Warbird Information Exchange

Great short vid of the FHC German hardware

Nice high definition up close footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE903q84jcc

The workmanship appears to be superb to my untrained eye. I’d think the Dora or the Emil would walk away with top honors at Airventure, no problem. Thanks for posting.

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Chris

Neat video! The narrators accent gives it some authenticity

So, are there any news or rumors about the future of FHC?

The only thing I have to add and I must emphasize this is rumor only, and at least 2nd or 3rd hand info, so don't place too much blind trust into what I am about to say. With that being said, I've heard that the governing body (Vulcan BOD?) that is making decisions on all of this is going to make some definitive decisions this year regarding the future of not only FHCAM but also the 10 or 12 other organizations under their umbrella. I have some acquaintances who are affiliated with Vulcan, and every one of them have opined to me that FHCAM is not coming back. It was all of their opinions that the collection at FHCAM would either be broken up or sold off at some point in the future. I asked them specifically if any of the rare restorations that were in place at the time of the shutdown would be completed and they told me, "not under FHCAM's ownership". So, take all of this as you will.

It seems such a shame, that these organizations are abandoning Mr. Allens vision.

I cant even imagine how much the collection is worth should it be sold off piecemeal.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

...and to think I was just days away from getting to see this collection before it was shut down for the Chinese Flu. Such a shame if it is broken up and projects sold off.

Yes, it is very sad. Everything I've heard about Vulcan, and consequently FHCAM, is directly attributable to Allen's sister, Jody Allen. She is in charge of the entire Allen estate and after her brother passed she got placed in charge of running the show for all of the corollary organizations within Vulcan, Inc. I've been told she is the one who pulled the plug on all of those organizations. She is also said to be no fan of all of her brother's enterprises and museums. Just my opinion, but I think we can kiss all of this goodbye and hope there are other multi-millionaires/billionaires out there who can continue Paul Allen's vision of preserving and remembering aviation history.

I guess Paul Allen, didn't care about FHCAM either then, despite pouring all that money into it, as you would have thought he would have prior put in place adequate legal safeguards in place for its continued existence after his passing (unless he thought he was immortal)

Yep, and that's the 25 million dollar question. How did FHCAM end up in this position? From what I've been told, all of this did not happen by pure happenstance. Paul Allen did have a will and it was carried out by his sister, who was named as executor and trustee of his estate. So, apparently, all of this was coordinated and planned prior to Allen's death. It just seems completely at odds and contradictory to everything that Paul Allen stood for. I'm sure there's a lot more behind the scenes that we're not privy to, so we can't state anything definitively right now. Maybe my information is wrong, maybe there is another plan in the works that just hasn't been executed yet. I don't know. Let's just let this play out before we start casting stones.

A lot less than what it’s worth. Nobody will pay the price for most of the examples they have, and there will come a point those in charge don’t care about how much they get for the planes either and just want them gone. Great news for other collections and I’m all for it.

Great video...
I'm glad I got to go there once before it was closed down.

What are the rumours about the Stuka and the Me 262 ?

Thanks,
Phil

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A man's got to know his limitations.

Nothing I've heard. I assume that they will remain incomplete/unrestored and not fly if or until a new caretaker has been established for them. There is also the very real possibility that the next caretaker will make them static only. If so, that would be one of the greatest travesties in the history of warbird restorations in my opinion, since it is highly unlikely any other examples will ever fly.

Thankfully no one’s quite got it right.

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45+47=Psalm 92:6

I hope you are right Mark! Like I've said all along, I'm only passing info I've heard, and it's not very optimistic.