Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum’s New Hangar Under Way

As many of our readers will be well aware, the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum at Paine Field in Everett, Washington has had a third hangar in their plans for some time. The museum broke ground on the plot for the massive, 30,816 square foot structure late last year. They began pouring concrete for the slab in the last two weeks, so progress is happening quite quickly. The new building will increase the overall undercover display space by more than 50% and accommodate the burgeoning fleet of former military aircraft and ground vehicles. There will now be room for Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress 41-9210, among several other rare types in the collection that are not currently on display at Paine Field. While the B-17 did fly back in 1998 after a cursory restoration while under the ownership of Don Whittington/World Jet during the early to mid 1990s, it had not yet received the kind of down-to-the-last-rivet restoration that the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum has become famous for. No doubt some of this work has already taken place in the nearly 20 years since the museum’s benefactor, Paul Allen, has owned the aircraft, but in keeping with their tradition, we likely won’t learn much more about the B-17 until she is nearly ready to come home. The new building is slated to open late this fall, so it will be interesting to see if the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum has any surprises to reveal within its walls on its debut!

The museum already has a fairly full schedule of interesting events for 2018, and some of the highlights for aviation enthusiasts include the following…

Mar.8 – Around the Artifact – Bf 109 vs. Spitfire

May 26 – Tankfest NW – Combat Armor demonstration

Jun.23 – Pacific Theatre Day – WWII Pacific Theatre ground vehicles operating and aircraft flying

Jul.21 – FHCAM SkyFair – the museum’s main flying and combat vehicle event of the year

Aug.25 – European Theatre Day – WWII European Theatre ground vehicles operating and aircraft flying

The complete current list of the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum’s major events for 2018 can be found HERE

Also, we mustn’t forget to add that WarbirdsNews sister publication, the print magazine Warbird Digest, has a fascinating, in-depth feature article in its latest issue (#77) which documents the restoration and history of the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum’s freshly restored, combat veteran FG-1D Corsair. As ever, the story is filled with stunning images of the aircraft, many of them by the great John Dibbs. Be sure to get your copy at the newsstand, or better yet, order a subscription HERE!