Vintage Aero Flying Museum

Infobox Museum
name = Vintage Aero Flying Museum

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caption = VAFM's Fokker Dr.1 and SE.5 taxing at Platte Valley Airpark
established = 1997
(Photo: Fokker Dr.1 and SE.5)
location = Platte Valley Airpark
Hudson, Colorado
type = Aviation
visitors =
director = Andy Parks (owner)
curator = Andy Parks
website = [http://www.lafayettefoundation.org/ Vinetage Aero Flying Museum]

Vintage Aero Flying Museum (VAFM), formally LaFayette¹ Escadrille Flying Museum, is Colorado's international aviation museum at Platte Valley Airpark, 4 miles north-west of Hudson, Colorado and 40 miles north-east of Denver, Colorado. [ [http://www.lafayettefoundation.org/ Vinetage Aero Flying Museum] Official site.]

Mr. Andy Park, son of the last World War I Lafayette Escadrille member who 'flew west', Dr. James Park², maintains the legacy and history of the LaFayette Escadrille pilots. The collection of each of these pilots' original uniforms and memorabilia is on display in custom cabinets in a secured hangar of World War I aircraft. There is no other collection of this magnitude in the world today. The Parks have created a world class museum in a rural setting, much like a French rural World War I air field.

VAFM is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and its foundation was created by the late James Parks, MD, PhD, in 1984 as a historical and educational foundation.

Flying aircraft on display

* 1917 Fokker Dr.I (replica)
* 1918 Fokker D.VII
* 1917 Sopwith Pup
* 1917 SE5a
* 1939 Vultee BT-13 Valiant
* Mullicoupe by Younkin/Dake (Mulicoupe is a combination of a Monocoupe 90 and a MrMulligan)

Other flying aircraft are displayed and others are undergoing restoration (Fokker D.VIII).

References

External links

* [http://www.lafayettepilotsmemorial.com/ Lafayette Pilots' Memorial]
* [http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/lafayette.html History of the Escadrille]
* [http://www.neam.org/lafescweb/ New England Air Museum's Lafayette Escadrille Online Exhibit]
* [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwi/articles/lafayetteescadrille.aspx Motivations of the Lafayette Escadrille Pilots] by Guy Nasuti

Footnotes

* ¹History behind the capital "F" in LaFayette:There are two different usages of Lafayette and LaFayette. The capital F comes from the French spelling as written on the French Air Corp certificates as presented to each flyer of the Escadrille. The LaFayette Foundation decided to use the capital F in many of their documents and writings. Other authors and the general public will use the small F for their writings and general reference to L.E. The French General, LaFayette was the origin name when the French Air Corp renamed the Americana Escadrille to LaFayette Escadrille in honor of General LaFayette who helped General George Washington in the American Revolution.
* ²In 1983 during this late L.E. reunion that the surviving members of the Corps made Dr. James Parks an Honorary Member #9 of the Corp.

ee also

* Colorado Aviation Historical Society Old Lowry AFB Campus, Denver, CO
* Peterson Air and Space Museum Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, CO
* Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society Pueblo Airport, Pueblo, CO
* Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum Pueblo Airport, Pueblo, CO
* Spirit of Flight Center Lafayette, CO
* Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum Old Lowry AFB Campus, Denver, CO