“Captain, you may land and hold short.” That official-sounding voice in the headphones could be talking to YOU, in a simulator at an aircraft museum in the aviation-rich Northwest. If you can’t get enough of airplanes—although since you’re a Frequent Flyer, that’s hard to believe—it’s time for a road trip set mostly along the I-5: to visit some, you will take detours, but as a diehard aviation buff, you’ll find it worth the effort. Either way, you’re guaranteed to see hundreds of aircraft from the earliest to the newest and shhhhhh!….don’t tell the kids, for you can actually “pilot” some of these aeronautical gems too. Allocate four or five days to visit this region that grew historically because of the railroad, but ironically is home to aviation museums that provide flights of fancy for your imagination.

If you wonder why so many museums are situated fairly “close together,” Rachel Hansen, tradeshow coordinator for the 2007 Northwest Aviation Conference and Trade Show, thinks she knows the answer. First though, she’d like to invite you to her event: February 24 and 25 in the Exhibition & Conference Center, Blue Gate, Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup. If you want to hang out with pilots and aircraft owners and really talk shop, this is the place.

“We may be so aviation-focused because of the diversity of our topography,” observes Hansen, who cites “mountains and water” as being obviously interesting to flyers above. The area is home to former military bases and military-based airports “with huge landing strips,” she says. Then there’s the human component of “so many people willing to volunteer so many hours to ensure the future of aviation, and to get kids involved too. Plus, Air Force people retire here and “they’re generally in love with planes.”

Kyle Kihs, museum director of Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington, figures airplanes made sense and became popular in the West because “things are just spaced farther apart” and walking just wasn’t a great option. Some aviation buffs flew for business and then became private collectors; aware of the tax benefits, they donated their aircraft when new tax laws created a time that was right for doing so.

As the population increases nationwide and land becomes even more precious, airfields and museums could be threatened, warns Kihs, who like Hansen, lauds the sense of community pride and involvement that provide ongoing support and momentum.

Then there’s the pervasive presence and influence of Boeing, the world’s leading aerospace company and the largest combined manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft, and an employer of thousands who live and breathe airplanes. In Everett, the giant manufacturer builds the 747, 767, 777 and 787 in “the largest building in the world by volume.” Think Washington think Boeing.

Frequent Flyer has lined up the “best in the northwest,” top to bottom, so you’ll know where to stop and stare when you drive the I-5 in search of aviation past, present and future.

Washington:

1. Heritage Flight Museum: Bellingham, www.heritageflight.org

In beautiful waterside Bellingham, this museum, founded in 1996, is dedicated to the flying and preservation of historic military aircraft. It’s located at Bellingham International Airport and hosts an open house the third Saturday of every month. All aircraft are flyable, including the L-13 Grasshopper (one of a few in original condition), an H-13G MASH helicopter and P-51D Mustang. The museum is a labor of love of the entire aviation-loving William Anders family: Bill was a member of the first crew to orbit the moon, you remember.

2. Flying Heritage Collection: Arlington, but eventually moving to Paine Field, Snohomish County Airport, Everett, http://www.flyingheritage.com

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, owns this array of superb aircraft, most of them flyable. The mission is to collect, restore, fly and preserve combat aircraft and artifacts representing technological, ideological, political and economic views of aerial conflict in the 20th century, with emphasis on World War II and the Cold War era. Restoration is painstaking, often by contracting with original vendors of parts and materials. See a Supermarine "Spitfire" Mk.Vc, Polikarpov I-16 Type 24, Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg" and Mitsubishi A6M5-52 "Zero-Sen," among others. Don’t call this a “museum” per se, suggests a spokesperson: It is a collection. The anticipated move to Everett, “may take place in a year or so.”

3. Port Townsend Aero Museum: Port Townsend, Jefferson County International Airport, www.ptaeromuseum.com, side note: It’s on the peninsula, so take a ferry

The museum boasts “one of the best collections of rare antique and classic aircraft in the western United States,” so if you’re keen, you can study 21 aircraft including a 1922 Irwin “Meteor” Plane, two 1930 Stinson SM-8A Detroiters, a 1935 De Havilland Queen Bee, a 1931 Curtiss-Wright Junior replica and a 1936 Aeronca C-3 Master. Of the total inventory, 60 percent are airworthy.

4. Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour: Paine Field, Snohomish County Airport, Everett,  http://www.futureofflight.org/

Wow. Opened in December 2005, this $25 million project has something for everyone. Want to put your hands on the “skin” of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner? You can, plus you’re invited to “design and test” your very own jet: Pick a fuselage and ask yourself: Are you using the correct wing? Then take the plans home. (How big is your garage?) We promised you’d get to take the controls and you will, in the multi-passenger XJ5 Flight Simulator. The center has plenty more interactive displays to keep you and yours fully occupied for a half-day at least. And since you spend so much time frequent flying on Boeings, do take the tour so you can wow your seatmate on the next flight with details, details.

5. Me 262 Project: Paine Field, Snohomish County Airport, Everett, www.stormbirds.com

Now you’re making a day of it at this airport, so here’s a “must-see” for WWII airplane aficionados. The Me 262 Project is reproducing full-size Messerschmitt Me 262s and pays tribute to the first production jet airplane in the world. “Born of the desperate circumstances of war, this masterpiece of technology and innovation forever changed the face of aviation when it first appeared in the skies over Europe in 1944,” the project team says. History has shown, in a relieved look back, that more Me262s produced during WWII would have been very bad news indeed for the United States, Russia and Great Britain. Now, you may appreciate these remarkable airplanes yourself. Bob Hammer, former Boeing engineer and project president, retired early to take the project on. “I used to sit in so many meetings,” he recalls. “I took this over to be a part of the airplanes,” and indeed he certainly is.

6. Museum of Flight Restoration Center: Paine Field, Snohomish County Airport, Everett, http://www.museumofflight.org/Display.asp?Page=Visit
 
Don’t miss this when you visit the Museum of Flight, and you’ll feel that you’re “on the inside” and “special.” The center has completed restoration on De Havilland Comet, FM-2 Wildcat, the XF8U-1 Crusader, the Boeing 727 prototype, and you might see a Boeing 247D or Heath Parasol. If you’re a diehard, you may find the experience similar to the one described by this visitor on his blog: “Visiting the Restoration Center was more exciting than visiting the Boeing Factory. The Restoration Center is not set out like a museum…It's just a big old hangar, with people actively working. To see the planes, you have to stoop under wings, skirt bits of fuselage, and avoid knocking over buckets of glue or paint.” Tom Cathcart of the center says it’s not quite that informal, but “visitors enjoy the ‘nuts and bolts’ of seeing things being worked on.”

7. The Museum of Flight: Seattle, www.museumofflight.org

If bigger is better, be glad that this is the largest aviation museum on the West Coast, hosting 400,000 visitors each year who come to see more than 150 air and spacecraft including a specially built Boeing 707-120 Air Force One, originally delivered in 1959 for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. British Airways donated one of 20 Concordes ever built. Test your skills in one of two simulators and “link up” with the Hubble Space Telescope. Check out the Red Barn," The Boeing Company's original manufacturing plant: how far we’ve come.

8. McChord Air Museum, Tacoma: McChord Air Force base, www.mcchordairmuseum.org

So many great airplanes, so make the best use of your time to see stellar examples from clearly defined aircraft categories including: 1) attack: Fairchild-Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II; 2) bomber: Douglas B-18A Bolo; 3) rescue: Consolidated SA-10A Catalina; plus, you’ll see cargo/transport, fighter/interceptor and trainer models too.

 
9. Olympic Flight Museum, Olympia: Olympia Regional Airport,
www.olympicflightmuseum.com

The Olympic Flight Museum is an active flying museum, a place where aviation history is alive and honored, according to management, who contributes to local air shows and hosts its own annual Northwest Gathering of Warbirds in June. There’s a lot to like here, with plenty of airworthy examples including the LH-1H Huey, F4F-3 Wildcat and AH-1 Cobra; static displays include a BAE Lightning and T-28 Trojan.

10. Pearson Air Museum, Vancouver, Washington, www.pearsonairmuseum.org

Here’s a trivia fact you can power up with later: Pearson is the oldest operating airfield in the United States and dates from the landing of a dirigible, The Gelatin, piloted by Lincoln Beachey. The field is rich in history and you’ll soak it up, plus, you’ll be in the oldest wooden aircraft hangar. In WWII, for example, it housed Italian prisoners of war. Get up close to a 1912 Curtiss Pusher (replica), 1913 Voisin III that’s one of only three in the world, and a Formula One Air Racer. Informative, friendly folks on site, so ask away, especially those working on wood + fabric aircraft construction and maintenance.

11. Armed Forces & Aerospace Museum: Spokane (requires a drive),
http://www.armedforces-aerospacemus.org/

A museum of a different color: You can’t visit this “museum” yet, as it’s currently under development. Supporters are conducting a fund drive to “preserve military and aviation history from the Civil War to the present. Artifacts in the collection are valued at over $728,000 with 32-aircraft collection valued at over $5,418,228,” the museum’s Stan Roth says. He explains that eight antique planes are still located and viewable at Fairchild Airforce Base: You’ll need military identification to enter, or accompany someone who has one. Groundbreaking for the new facility at Spokane International Airport begins next summer.

Oregon

1.  Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, www.sprucegoose.org

It’s the only museum with the Spruce Goose—a.k.a., the Howard Hughes Flying Boat—and a wine tasting room too: Try the Evergreen Vineyards Spruce Goose wine and juice at the end of your visit. The contemporary and necessarily spacious building houses over 50 historic aircraft and exhibits with a collection that includes representation “of the first, largest and fastest aircraft ever built.” Aircraft are grouped this way: general aviation, observation/reconnaissance, homebuilt, spacecraft, cargo, commercial/passenger, trainer, bomber and fighter. Check out a comprehensive event calendar too, for there’s always plenty going on here.

2.  Oregon Air & Space Museum: Eugene, -541-461-1101; (Web site is under construction)

You’ll see 22 different airplanes with WWI and WWII representation, along with jets from Desert Storm, Vietnam and Korea, all of which are static displays. Spokesperson Thomas Winn says that although you can’t actually touch the models, “we are an ‘up-close-and-personal’ museum and you don’t have to ‘stand back’ from exhibits.” Mark your calendars for May 17–21 when a WWII B-17 flies in to close-by Eugene Airport on behalf of the museum.

3. Tillamook Air Museum: Tillamook, www.tillamookair.com

If you like War Birds, you'll love the 30 examples here at Jack Erickson’s place: Check out an F4U-Corsair, P51-Mustang and SBD Dauntless dive bomber. The building is almost as intriguing as the aircraft within it: a rare World War II Blimp Hangar deemed "the largest wooden structure in the world," 15 stories high, 7 acres long.

Now: Did someone say “road trip”? Time to fly.