The Historic Flight Foundation is an aviation museum located at Paine Field in Mukilteo, Washington. The museum collects, restores, and flies historic aircraft from the period between Charles Lindbergh’s solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 and the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 in 1957, a 30-year period when airplanes evolved from relatively simple wood and fabric biplanes to commercial jets. The collection’s Douglas DC-3 was manufactured at the Douglas Aircraft Company’s Long Beach plant as one of only 300 DC-3s specifically designed to "fly the hump"—the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains—during World War II. The aircraft have been fully restored to flying condition, and fly regularly at monthly summer Fly Days, HFF’s September Vintage Aircraft Weekend, and Paine Field’s Aviation Day in May. The aircraft also fly at air displays throughout the Western United States and Canada. HFF hosts educational programs throughout the year. This includes a STEM program for primary through high school students, historic airplane ground schools, and flight training in historic aircraft. Speakers from HFF’s Speaker's Bureau regularly present educational programs about aviation topics and airplanes in the collection. HFF also restores historic aircraft to flying condition. Some of this restoration work is done in-house at HFF’s hangar where visitors can watch as the work is performed. Other restoration work is done by outside organizations that specialize in restoration of specific aircraft types. Two of Historic Flight's aircraft won awards for their restoration work at the National Aviation Heritage Invitational at the California Capital Airshow in September 2017.
History
John T. Sessions founded the Historic Flight Foundation and began acquiring the foundation’s aircraft in 2003. In 2006 the museum began planning the construction of the hangar at Paine Field that currently houses the foundation’s aircraft collection. HFF’s hangar opened its doors to the public in March 2010. New aircraft are added to the collection regularly. The most recent addition to the collection is the de Havilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide which went on display in May 2017. The airplane was damaged in an accident in 2018 that injured Sessions.
Hangar
HFF’s aircraft collection is housed in a working hangar at Paine Field. The field is also home to Boeing's manufacturing plant for 747, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft. Visitors walk among the collection and can often watch mechanics maintain and restore aircraft. They can also watch aircraft takeoff and land on Paine Field's nearby main runway. The collection also includes aviation artifacts such as military uniforms and vintage flight suits, as well as several vintage cars and buses, including a 1927 Cadillac Touring Phaeton car in which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt toured Glacier National Park on August 5, 1934. The automobile collection features two "Jammer" touring buses—one from Yellowstone Park and one from Glacier National Park.
Collection
The museum’s collection includes the following historic aircraft.
