Flying Heritage Collection

I got a chance to tour Paul Allan's collection of war birds on Saturday at the EAA fly-in at Arlington field here in Washington. He graciously put the Hellcat, Curtis Jenny and the German piloted missile, the "Reichenburg" in a display tent off the taxiway.

For a few bucks we boarded school buses out to the buildings where the rest of the collection is kept. The "hangers" were non-descript. There were no signs or markings the would indicate there wonderful contents. The tour guide mentioned several times "this is a private collection, not a Museum". I guess that's part of the reason for no sign.

The tour lasted about 15 minutes and I gleaned a few tidbits. The P40 was sent to Russia in the lend-lease program. Sadly (to me) the Flying Tigers paint scheme will be removed and replaced with the original Russian markings. The Buzz Bomb is having its engine rebuilt and will be test fired with jet fuel. The have a Zero hulk that was recovered in flying condition by the Marines and ended up in a junkyard in Florida- they were cutting it up for scrap. Allan is planning a full restoration. The B17 is in pieces. They built the tail section completely from scratch- absolutely beautiful.

Well I was going to post some pics but there were too many people and all pictures must include the tour guide in the shot. The full tour lasts 2 hours and hopefully includes the rest of the collection and workshop.... I'll find out for ya when I go. :)