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Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum facts for kids

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Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum
Polikarpov Po-2 Paul Allen's WWII Flying Heritage Collection.jpg
The collection's Polikarpov Po-2 on display.
Former name Flying Heritage Collection
Established 2004
Location Paine Field, Everett, Washington
Type Aviation museum
Founder Paul Allen
Owner Steuart Walton

The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is a U.S.A. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the display and preservation of rare military aircraft, tanks and other military equipment. The museum reopened on the Memorial Day Weekend 2023.

On rotation in the three working hangars are military artifacts from the United States, Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Japan.

The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is housed in three working hangars at Seattle-Paine Field International Airport in Everett, WA. Mechanics are typically on-site Monday through Friday, working on maintaining the technology and operating condition. The museum provides guided tours five days a week, hosts a variety of activities, features war conflict simulators, and possesses countless historical artifacts.

History

In 1998, Microsoft Corporation co-founder Paul Allen began acquiring and preserving vintage aircraft. Allen's passion for aviation and history, and his awareness of the increasing rarity of original World War II aircraft, motivated him to restore these artifacts to the highest standard of authenticity and share them with the public.

The Collection opened to the public in 2004 at the Arlington, Washington, airfield, but in 2008 moved to a newly renovated historic industrial hangar located at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, United States. In 2013, the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum added a 22,000 square foot expansion hangar for its expanding collection. In 2018, came another expansion featuring the opening of Hangar C, which added over two dozen artifacts. On March 24, 2017, the Museum changed its name from the Flying Heritage Collection to the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum to reflect the transition from exclusively aircraft to a military vehicle & armament as well. In 2018, the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum became a public 501c(3) nonprofit. On March 3, 2020, the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum temporarily closed due to complications that arose as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April 2022, the industry magazine Air Classics reported that the museum's collection was sold, promising further details in its June issue. The Dutch Aviation Society reported that the buyer was Steuart Walton, grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. The sale was confirmed by CNN and other media in August, 2022. The plan is for the museum to remain in Everett; reopening in 2023 under the stewardship of the Wartime History Museum, a nonprofit established by Walton earlier in 2022.

Walmart heir Steuart Walton's nonprofit, the Wartime History Museum, acquired aviation artifacts from the FHCAM and reopened the museum on Memorial Day Weekend of 2023. The museum remains open with increasing operations.

Ilyushin Il-2m3 Shturmovik - Paine Field - USA (Sept 2012) - Ready to fly view 1.
The airworthy Ilyushin Il-2 of the Flying Heritage Collection, flown with a "reversed" Allison V-1710 powerplant, as the original engine had been designed to do.

List of Warbirds

The Flying Heritage and Combat Armory has a number of historic artifacts. Their most prized collection items are all aircraft. However, FHCAM also has a rich collection of armoured fighting vehicles. The specific histories and stories of the aircraft can be discovered in-person at the museum.

United States

North American P-51D Mustang

North American B-25J Mitchell

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk

Goodyear FG-1D Corsair

Grumman F6F Hellcat

Curtiss JN-4D Jenny

Republic F-105G Thunderchief - being returned to its owner

Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey"

United Kingdom

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc

Hawker Hurricane Mk.XIIA

de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito T.Mk.III

Avro Lancaster B. Mk.I (nose section)

Soviet Union

Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 "Rata"

Polikarpov U-2/Po-2

Ilyushin II-2M3 Shturmovik

Imperial Japan

Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar)

Mitsubishi A6M3-22 Reisen (Zero or Zeke)

Nazi Germany

Fiesler Fi 103 V-1

Fiesler Fi 103R Reichenberg

Fiesler Fi 156 C-2 Storch

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-13 (Dora)

Messerschmitt Me 262

Junkers Ju 87 R-4 Stuka - Under restoration

Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 (Emil)

Messerschmitt Me 163 B Komet

Mittelwerk GmbH V-2 Rocket

List of Tanks

The collection features a variety of vehicles and armament dating from WWII to some present-day artifacts. Most of the artifacts are from the United States, Germany, Japan, or the Soviet Union. However, many of these vehicles have changed hands many times before arriving at FHCAM.

United States

M1A1 Abrams Turret Trainer

M8A1 Patton (Cut in Half)

M4A1 Sherman

M5A1 Stuart

M60A1 Patton

M24 Chaffee

M7B1 Priest

M8 Greyhound

M26 Pershing

M55 Self-Propelled Howitzer

United Kingdom

Churchill Mk VII Crocodile

Soviet Union

FMDB T-34/85

T-54M

Germany

Jagdpanzer 38(t) (Hetzer).

Panzerkampfwagon IV Ausf. H

Japan

Type 95 Ha-Go

List of Artillery

United States

M2 155mm "Long Tom" Field Gun

United Kingdom

17-Pounder Mk. I Anti-tank Gun

Germany

75mm PaK 40 Anti-Tank Gun

88mm Flak 37 Anti-Aircraft Gun

Japan

47mm Type 1 Anti-Tank Gun

List of Vehicles

United States

M5A4 High-Speed Tractor

AM General M936A2 Wrecker

Dodge WC24 Command Car

Dodge WC54 Ambulance

Ford GPW "Jeep"

Harley-Davidson WLA

Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP)

M3A1 "Half-Track" Personnel Carrier

M274A5 Mule

Germany

BMW R75

Opel Super 6

Scheuch-Schlepper

Volkswagen Kubelwagen Typ 82 Kfz.1

See also

  • List of aerospace museums