. To represent the ‘Jeep copies’ around the world, I added the museum’s rare Russian GAZ-64B. And a last-second addition, we added the M442 Mighty Mite. And we ended it on another Hummer. Even missing some vehicles, it was still a pretty historical line-up of vehicles!

Representing the beginning of the Jeep during WW2, we had a 1942 Willys MB Slat Grille. I’d LOVE to have a Bantam BRC, Willys MA, and/or Ford GP to represent the true early Jeeps as well, but I can’t find any. Do you know of anyone who has one who can attend next year? Let me know!
Anyway, then we had the 1944 Willys MB and my 1944 Ford GPW. The MB represents the ‘front-line’ configuration, while my GPW represented the Jeeps in England at airbases.

On Sunday’s ’Jeeps Through History’ demo, Will, the owner of the 1944 MB, decided to add his 37mm anti-tank gun to further the ‘front line’ look.

Rounding out the rest of the vehicles, we have the 1945Russian GAZ-64B (the rarest one in the group) representing the Jeep ‘clones’ out there. Then we have the 1953 M38, followed by the 1953 M38A2. Then (Saturday only) we had the 1961 M442 Mighty Mite. That was followed by the 1970 M151A2 and finally a 1980s M998 HMMWV Hummer. I really hope to expand the lineup a lot more next year!

Overall, though, it’s a pretty amazing feat to get this many types together in one spot these days!

That’s about 40 years of vehicle advancement from the Slat to the Hummer just in this shot here. And even though the Growler is technically the ‘modern Jeep’, the Hummer is still the backbone of the military motorpool these days, so it works to cap it there.

On Sunday, though, we lost the Mighty Mite and the Hummer, so we had to end on the M151A2, unfortunately. If you own an ex-military Hummer still in military configuration and paint, and can attend the event next year, I’d love to have your Hummer in the demo! Still, though, that’s a pretty impressive line-up of different Jeeps.

Speaking of Jeeps, it’s time to start going through ALL the military vehicles in attendance. If we continue to grow at this event, I’m not going to be able to fit this list in one update anymore! Kicking it off is the earliest vehicle on display, a 1941 Willys MB Slat Grille.

We then had a 1942 Willys MB Slat Grille named ‘Dakota’. A top-class restoration, it wears 2nd Armored markings.

And we had another 1942 Willys MB Slat Grille, bringing us to THREE Slat Grilles! This Slat also wears 2nd Armored markings.

Next up, we had what I believe is a 1942 (not sure on the year) Ford GPW that looked really nice. It was very clean, like my Jeep!

Next up, we had another 1942 Ford GPW Jeep in US Marine Corps markings and a nice .30 cal mounted on it.

From the IEMVPA, we had a 1942 Willys MB Jeep with attached trailer and .30 cal mounted gun.

We had a 1943 (pretty sure on the date) Ford GPW Jeep marked with MVPA markings. Look for them later as they splashed in the mud.

We had another 1943 GPW Jeep in 1st Army, 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion markings (Able Company).

Next up, we have a British 1943 Ford GPW Jeep. Love the cool 6th Airborne Division paint job.

Next up, we have a 1943 GPW in 82nd Airborne colors owned by Chuck Reuter. His displays are always FANTASTIC, including all the Coca-Cola items. His Jeep is certainly loaded to the brim, with a passenger side mounted .30 cal and many radios.

Next up, we had a 1943 Willys MB Jeep in 15th Air Force, 459th Bomb Group markings. This MB was the only other Jeep in USAAF Bomb Group markings aside from mine.

Next, we had another 82nd Airborne marked Jeep, this time a 1943 Willys MB with .30 cal mounted on the passenger side and radios.

We had another 82nd Airborne Jeep, also a 1943 Willys MB (but from a different 82nd Airborne reenacting group). It also had a .30 cal mounted.

Whose Jeep is this? Kidding, it’s my 1944 Ford GPW Jeep in 8th Air Force, 95th Bomb Group, 412th Bombardment Group markings. Note, you are getting a preview of the new ‘nose art’ I added to the windshield before the event! I’ll be covering the nose art in depth in the next update.

We had another 194w GPW Jeep, from the Southern California Military Vehicle Collector’s Club (SCMVCC). This is marked up as an 8th Air Force, possibly ‘Heavy Wing’ or ‘Heavy Weapons’?

We had yet another 82nd Airborne Jeep, this time a 1944 Ford GPW. Great use of crates!

We had a 1944 Willys MB Jeep, the one that participated in the Jeeps Through History demo. This Jeep is loaded to the bone with not only a .50 cal mounted on the pedestal, but also a .30 cal on the passenger side and a Thompson in the gun rack! It is in 2nd Armored, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, Dog Company markings.

We had a VERY patinaed 1944 Willys MB Jeep in US Marine Corps markings. Lots of canvas items on it.

Next, we had a 1945 Willys MB Jeep in very clean and vivid US Marine Corps markings. The lighter colored canvas really contrasts with the deep hunter green.

Another IEMVPA Jeep, this time a 1945 Willys MB with .50 cal mounted. Another very clean Jeep, with markings from the 2nd Armored, 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Company E.

And finally, the last Jeep we had was a 1945 Willys MB in 101st Airborne markings. Note the interesting addition of LED turn signals on the grille. That wraps up all the Jeeps but one (which I forgot to take a photo of), which was the museum’s 1943 Ford GPW Jeep that was open for people to sit inside and take photos. That brought our total to 22 Jeeps!

Now, let’s go through all the other non-WW2 Jeep vehicles. Representing the motorcycles, we had the museum’s 1942 Indian Model 741 and a really nice 1941 BMW R71 with sidecar.

The IEMVPA brought out this 1941 Dodge WC-1.

Sitting next to the other WC is this 1941 Dodge WC-3, also from the IEMVPA.

Sitting all by itself was this museum’s 1941 MC-18 Ambulance, which serves each year as a sign directing people to the reenactor camp and vehicle displays. At least it has good company with the famous Boeing B-50 Superfortress ‘Lucky Lady II’ behind it.

Of course, we can’t forget the star of the event later in the day, the 1942 M4A1 Sherman Tank in 2nd Armored markings, named ‘Hannibal.’

I always love seeing this 1942 Ford Super Deluxe staff car attend the events. I’m envious of the car! It is wearing 82nd Airborne, 505th Headquarters markings.

It took a lot of work, but I was able to get this incredibly rare 1943 Ford GPA Amphibious Jeep (‘Seep’) to the event on Saturday only. Michael D. was kind enough to rent a trailer and bring it out to the show. I would have loved to have it be a part of the ‘Jeeps through History’ demo, but with the difficulty of driving it, he had it on static display only. Still, amazing to have it there one of the days! What’s even more amazing is that Michael told me that it has all matching serial numbers… the frame, the engine, and the data plate. That’s rare enough for a normal WW2 Jeep, but a GPA… wow. And yes, he has taken it into the water before.

One of the most unique vehicles was Tom R.’s 1943 T-24 Weasel in 2nd Armored, 17th Armored Engineer Battalion, Baker Company markings. This thing is so fun to watch drive around, makes me want to get one! Did you know that the displacement of the tracks is LESS than the displacement of a fully-loaded soldier? That’s right, a soldier will sink into the mud more than this tracked vehicle will!

As mentioned earlier, we were fortunate to have this rare 1944 Kubelwagon show up on Sunday! This Kubelwagon is actually from the Russian Front, which is pretty amazing.

And we had the replica Kubelwagon (called ‘The Thing’), built on a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle chassis. The owner is part of the IEMVPA.

A crowd favorite, the 1944 Ford M20 Greyhound from the SCMVCC. It wears markings from the 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

We were lucky to have this awesome M3 Halftrack from the IEMVPA! Unfortunately, I didn’t get the year. I’ve always wanted a Halftrack! If I had the space, I’d get one!

Showing up for the first time this year, we had a replica Russian BA-64. This vehicle, built on top of a Russian GAZ chassis, looks like a heavily armored Jeep! They did a short demo in the tank arena each day.

New to the museum’s motorpool fleet was this 1944 Dodge WC-51 in 3rd Army, 10th Armored Division, 55th Armored Engineer Battalion. Company B markings. It was a workhorse during the event, serving as reenactor transport, a stage, and a heavy hauler!

Of course, we had the rarest vehicle (maybe aside from the GPA)! The museum’s 1945 Russian GAZ-64B was captured by US Forces during the Korean War.

Moving beyond World War 2, we had the museum’s 1953 Willys M38 in 3rd Army Headquarters, 103rd Ordnance Battalion markings. This M38 has the smoothest L-head engine I’ve ever heard.

We had a very clean 1953 Willys M38A1 in US Marine Corps markings. This Jeep took part in the ‘Jeeps Through History’ demo.

We had another 1953 Willys M38A1 in US Air Force Strategic Air Command, March Air Force Base, Air Police markings. The only blue colored vehicle this year! Love the full canvas enclosure.

Rounding out the last of the M38s is another 1953 Willys M38A1 named ‘Lulu’. Love the Coca-Cola cooler in the back.

Of course, we had the museum’s suspended 1960 Ford M151 Mutt. This Mutt is an early one. While it’s missing a lot of parts, I’ve been told it’ll be drivable next year and might represent the early M151s in the ‘Jeeps through History’ demo for 2027.

Appearing Saturday only (and in the Jeep demo was the 1961 M442 Mighty Mite from the SCMVCC. I hope it’s able to attend both days next year!

The museum’s 1962 General Motors M114 command and reconnaissance carrier was able to be on display for the first time since the motorpool got it running a few weeks ago.

We had another early 1965 M151 Mutt in 12th Evacuation Hospital Ambulance markings from Cuchi Base Camp in Vietnam.

From the SCMVCC, we had the 1970 M151A2 Mutt in 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, Battalion Commander markings. This M151A2 was in the Jeep demo.

I wasn’t able to jot down the year, but it’s a 1980s M998 HMMWV Hummer that we had for Saturday only. It was the Hummer in the Jeep demo and different than the Hummer we had last year. It’s from the SCMVCC.

We had a 1966 M274-A2 Mule (which did a demo on Saturday) from the IEMVPA, and a 1985 Chevrolet M1009 in 3rd Army, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Headquarters from the SCMVCC.

Wrapping up the last of the larger vehicles… we had (top left), the museum’s 1970 AM General M816 Wrecker, (top right) 1967 REO M52A2 in 124th Transportation Battalion/64th Transportation Company markings from the SCMVCC, (bottom left) 1990 AM General M923A2 in 40th Infantry Brigade/1st Battalion/160th Infantry Regiment markings from the SCMVCC, (bottom right) and a 2000s Chevrolet GMT900 Silverado from the SCMVCC.

And the last vehicle to attend… while we don’t allow civilian vehicles at the event, this 1946 Chevrolet Model 3105 Ambulance appeared on Saturday only.
It actually served on a military base formerly, so we allowed it to attend. It was a popular vehicle during the event! So, there’s the entire list of vehicles that were part of the event!

The M20 Greyhound drove around the tank arena performing two demos a day, firing the .50 cal and making some noise!

The T-24 Weasel also performed both days for a demo in the tank arena. On Sunday, due to overwatering the field and a slightly rainy morning, we had some mud… which the Weasel didn’t seem to mind!

The really nice owners of the 1943 GPW Jeep asked if they could do a demo and drive around in the tank arena. I gave them the option if they wanted to drive or not on Sunday morning with the muddy field… the answer was a resounding YES! They sure were having fun, much to the delight of themselves and the crowd watching.

Even the 1944 Kubelwagon owner wanted to get in the tank arena to drive around! In the passenger seat is the owner of the Kubelwagon replica, along for the ride.

On Sunday, instead of a Duce and a Half that didn’t show up to do a demo, the owner of the M3 Halftrack wanted to play in the mud and drove around as a large crowd watched.

All smiles on the leader of the SCMVCC group, Tim E. in his 5-ton beauty! This 40th Infantry Brigade/1st Battalion/160th Infantry Regiment 1990 M923A2 was one of the first American vehicles into Iraq during Desert Storm!

And of course, we ended the day with ‘fireworks’… and by fireworks, I mean the M4A1 Sherman Tank doing it’s thing!

And we had it crush all sorts of things, much to the delight of the crowd.

And it wasn’t just the 75mm that was operational, but the top .30 cal and the two internal .30 cals. In the top photo, you can see the flash from the bottom bow .30 cal.

And a special note, this 2026 event marked the last time that the museum’s motorpool driver, Paul, would be driving the tank. He officially retired. We had a little ceremony directly after the tank’s demo on Sunday, and gave Paul a ‘golden tank’ for his retirement. He’ll still be around the museum, but letting someone else drive the beast!

Well, we’re reaching the end of this update, and a look back at ‘Jeep Row’ at the event. This year’s event was wildly successful, with about 4,500 people in attendance. I tired to make the tank arena busy all day long with vehicles having fun out there in the field, so that no matter where you were at the event, in the reenactor camp, by the tank arena and vehicle displays, near the main entertainment stage in the museum, on the hot ramp where the warbird aircraft were staged, in the kid’s zone, etc… there was always something going on. This made people come back for the second day because they couldn’t see everything! We had a lot of positive feedback from the guests, and we can’t wait to bring it back for May 1-2, 2027! If you are interested in being a part of this great event, keep an eye on the Planes of Fame Air Museum Facebook around December when we open vehicle/reenactor sign-ups!

Looking ahead, there was several things I couldn’t get to in this update, like some of the photo ops I did with my Jeep while at the museum… like with the museum’s Lockheed P-38J Lightning ‘23 Skidoo’. Look for more in the next update!

And finishing up the update with a photo that just about started it… the drive home on Sunday after a long three days (Friday setup included) at Chino Airport. It was a great event, and I’m already starting the initial planning for 2027! Now the Jeep gets a rest before the next event in June. That ends this recap of the event.
Till the next update…