Photographic Logbook: Fantasy of Flight

Located in Polk City, Florida, Fantasy of Flight is a display of Kermit Weeks' aircraft. And, oh, what a collection! These few images do not even come close to summarizing the scope of the aircraft on display. Unfortunately, every time I visited the museum, my camera was already quite full of Sun 'n' Fun photos.

April 17, 2005: First flown in 1936, Grumman F3Fs are quite rare these days. To me, they represent an interesting technological hybrid: the fabric skinned biplane wings of its warplane ancestors combined with the all-metal fuselage of fighters yet to come. The F3F was Grumman's last biplane fighter. It is the immediate predecessor to Grumman's first 'Cat: the Wildcat F4F (which was also originally designed as a biplane, but produced as a mid-wing monoplane).

April 17, 2005: The Granville Brother's famous racer, Gee Bee, was engineered by Bob Hall in the 1930's Basically all engine, this airplane was FAST, though notoriously difficult to fly (perhaps not surprising given the stubby wings and vertical stabilizer). Bob Hall went on to work for Grumman, where he served as both test pilot and engineer. He helped design and did the test flying for all four of Grumman's piston-driven 'Cat fighter planes produced during World War II.

During the summer of 2004, it was my good fortune to conduct a tour of the Air Zoo for Bob Hall's family. They were attending his posthumous appointment into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.

April 17, 2005: This beautiful razorbacked P-51C Mustang is painted with the red tail (not visible) of the Tuskegee Airmen, the group of African-American World War II fighter pilots renowned for their skills at protecting American bombers from Nazi fighter attacks.

April 17, 2005: The P-51D Mustang traded up from the razorback design of the P-51C to a bubble canopy.

April 8, 2006: The Grumman Wildcat (F4F) was the next design evolution from the F3F. This particular version, like the Air Zoo's Wildcat, was an FM-2 built under license by the Eastern Aircraft Company (a division of General Motors).

April 8, 2006: The B-24 Liberator was one of the heavy bombers used by the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

April 8, 2006: The Gee Bee was notoriously difficult to keep under control. This one must have been particularly tough - it has no ailerons! :-)

April 8, 2006: Though not sexy by any means, this "stout" (pun-intended) and reliable Ford Trimotor is a movie star, appearing in the opening sequence of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom".