Warbird Information Exchange

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/07/08/100ae_flyin001.cfm

8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Sunday at Arlington Airport, 17622 49th Place NE, Arlington. www.nweaa.org

Published: Friday, July 8, 2005

Rare aircraft on display
A main attraction at the Arlington Fly-In today and Saturday will be a collection of restored planes from World Wars I and II.

Herald staff

The Flying Heritage Collection, featuring rare World War I and World War II planes acquired by Paul G. Allen and restored to flying condition, is displaying some of the aircraft at the Arlington Fly-In, which concludes this weekend.

The Flying Heritage Collection's painstaking process of restoring its aircraft sets them apart from other aviation artifacts, each restored to a level of authenticity never attempted before. The Flying Heritage Collection team researches exhaustively and seeks out original vendors to reconstruct materials and components that have become obsolete. From cotton-coated wiring and lacquer and enamel paint to vintage cockpit furnishings and original radios that still operate, these planes are as authentic as is possible.

8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Sunday at Arlington Airport, 17622 49th Place NE, Arlington. www.nweaa.org
A free open house of the entire collection will be available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and Saturday to all Fly-In participants.

Also at this year's Fly-In, Silver State Helicopters, a local flight academy, is providing aerial tours.

The Fly-In again features warbirds, classics, homebuilts, antiques, ultralights, balloons, aerobatics, forums, workshops, an outdoor movie each night and lots of children's activities.

Gates open at 8 a.m. today and Saturday. Kids exhibits are open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the air show from 1 to 3 p.m.

The Fly-In is in conjunction with the centennial Arlington Festival & Frontier Days, which started over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Arlington Festival Street Fair is also this weekend, featuring an art show, vendors, music and entertainment and children's activities. Entertainment will be from noon to 8 p.m. today, noon to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in Merchants parking lot.

Also this weekend are the Friends of the Library book sale (9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Arlington Library, 135 N. Washington; 360-435-3033) and the Rusty Relics Picnic in the Park Car Show (9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Pioneer Park, 20722 67th Ave. NE; 425-337-3882).

Michael O'Leary / The Herald

Flew up to Arlington today (weather was dog sh_t....) and took
the "mini-tour" of Paul Allen's stuff. There was only a sub-set
of his collection on display, but it was still cool. They had
a policy of allowing photographs, but only if someone (friend,
companion, whatever) stood in front of the aircraft (???).
I didn't learn about the policy until after I had taken a few
pictures....

What I saw:

F6F Hellcat
JN4 Jenny
V1 Buzzbomb (replica)
V1 Buzzbomb (a real one)
Feisler Storch
Polikarpov I-16
Polikarpov PO-2 biplane
Unrestored Zero (will be restored to flying, remarkably intact as is)
Hayabusa Oscar
P-40C
Spitfire
P-51D
Portions of a B-17 (D model I think...?) that were restored
(outer wing panel, tail section, ball turret, etc.).

Here are a few pictures.

[url]http://www.havasreti.com/Flying_Heritage_Photos\1.jpg[/url]
[url]http://www.havasreti.com/Flying_Heritage_Photos\2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://www.havasreti.com/Flying_Heritage_Photos\3.jpg[/url]
[url]http://www.havasreti.com/Flying_Heritage_Photos\4.jpg[/url]

Bela P. Havasreti

Thanks for the pictures! So, the Hellcat and the Jenny were in a display tent on the Fly-In grounds and the P-51D was over in the FHC hangar. Correct?

Dennis

I love the raw stencil on the Hellcat. I can understand the irony of using roll-on stencil on a million dollar aircraft, but it sure brings the authenticity to life. Can't wait to see this collection in person.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

It's a shame the Fly-in committee was so anal this year. Without the Cascade Warbirds running the warbird displays/speakers/fly-bys they count of warbirds went from 102 to 2. Maybe they'll learn in time for next year! Longview/Kelso show went from 2 to 102!

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

That's right. The Jenny, a "fake" buzzbomb and the Hellcat were in the
tent on the fly-in grounds. The rest of the aircraft I mentioned in the
post above were in a clump of hangars on the south end of KAWO.

Bela P. Havasreti

I understand what you're saying Jack (and by and large, agree), but
for what it's worth, general attendance was parralell to the warbirds on
display (I've never seen the airport so empty in the 25+ years I've been
going to Arlington!).

Let it be known the weather truly was dog-poopoo...

The joke of the day was at least now we know what
fly-ins in the UK must be like! (not a reflection
on the attendance, but rather the weather!).

We had to set down @ Renton on the way back and wait for a couple
of hours for a slight (and I mean ever-so-slight) break in the weather
to get back to S36.

When was the Longview/Kelso show? (wasn't aware of that one...
Don't have anything about it on my calendar....???).

Bela P. Havasreti

Flying Heritage Collection owns B-17E 41-9210 N12355 that's slowly being restored.

Dennis

Longview/Kelso is this weekend. Cascade Warbirds bailed on Arlington and are going there. Should be a great show weather permitting. Warbirds and military vehicles....how can you beat that?

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!