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Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum facts for kids
The collection's Polikarpov Po-2 on display.
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| Former name | Flying Heritage Collection |
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| 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.
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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.
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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 B-25J Mitchell
Curtiss JN-4D Jenny
Republic F-105G Thunderchief - being returned to its owner
United Kingdom
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc
de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito T.Mk.III
Avro Lancaster B. Mk.I (nose section)
Soviet Union
Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 "Rata"
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
Junkers Ju 87 R-4 Stuka - Under restoration
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 (Emil)
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
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