Just north of Seattle, at historic Paine Field in Everett, Washington, is a very unique experience for the military history buff: the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, more commonly known as FHCAM. Founded in the early 1990s by Paul G. Allen, the museum’s raison d’etre has been to showcase and, from there, preserve the technological wonders that came from the chaos of war. This collection has grown from just historic aircraft to include ground weapons, which need more hangars than its original home in an old Air Force hangar.
On the visit, the open house at the museum was quite literally a trip through the past. The roar of a German 88mm Flak gun and the rattling of a German Hetzer tank destroyer dropped one into another age that seemed like it was misplaced in a different era altogether. Far more impressive was the realism of these authentic and truly operable pieces of history, but it was the aircraft that caught the imagination.
Not like most museums, which have aircraft static displays, FHCAM gets its collection up into the skies. On the morning of this visit, a lineup of former foes sat waiting for their turn to fly: the Mitsubishi A6M3-22 Zero, Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, Messerschmitt Bf 109, and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 were just a few of the aircraft that started up and roared toward a photo flight. The sight of these iconic aircraft, one-time adversaries, sharing the same runway, struck a chord in the soul as the dichotomies of history were unrolled.
The most recognized aircraft of WWII are part of the museum’s collection. It is the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, that led the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it turned into a fearsome force in the skies until it was overtaken by advancements with the Allies. American aircraft carriers, holding in their decks the Hellcat, shot down over 5,000 kills with this aircraft before the end of the war.
The P-51 Mustang, entering service in 1942, was the premiere fighter for the U.S. Army Air Force and later saw service in the Korean War. The Supermarine Spitfire was a Royal Air Force single-seat, single-engine fighter bomber that produced an outstanding victory-to-loss ratio and performed key missions in the fields of reconnaissance, interception, and training.
The German Focke-Wulf Fw 190, which entered combat in 1941, combined much heavier armament with better maneuverability than its predecessor, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, particularly below 6,000 meters. These, together with several other aircraft in the collection, provide the background for World War II in-the-air combat.
The FHCAM is just continuing to grow, with the third hangar under development. This will allow the museum to take in even more of these historic, rare, and exotic airplanes so that people for generations can appreciate the thrill of seeing these tremendous machines in their natural element.
The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is not so much a visit back in time as the opportunity to see the living legacy of aviation and military technology.