Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum

The late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, collected vintage aircraft, and later armored vehicles, with a twist: he had them restored, insofar as possible, to operating condition. He founded a museum to display them, which moved to three hangars off Payne Field in 2008. After Allen’s untimely death in 2018, the estate operated the museum for a time, but it was shut down by covid concerns in early 2020, and it was thought it might not reopen.

Fortunately the museum was acquired by Steuart Walton, of the Walmart family, who is another wealthy aviation enthusiast. Walton folded the museum into a new umbrella entity, the non-profit Wartime History Museum, and the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum was reopened Memorial Day 2023.

The new management is maintaining the focus on restoration, and even have scheduled exhibitions of operational craft running, such as a Sherman tank roaring around a track. In another continuation of the tradition, mechanics restoring craft often work in the exhibit areas so that those interested can see the details.

The restored craft, as well as many other related artifacts, are displayed inside the hangars, so that they–and you!–remain in a climate-controlled environment. This is especially critical with the common weather conditions in western Washington. You can wander around the exhibits unguided, but the museum also offers various sorts of guided tours, including of “behind the scenes” activity. See the website for details.