See Flying WW-I & WW-II Planes!
In 2009 our museum made its mark in history by flying 3 WW-I replica aircraft on a 1,000 mile journey from Colorado to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. This epic flight is the subject of a documentary film by Emmy award winning director/producer Art Annecharico. Check our DVD page link to purchase your copy!
The Vintage Aero Flying Museum houses one of the most historically significant and internationally recognized collections of World War I memorabilia in the world. We also have a significant collection of Golden Age of Aviation (1918 - 1939) and World War II aviation memorabilia and aircraft. This material includes memorabilia from Japan, Germany and other axis countries.
Highlighting the quality of our collection, we also have the only known "True Copy" of the Instrument of Surrender, presented to General Wainwright. It is important for our educational programs to show material from all of the nations that participated in both World Wars. The Smithsonian Institution sites our museum as a reference and regularly sends researchers out to learn more from our collection.
In addition, our museum's WWI British SE5a was the only non-computer generated aircraft that actually flew in the movie, "The Aviator" for the Hell's Angels scenes. Our museum's rare collection of World War I artifacts, documents and memorabilia were referenced for the historical content for the movie, "Flyboys." Our collection was also utilized as a source of historical research for George Lucas's "Young Indiana Jones" series.
We are called the Lafayette Foundation in honor of the men who served in the LaFayette Escadrille and the LaFayette Flying Corps during WWI. At the final reunion of the Lafayette Flying Corps, organized by Dr. James J. Parks in 1983, the surviving members of the LaFayette Flying Corps, headed by Reginald Sinclair, asked Jim and his son, Andy, to “carry on the Corps” after they were gone, passing the charter onto the Parks’. In their honor, the name of the museum was changed to the LaFayette Foundation. Today, Andy Parks, as the President and Executive Director of the Vintage Aero Flying Museum, Home of the LaFayette Foundation, continues the work of his Grandfather, and Father, to preserve the history and memory of the these men and of the men and women who have served their countries via aviation in both peace time and war time, for the benefit of future generations to come.
