Paul Allen, of Microsoft fame, has opened a museum–The Flying Heritage Collection–featuring a collection of World War II fighter aircraft in Everett, Washington, not very far at all from Rusty Heaps HQ. It’s tremendous. And the best part? They are all in flying condition, and are flown!
(Well, the Komet rocket plane isn’t flown–the landing gear falls off upon take-off and one in four times they simply explode in flight.) But the rest get into the air on “fly days.” Today it was the P-47 and the Russian Polikarpov PO-2 biplane (the “Night Witches” flew these sturdy aircraft; the all-woman squadron terrorized the German citizens at 70 MPH):
Below are some scenes from the museum. I’ve been twice now and can see myself visiting many more times, despite vintage planes not being a particularly strong passion. For the $12 admission, it’s a bargain.
thanks roger nice work! that was another good day out!
s.
While the collection was being put together it lived (in semi-stealth) at the Arlington Municipal Airport here in Arlington, WA. They only took the planes out for special occasions (the big July Fly In for example.) However if luck was on your side you would see them flying around on the occasional summer’s evening. Since we live east of Arlington we’d occasionally be treated to an impromptu vintage air show while out on the deck for dinner. I’ve seen quite a few of the planes shown above flying around above my house. I miss having them around here. Our loss is Everett’s gain I guess. :(
–chuck
it’s great that paul allen is using some of his money for something like this. awesome aviation history