Paul Allen's Air Museum Lands at Paine Field

Microsoft Billionaire Collects World's Rarest WWII Warbirds for Show

Apr 6, 2009 John Wolcott

The Flying Heritage Collection at Paine Field, north of Seattle, is a magnet for aviation and history enthusiasts, offering up-close views of famous WWII fighter planes.

As a youth, long before his passion for computers and software programs, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was fascinated by airplanes. Now, he owns dozens of the world's rarest ones.

Since it opened in the summer of 2008, tens of thousands of local and global visitors have come to Paine Field, Wash., to see his Flying Heritage Collection, showcasing many of the world's most famous 1935-1945 fighter planes from five countries. All of the planes have been restored to flying condition, another rarity in the world of aviation museums where static displays are the standard practice.

Rare Warbirds Offer Rare Airshows

Except for the rarest of his priceless planes, ones that are the last of their kind, Allen schedules regular flights for each aircraft to keep them in flying condition. He said he wants people to experience seeing them in their natural element, not just as static displays. Every other Saturday from June to October, applauding crowds gather to watch as privileged pilots taxi these high-powered relics from the display hangar to soar once again as they did during World War II.

Rated as one of the world's rarest collections, the initial display includes 15 battle planes flown by the major participants in the war, America, Great Britain, Russia, Germany and Japan. But Allen owns dozens more that will join the collection as years of restorations are finished on each one.

"As a boy, I was always fascinated by seeing planes fly over Seattle and building aircraft models," Allen told news media attending the opening of the new aviation museum. Spurred by those memories, In 1998 he began a global search for full-sized versions of historic war-time aircraft.

Among the planes that he paid untold millions of dollars to find and restore to flying condition are an American P-51 Mustang, Japanese Zero, German Messerschmitt Bf 109, British Spitfire, Russian Polikarpov Rata and nearly a dozen others.

New Museum Attracts Aviation, History and Technology Fans

“These rare planes can now be enjoyed by people with a love of flying, history or technology,” said Adrian Hunt, executive director of the Flying Heritage Collection, during a media tour. “Some of our aircraft are the last examples known to exist."

The number of planes is small compared to the world-class Museum of Flight in Seattle and the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. But Allen's collection is considered unique because each plane is restored to the highest level of authenticity that money and technology can provide, including authentic cockpit instruments from the 1940s, detailed armament and even paints mixed to original factory specifications.

The planes' histories are brought to life by the volunteer docents who entertainingly describe each aircraft's characteristics, war records and technological advances. Some planes are featured in video histories narrated by people who flew them, such as Russia's 'Night Witches," women pilots who flew unarmed bi-planes in daring night raids against German forces, dropping bombs on the enemy by hand.

"We want to honor the pilots, designers and engineers as well as the machines," Hunt said, "and show their place in history."

World War II Changed Aviation Technology

All of the planes are examples of the types of dramatic technological changes occurring in aviation from 1935 to 1945, a time when global war created a competitive push for constant innovation and technological advances. Wood-and-fabric frames yielded to metal, weaponry became more deadly and new engines and superchargers enabled planes to fly higher and faster. The war's constant demand for new technological advances and higher production rates brought about major advances in building methods and materials.

As fascinating as the stories of these historic aircraft and their roles in history are, so are the adventures of Allen’s global search teams who found airframes, engines and cockpits languishing in a variety of extreme environments and circumstances.

The Hayabusa Japanese fighter plane was found deep in the jungles of Papua, New Guinea. The P-40C turned up in a Russian field five decades after crashing during the war. An extremely rare V-1 “Buzz Bomb,” the terror of London, was found in a secret underground factory in Germany and the rare Me-109 was discovered in 1988 under a beach near Calais, France. The man who tripped on a small piece of buried metal protruding from the sand found it was connected to an entire, well-preserved German fighter plane.

The copyright of the article Paul Allen's Air Museum Lands at Paine Field in Military History is owned by John Wolcott. Permission to republish Paul Allen's Air Museum Lands at Paine Field in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Paul Allen loves planes as well as computers.	Flying Heritage Collection displays rare planes.	This P-40C is restored to flying condition.
Visitors admire a Fieseler Storch and P-51.