Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum

The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is a 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, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union. The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is based at Seattle-Paine Field International Airport in Everett, Washington. Mechanics are typically on-site Monday through Friday, working on maintaining the technology and operating condition. The museum provides guided tours three days a week, hosts a variety of activities, features war conflict simulators, and possesses 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. Walton's nonprofit organization, the Wartime History Museum, acquired aviation artifacts from the FHCAM and reopened the museum on Memorial Day Weekend of 2023. The museum remains open to the public in Everett, WA. List of warbirds The Flying Heritage and Combat Armory has a number of historic artifacts. Their most valuable collection items are all aircraft. FHCAM also has a large collection of armored fighting vehicles. Their newest acquisition is the P-38J Lightning "Jandina III". United States North American P-51D Mustang Lockheed P-38J Lightning North American B-25J Mitchell Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk Goodyear FG-1D Corsair Grumman F6F Hellcat Curtiss JN-4D Jenny Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey" United Kingdom Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc Hawker Hurricane Mk.XIIAa 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) Germany Fieseler Fi 103 V-1 Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Fieseler 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, and the Soviet Union. United States M1A1 Abrams turret trainer M48A1 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 Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2 Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101 Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath Sd.Kfz. 303 See also List of aerospace museums References External links Official website Paul Allen.com, page on collection