Just a thought as Microsoft has released an amazing simulator outreach may be in order. Kermit Weeks is down to one hanger left to view of the only museum I know of of totally functioning historic aircraft. This is not a place for mothballed aircraft but rather all flyable models going from later piston back pre WWI (the dawn of flight actually). Disney filmed ‘The Right Stuff’ here. With enough visibility this could be an attraction on the level of Sun n Fun and Oshkosh. I’d hate to see this amazing place go away so I thought I’d give it some visibility here for the guys at Asobo and Microsoft to see. We have a freeware rendition of the airport in FS2020. This is one of those amazing aviation places we could loose. Kermit mentions Act III but we need Act II to return with the full main hanger back online as he’s getting up in age. Here’s are some videos to let you know what the place is about and it’s importance to the world we are all into:
I think the bigger problem is, who’s in the wings to take over when Kermit can’t do it anymore? Is there anyone else set to take over? What is their funding situation at the moment?
I volunteer with the Collings Foundation, and there is a huge amount of effort needed to keep outfits like this going. And MONEY. They are hugely dependent on volunteers to help keep the place (American Heritage Museum in Hudson(Stow), MA, and their Wings of Freedom tour across the whole US every year). The planes are already expensive, add in maintenance and insurance, which are getting more and more difficult to get as every year passes, and, soon, as you note, these resources will go away.
I do believe the Museum was featured in FS2004, including the “crashed” ( ) DC-3 out front. So there is a history/connection between the two. When I went to visit the museum back in 1999, they used to have a set of Combat Flight Simulator 2 systems people could fly for a small fee in one of the hangars.
This one would need a company like Microsoft to keep it going and get the right visibility on it. Microsoft would have their own aviation attraction with flyable vintage aircraft if they could work something out with Kermit. I for one would have visited along time ago in it’s heyday if I had known. It’s right down from Disney. Unique as this is it’s on the level of the Reno Fly In (yet all year around) and other major aviation landmarks in the world if the right people/companies get behind it.
So, Paul Allen had his own very comparable collection. Kermit is obviously is very well known. The Collings Foundation keeps their Wings of Freedom tour planes in Florida between November and February for maintenance.
I’ll ask about what their status is next time I’m at the museum.
If we are getting some kind of Top Gun expansion pack, why not a (hopefully very well done) collection of unique aircraft from Week’s collection? He’s got some beauties.
) DC-3 out front. So there is a history/connection between the two. When I went to visit the museum back in 1999, they used to have a set of