Oshkosh airshow was a success!

Our museum had a very successful week at Oshkosh. We had a tent with 7 cases of exhibit material as well as our three Fokker aircraft.

Here is another view of our exhibit area. Jack Kirby was kind enough to park his amazing full-scale SE-5 replica with our three Fokkers, making for an amazing collection of WW-I aircraft. Our staff received numerous accolades from the crowds regarding their appreciation for having our aircraft at the show.

Throughout the week our pilots and staff dressed up in replica uniforms to add an additional air of authenticity to the exhibits. Whenever we had staff in uniform the crowds seemed to really gather around to ask questions and take many, many pictures. Hats off to those who dressed up despite sometimes sweltering temperatures in the 90's.

Museum staff ready for Oshkosh airshow

Our museum staff and many volunteers are ready for this year's AirVenture 2010 airshow at Oshkosh.  Here's an article about one of our key volunteers:

He wanted an excuse to visit Oshkosh. Now he's got one.

To mothers of young children, Oshkosh is clothes. To aviation enthusiasts, also known as airplane nuts, Oshkosh, Wisconsin is the site of the "world's greatest aviation celebration", where swarms of aircraft will assemble July 26-August 1.

Ewan Tallentire, owner of Albion Repro & Graphics in Littleton, loves history and loves to draw airplanes, especially old ones. So, what better business trip could there be, than to visit the Oshkosh airshow while helping a friend and a customer educate people about World War I?

Read the whole article here:  http://denver.yourhub.com/Littleton/Stories/Business-News/Story~840283.aspx

We are thrilled to announce the release of our DVD covering the flight of our three WW-I Fokker fighters from Colorado to Ohio. This feature length DVD was filmed by renowned producer Art Annecharioco and edited by industry standout Russ Wiltse.  Order your copy at our website.

VAFM Triplane arrives at Oshkosh early

Another WW-I replica aircraft made an early arrival for AirVenture this year as a Fokker Dr. 1 landed at EAA's Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh Wednesday, June 16. The triplane is a replica of the German airplane used during WWI and owned by the Vintage Aero Flying Museum, of FT Lupton, Colorado. It will be one of five of VAFM's World War I era replicas that will participate in AirVenture this year, and joins Jack Kerbey's S.E.5a in Pioneer's Pitcairn Hangar.

Our group of three Fokker WW-I replica aircraft made it to Hartford, WI yesterday.  This is just a short hop from the AirVenture field.  Our planes will stay at Hartford until a few days prior to the start of AirVenture 2010.  I believe there is an EAA photo shoot scheduled for today or tomorrow, weather permitting.  We'll have pictures from the EAA photo shoot up on our site as soon as we receive them.

Wahoo, NE to Brodhead, WI--on the way to AirVenture 2010

Our planes made it through some wet weather in Iowa today (stops in Perry & Marion, IA) then broke out into better weather with the help of some tailwinds.  At this point our Fokker Dr.I, Fokker D-VII and Fokker D-VIII are in Brodhead, Wisconsin.

On the way to AirVenture 2010--Oshkosh, Wisconsin!

Our Fokker Dr.I triplane, D-VIII and D-VII all left Platte Valley today on the way to AirVenture 2010 (Oshkosh)!  Stops included Sterling, CO, McCook NE and on to Wahoo, Nebraska for the night.  Congratulations to our pilots (Mark, Bob & Andrew) on a long day of successful flying!

Vintage Aero Flying Museum This past Saturday we were honored to have Captain Emily Howell Warner present an engaging talk at our museum. Captain Howell was the first female pilot for a scheduled U.S. air carrier, the first female captain and in 1986 commanded the first all-female flight crew in the U.S.. Thank you Captain Warner for an outstanding presentation!

Another happy group of students visits the museum!  We continue to work with local teachers, administrators and school boards to encourage educational programs and museum visits.  Here's a group from last week.

Walk into history

We're finished with our new museum entryway.  There are many original WW-I and WW-II items on display in both cases and on the wall.  As you enter you quickly become immersed in the rich history surrounding you.  Please stop in if you're in the Denver area!

Our website has been updated to include a series of pictures of our Fokker D-VIII in a slideshow (check out the "Planes" menu option then click on the Fokker D-VIII image).  Here you see a "getting close to done" picture.  Our flying D-VIII will, weather permitting, be seen flying at our Platte Valley June 12-13 fly-in and then at Oshkosh AirVenture 2010.

We also continue to add items to our new (!!) entryway at the museum.  Here's one showcase that you'll see as you immerse yourself in our living history collection.  Come visit to hear the fascinating story of our original collection items.

Mike has been hard at work on our Spad.  Above pictures show him working on the fuselage longerons to insure they have a rounded top and that they are slightly above each bulkhead.  Great work Mike!

New Lozenge pattern for Fokker D-VII

Many volunteers working this week on a new "lozenge" pattern for our Fokker D-VII wing.  Wikipedia has a good page on this patterns' origins.  Here is an excerpt, "...Lozenge-Tarnung, the lozenge camouflage^[2] made up of repeating patterns of irregularly shaped four-, five- and six-sided polygons. Because painting such a pattern was very time consuming, and the paint added considerably to the weight of the aircraft, the patterns were printed on fabric, and the fabric was then used to cover the aircraft.^[3] This pre-printed fabric was used in various forms and colors from late 1916 until the end of the war."

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A number of people have been involved in creating a new entrance-way to our museum.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea (and to encourage those of you who can--to visit and see it in person) of the progress made to-date.  We're almost done and anxious to hear your feedback.  There are some very interesting exhibits in the shadow boxes and, as always, many incredible stories for you to hear during tours of the stories/background on exhibit material.  Please stop in!

Practicing for June Fly-In Demonstration Flights

Mark Beam and Ryan Lunde began rehearsing for this summer's fly-in on Tuesday of this week.  Mark flew the SE5 and Ryan flew the Taylorcraft standing in for a Fokker.  They did some formation re-familiarization and ran through several maneuvers to give them material to work with as they begin critiquing the plan for the World War I flight demo.  Though the Taylorcraft would be hard pressed to be passed off as a WW-I aircraft, its speed is much like some of the replicas in the collection, so it makes a good stand-in while some of the other planes are in the maintenance shop.  The weather has been excellent this week and it was a beautiful evening to be flying as well as an awful lot of fun carefully chasing each other around the sky, albeit in a choreographed fashion. They first pre-briefed several scenarios before each flight and switched rolls to gain insight into all facets of the proposed routine.  When Andrew King arrives next week, they hope to do some more practicing with four planes in the air.

Ongoing D-VII & SE-5a work

We continue to make progress on the engine cooling ("mailboxes") and on relacing new wheels.  We have literally one of the world's best wheel lacing and wheel design experts located in Denver.  Mr. Woody Witt, of Woody's Wheel Works, has significantly improved the hub/brake attachment as well as increased the side-load capacity of the SE-5 wheels by perhaps as much as 30%.  Woody will be redoing wheels on most of our planes this year.  Look for more information on this outstanding technician on our website.

Here you see the center section "wing" that is installed between the two wheels of our Fokker D-VII as it is being rebuilt.  We'll be featuring more information on this rebuild process in future posts--stay tuned!

Aircraft maintenance

We've been working on both our Fokker D-VII and our American SE5-a to get them both ready for the flying season.  The Fokker D-VII is under-going extensive maintenance, including changing the engine mount and recovering the tail surfaces (see picture).  We also plan to repaint the D-VII (see current red scheme picture)...email us  at info@vafm.org with your paint scheme suggestions!

Our 7/8ths scale American SE-5a is currently seeing us build new "mailboxes" for engine baffling (see picture).  We've put a new engine on it (a Lycoming O-235).  We're hoping for flight tests sometime in March.

Saturday was spent getting some "pick up" shots. With the weather being sunny and beautiful, we couldn't have asked for better!!

Russ getting the perfect head-on shot!

Russ directing Dr1 pilot, Mark.

The tail of the Dr1 was raised to get that in the air feel!

Russ and Mark tweaking the shot.

DVIII pilot, Andrew getting ready.

Making DVIII adjustments.

Getting the DVIII just right!

Russ working the camera for Andrew's head-on shot!

View a clip from the DVIII filming View a clip from the Dr1 filming