Edward T. Maloney (May 21, 1928 – August 19, 2016) was an American
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...
historian based in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
.
He assembled much of the collection of historic airframes displayed at the
Planes of Fame Museum at
Chino Airport
Chino Airport is a county-owned airport about three miles southeast of Chino, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The Federal Aviation Administration's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011 classified it ...
,
Chino, California
Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino is adjacent to Chi ...
.
Maloney believed that today's scrap is tomorrow's history, and in 1946 began collecting odd airframes for a future museum. His first item was reportedly a
Mitsubishi J8M
The Mitsubishi J8M ''Shūsui'' ( Japanese: 三菱 J8M 秋水, literally "Autumn Water", used as a poetic term meaning "Sharp Sword" deriving from the swishing sound of a sword) was a Japanese World War II rocket-powered interceptor aircraft clo ...
rocket-powered interceptor.
Maloney opened his first
aviation museum at
Claremont, California, on January 12, 1957, and then moved to
LA/Ontario International Airport
Ontario International Airport is an international airport two miles east of downtown Ontario, in San Bernardino County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino. It is owned and operat ...
,
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...
, in the 1960s. His collection included several military aircraft including a rare
P-26 Peashooter
The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the first American production all-metal fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps. Designed and built by Boeing, the prototype first flew in ...
, a
P-51
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
A, a
Hanriot HD.1, a
Heinkel He 162
The Heinkel He 162 ''Volksjäger'' (German language, German, "People's Fighter") was a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World War II. Developed under the Emergency Fighter Program, it was designed a ...
, the
Northrop N9M flying wing testbed, the nose section of a
B-36 Peacemaker
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...
bomber. It also includes the last
B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
operation, the drone-director ''
Piccadilly Lilly II'' (44-83684). This B-17 starred in the ''
12 O'Clock High'' television series from 1964 to 1966. Interactive displays included a vintage
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
gunnery training machine.
In 1969, Maloney was forced to move his collection from the Ontario Airport hangar, and chose its present location at Chino Airport. Maloney remained active in the preservation of aviation history until he died from colon cancer on August 19, 2016, aged 88.
"PLANES OF FAME - Home". Accessed 22 August 2016
References
;Bibliography
* Edward T. Maloney and Frank Ryan. ''P-26, History of the Famous Boeing P-26 Peashooter''. Challenge Publications, 1965.
* Edward T. Maloney and Frank Ryan. ''Me-262 The Story of the German Air Weapon That Almost Changed the Course of the War...'' Challenge Publications, 1965.
* Kamikaze (1966) Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers Inc.
* Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger", Aero Series 4''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1965. .
* Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Aero Series 6''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1966. .
* Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka", Aero Series 8''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1966. .
* Heinz J. Nowarra and Edward T. Maloney. ''Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil", Aero series 9''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1966. .
* Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''Supermarine Spitfire, Aero Series 10''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1966. .
* Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''Chance Vought F4U Corsair, Aero Series 11''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1967. .
* Edward T. Maloney and Uwe Feist. ''North American P-51 Mustang, Aero Series 15''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1967. .
* Edward T. Maloney, Uwe Feist and Ronald Ferndock. ''Messerschmitt 163 "Komet", Aero Series 17''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1968. .
* Edward T. Maloney. ''Lockheed P-38 "Lightning", Aero Series 19''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1968. .
* Edward T. Maloney. ''Grumman F8F Bearcat, Aero Series 20''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1969. .
* Edward T. Maloney. ''Northrop Flying Wings''. Buena Park, CA: Planes Of Fame Publishers, 1975. .
* Edward T. Maloney. ''The Messerschmitt Me-262''. Corona del Mar, CA: World War II Publications, 1980. .
* Edward T. Maloney and Thomas E. Doll. ''Chance Vought F4U Corsair, Aero Series 11, second revised edition''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1985. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maloney, Edward T.
1928 births
2016 deaths
American historians
American curators