Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum


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, 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