When American air power had taken over European skies, many US warplanes left the factory without camouflage. The bare metal airplanes were faster and lighter, and they could be accepted by the army a few days sooner. Both the FHC’s P-51 and P-47 fly without camouflage.
The Puget Sound region is one of the hotbeds of American aviation. In 1916, William
Boeing flew his first airplane from the waters of Lake Union near downtown Seattle.
During World War II, thousands of B-17 and B-29 heavy bombers were built in Seattle
and Renton, and the era of the jumbo jet began when the first Boeing 747 took to the skies from Paine Field near Everett, Washington, in 1969.
Boeing’s factory at Paine Field is the largest building in the world by volume: New
airliners emerge from this facility each day, winging away to all parts of the globe. The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) moved to Paine Field from a small group of hangars in Arlington, Washington, in June 2008.
The FHC is unique. Established by philanthropist and Microsoft Corporation co-
founder Paul G. Allen, it provides the vehicle for Allen to share his private collection of rare aircraft and artifacts with the public. The FHC is operated by Friends of Flying
Heritage, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The collection focuses on technical themes from an era of amazingly rapid change. The
concept of changes in technology—as seen through the aircraft, artifacts, and their
surrounding exhibits—was a natural fit for Allen, a pioneer in the fields of computer
software systems and industrial science.
Allen was also influenced by the experiences of his father, who joined the US Army
and served in Europe during World War II. Kenneth Allen landed at Normandy in June
1944 and moved through France, Belgium, and Germany during the last year of that
conflict. Undoubtedly, the stories he told young Paul upon his return planted the seed of interest in World War II history.
The FHC operates from a pair of hangars on the south end of Paine Field’s nearly two-
mile-long main runway. The primary hangar was constructed after World War II for the
repair and maintenance of Alaska Airlines passenger planes. However, due to the Korean War and Cold War needs, the big hangar was quickly turned over to the US Air Force.
Today, it serves as an excellent place to display and maintain the aircraft in the collection.
Two aspects set the FHC apart from other aviation museums and flying collections.
First, the aircraft are restored immaculately. Each airplane looks as it did when it rolled out of the factory or when it was serving with an operational squadron during the war. The FHC staff is dedicated to restoring and maintaining the aircraft as accurately as possible.
An example of this can be seen in the mechanic’s shop where drawers of hardware line the walls. Even for something as simple as a common bolt, there are different fasteners for each nation’s aircraft—from the Spitfire (British Imperial), to the Mustang (US
government AN), to the Bf 109 (German metric).
An aircraft like the B-25J gives another demonstration of the FHC’s dedication to
accuracy. While many flying Mitchells are bare on the interior, so patrons can be sold rides, the FHC aircraft contains a full complement of wartime equipment. Hauling
thousands of pounds of weaponry, survival equipment, and communications gear may
slow the plane and burn additional fuel, but it more accurately demonstrates the character and capabilities of this wartime medium bomber.
The FHC often hosts visiting vintage aircraft during the peak months. Here, the collection’s P-51 Mustang and Commemorative Air Force Boeing B-17G Sentimental Journey share the ramp at the start of a day of flying.
Secondly, most aircraft in the FHC are restored to flyable condition. Many air museums are static institutions. One might ask, “If you wanted to know about a fox, would you go and stare at one on the shelf of a taxidermist’s shop?” The best way to experience the animal is in its natural habitat. In the case of a vintage fighter plane, its natural habitat is the sky.
At the FHC, visitors can not only see, but hear, smell, and feel these magnificent
machines from decades past. Nothing compares to hearing the growl of the Spitfire’s
Rolls-Royce engine, seeing the Storch nearly hover in the face of a headwind, or watching the Hellcat go thundering past, hot on the tail of a Zero fighter.
In order to “keep ’em flying,” the FHC hangars contain work areas, as well as display
spaces. A staff of five full-time mechanics keeps these planes in top flying shape. In the summer, the mechanics are prepping the planes for flight and, in the winter, they are
tearing them down and inspecting every part.
In the open hangar, mechanics jack up the planes to test their landing gear, delve into the inner workings of their engines, change brakes, and troubleshoot radios. Periodically, they take an aircraft outside the hangar doors, tie it down, and rattle the windows with a noisy engine run.
The planes fly locally and perform regularly at Paine Field, as well as visit air shows in
western Washington. From May to September, the FHC holds free Fly Days at its home
base. Commonly, two or more aircraft fly—for example, the Spitfire and Hurricane on
Battle of Britain Day, or the Bf 109 and Fw 190 on Luftwaffe Day. Some weekends, the
lucky crowd is treated to a performance starring the only flying example of that aircraft left in the world.
On warm summer days, visitors can watch the maintenance activities happening right outside the FHC’s hangar doors. To see one of these iconic airplanes is one thing. To hear it roar to life, smell the oily exhaust, and to feel the powerful engine rumble in your chest, is quite another experience!
The Soviet T-34/85 medium tank was designed as the answer to the large and powerful German tanks encountered on the Eastern Front. The FHC’s example was built from an armored recovery vehicle found in Czechoslovakia.
The trusty M4A1 Sherman was the primary weapon of the US Army tank corps during World War II. The FHC’s example was built in Chicago, served as a training tool in the United States, and was sent to the Dutch army after the war. After it was abandoned, the tank was fully restored in England.
The FHC’s V-1 “Buzz Bomb” is an example of the world’s first cruise missile. Loaded with explosives, the pulse-jet powered machines came down in London during World War II. The parts to make the FHC’s example came from an underground factory near Nordhausen, Germany.
Germany’s 88mm flak gun was developed in secret after World War I. Though built for anti-aircraft duties, soldiers found that it would do terrible damage when aimed at a vehicle or pillbox. By World War II, it was one of the weapons feared most by Allied troops and pilots.
The fearsome V-2 rocket was the first manmade object to go into space. Some of the technologies developed for this Nazi
“vengeance weapon” helped launch men to the moon some twenty-five years later.
The winter months bustle with activity as each flying aircraft undergoes an extensive inspection. Though the vintage plane may have only logged a few more hours of flight time during the year, the FAA requires that FHC mechanics give every part of the plane get a thorough once-over.
The FHC’s P-40 and Zero get ready to dive toward the crowd on a Fly Day. Though “Flying Tiger” pilots never encountered Zero aircraft in combat, they often mistakenly identified the Japanese combat planes they saw during dogfights as the famous naval fighter.
After each aircraft lands, mechanics go to work to complete post-flight maintenance and put the plane back on display in top condition. This often includes wiping a thin sheen of heated oil off the planes still-warm aluminum skin.
Parking the FHC’s aircraft is a little like building a ship in a bottle. Each movement affects the planes parked around it. The FHC staff often has planning meetings to figure out which aircraft should be spotted where to accommodate test flights, maintenance, special events, and Fly Day performances.
The FHC recruits pilots from all over the western United States. Most of them are ex-
airline and/or military pilots who have dedicated thousands of flight hours to the operation of vintage warbirds. Some have flown in combat over Vietnam or Iraq, while others are
former air race champions. At any one time, there are about ten expert pilots who fly for the FHC.
Paul Allen continues to collect and restore significant vintage aircraft. Commonly, each project is sent to a restoration company that is an expert in their field. For example, the Spitfire was restored in England while the Mustang was resurrected by one of the most
highly skilled shops in the United States.
With an ever-expanding collection of exceptional artifacts and more on the way, the
FHC ran out of space in the original hangar in 2012. A second hangar was built and
opened one year later, in order to keep all finished and flyable aircraft in the public eye.
Exhibits in the original building cover the five World War II home fronts associated
with the collection aircraft—Great Britain, United States, Russia, Japan, and Germany—
focusing on the technological innovations and social situations seen in each country before and during the conflict. The exhibits in the second hangar tell the wartime stories of these planes. Fighting on five main fronts—western Europe, Eastern Front, Mediterranean,
Pacific, and China-Burma-India—these aircraft technologies encountered some of the
harshest fighting conditions and environments in the world.
The technology theme also allows the institution to examine more than just manned
aircraft. Examples of Germany’s pulse-jet-powered V-1 and a V-2 rocket allow visitors to see advanced tools of warfare in their earliest states. The V-1 is the world’s first cruise missile, while the V-2 is the forerunner to the rockets that sent men to the moon. The parts used to rebuild these Nazi “vengeance weapons” were recovered from an underground
production site in the Hartz Mountains of Germany.
Tanks and ground weapons, too, make up part of the growing collection. The Soviet T-
34 and American M4A1 Sherman medium tanks illustrate some of the most successfully
balanced blends of speed, size, weapons, and armor used by the Allies on the battlefield, while the compact Hetzer tank destroyer shows Germany’s last-ditch efforts to stop them.
Another iconic German weapon in the collection, feared by Allied tankers and pilots alike, is the Flak 37 88-millimeter gun. These cannon could blast shrapnel up to thirty thousand feet, or punch a hole through several inches of hardened tank armor.
Like the aircraft, the ground machines are all kept in working order. A highlight each spring is TankFest Northwest, where these weapons are driven and fired during a once-a-year public event.
The FHC cannot work without the assistance of volunteers. Nearly one hundred men
and women take the time to assist the staff, running public events, giving tours of the facility, and acting as FHC ambassadors. Some of these volunteers are teenagers, while others were teens in the 1940s, and flew combat aircraft during World War II.
The FHC is open to the public every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and
Tuesday through Sunday the rest of the year. The facility also includes a theater and gift shops stocked with a wide variety of books, models, and apparel. In the expansive
working hangars, visitors of all ages can get up close to and personal with these rare treasures of the twentieth century while learning how the innovations of the past paved the way to today’s modern aviation and aerospace technologies.
FHC warbird pilots Ross and “Bud” Granley pose for a photo on Father’s Day, 2013. Both men flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force; Bud piloted F-86s and Ross flew CF-18s. After their military careers, both piloted passenger jets for United Airlines.
Today, the father and son team operates the FHC’s aircraft on Fly Days.
Japan’s pair of iconic fighters is posed for a photograph in front of the FHC’s main hangar. The FHC is the only place in the world that a visitor can see these two famous aircraft together.