Sunday, April 8, 2018

Boeing's Museum of Flight - WWI

Albatross DVa
Having been a supporting member of the Museum of Flight for more than a dozen years, I finally paid my first visit to this wonderful aviation museum while stationed in Seattle this past week.  I regularly travel to the Puget Sound for work and a recent office relocation took me only a few blocks from the Museum of Flight.  With time on my hand, I stopped in for a three hour visit on a Sunday afternoon.

While the museum has aircraft from all eras, on this visit, most of my time was spent in the WWI wing of the museum.  With my resurgent interest in WWI aerial combat, why not take this opportunity to examine some of these famous aircraft up close?  I could not resist.

Below are a selection of photos from the WWI wing of the museum.  The display is dark thus some of the photos are not as photogenic as expected.  A wonderful display, nevertheless.      
Aviatik DI
Caproni Ca 20
Fokker DRI Triplane
Fokker DRI Triplane
Fokker DVII
Fokker DVII Lozenge pattern
Fokker DVIII
Fokker Eindecker
Nieuport 24bis
Nieuport 24bis
Nieuport 27
SE5
Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Pup
Sopwith Triplane
Sopwith Triplane
Sopwith Triplane
SPAD XIII
SPAD XIII

28 comments:

Michal DwarfCrypt said...

Fantastic! Thank You for a photos sir!

Peter said...

Is a game of Canvas Eagles in the wings? Excuse the pun.

Aly Morrison said...

Now that is a fine collection of beautiful aircraft.

Thank you for sharing Jonathan

All the best. Aly

Duc de Gobin said...

Excellent. Thanks for this - great pics. I may get sent to Seattle myself this year, so will have to pay a visit.

Jonathan Freitag said...

You are welcome!

Jonathan Freitag said...

If not a game, it certainly provides motivation for getting another kit into the build/paint queue!

Jonathan Freitag said...

Very fine collection, indeed! Also in among the static displays are two WWI aerial combat flight simulators. That looked like fun!

Jonathan Freitag said...

First rate display, for sure! If you are in Seattle and have time, the MoF is recommended.

Scott MacPhee said...

That's a great find, Jon! The planes look tiny in person, I bet.

Ed M said...

Geeze, I lived in Tacoma, WA, for four years and didn’t even know this museum existed. Of course, that was some time ago (84-89), so I’ll console myself by assuming that it hadn’t yet come into existence. Thanks for sharing!

caveadsum1471 said...

What a great collection!
Best Iain

DeanM said...

Awesome, Jonathan! I recognized the Albatross in the first image immediately. It'd be great if you could make it there for the annual game day.

Mark Strachan said...

Jonathan I agree this is a wonderful place. On one of my visits to Seattle, Boeing held the conference dinner there so I had about four hours wandering about and looking at the exhibits when I probably should have been building relationships with other convention attendees. It was a great evening.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Scott, the Aviatik and the Sopwith Triplane looked bigger than I expected. The Nieuports were small.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Ed, next time you are in the Puget Sound, put this on your list of things to do.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Indeed!

Jonathan Freitag said...

I ought to make that effort!

Jonathan Freitag said...

Mark, I would do the same as you and spend my evening wandering the museum; after dinner of course!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing Jonathan

Jonathan Freitag said...

Roy, with your project, I figured you might interest in this.

Stew said...

What a cool museum! That would make a very nice day to spend looking around.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Indeed! This is only a small sampling of what is on display. The collection is overwhelming.

Gonsalvo said...

These WW 1 planes just have a romance about them that later aircraft lack... at least for me!

Jonathan Freitag said...

Me too!

Phil said...

Awesome planes and wonderful photos, great post, I'm jealous!

Jonathan Freitag said...

It is a terrific aviation museum, Phil!

Dartfrog said...

Awesome update. Its been years since I've visited there. If you get a chance the National Air and Space Museum ANNEX near Dulles Airport has a large collection including Eddie Rickenbacker's a/c.

Jonathan Freitag said...

I would enjoy seeing Rickenbacker's aircraft and the ANNEX. I vaguely recall reading his biography as a young lad when I had a big interest in both auto racing and WWI air combat.

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