Warplanes of the USA: Massachusetts, Stow, The Collings Foundation

The Collings Foundation, 137 Barton Road, Riverhill Farm, Stow, MA 01775-1529.  Phone: (978) 562-9182, (978) 568-8924.  Mail: The Collings Foundation, P.O. Box 248, Stow, MA 01775.

The Collings Foundation was founded in 1979 “to organize and support ‘living history’ events that enable Americans to learn more about their heritage through direct participation” and adopted aviation-related events, such as air shows and barnstorming, in the mid-eighties.  It has since recovered and restored 20 historically-significant aircraft from the Early-Aviation, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War eras--from a 1909 Bleriot XI to a McDonnell-Douglas F-4D Phantom.  The following aircraft are currently held in the collection, although not all are on site in Stow.  The aircraft may only be viewed on designated open house days as advertised and at airshows.

Bell UH-1E Iroquois Helicopter (Serial No. 153762), Reg. No. N911KK, Houston, Texas.

Blériot XI (1909), Stow.

Boeing-Stearman A75N1/PT-17 Kaydet (Serial No. 75-3745), Reg. No. N55171, Stow. On loan to the NMUSAF.

Boeing-Stearman A75N1/PT-17 Kaydet (Serial No. 41-25454), New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

(Goshimini Photo)

(Tequask Photos)

(Joe Kunzler Photo)

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress (Serial No. 44-83575), Reg, No. N93012, (Serial No. 32264), painted as 42-31909, “Nine-O-Nine”, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

(Clemens Vasters Photos)

(Karl Dickman Photo)

(airforcefe Photo)

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress (Serial No. 44-83785), C/N 32426, "Shady Lady", Reg. No. N207EV.  This aircraft has been acquired from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon and is expected to be made airworthy.

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crew of the 306th Bomb Group.  A newspaper article noted "The extremely heavy defense of the Flying Fortresses has enabled them to fight their way through to targets like Huls and Kiel in the face of the most intensive fighter opposition aerial warfare has ever seen.  The result of these and other encounters has been the destruction of more than 1100 enemy aircraft.  Formations of Flying Fortresses have an average of twelve .50 calibre machine guns per plane (which can be manned simultaneously by the usual crew of ten.)  The aircrew of this Flying Fortress, left to right: Pilot F/L Frank N. Kacksetter of Denver, Colorado.  Co-Pilot 2nd Lt Lester R. Kramer of Scranton Pennsilvania.  Navigator Lt. Luther S. Pierceof Fairhaven Massachusetts.  Bombardier 2nd Lt Stanley R Stedt of Stockholm, Maine. Tech. Sgt. William W. Fahrenhold of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. Tech. Sgt Raymond T. Stymacks of Bronx, NewYork.  Ball Turret Gunner. Tech. Sgt. Robert L Myllykoski of Painsville, Ohio.  Left waist gunner Staff Sgt John H. Jessup of Union City, Indiana. Right Waist Gunner Staff Sgt. Louis A. Skinner, Independence, Kansas.  Tail Gunner Staff Sgt. Milton B. Edwards, Laurel, Maryland, 31 Dec 1942.

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing B-17F-5-BO Fortress (Serial No. 41-24399) "Man-O-War" from the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force in the UK.  This aircraft was shot down by Hptm Johannes Naumann in a Fw 190A-6 of 6/JG 26 on a mission to Kassel, Germany, crashing at Opijnen, Holland, on 30 July 1943.  Eight of the crew were killed, two became prisoners.  Lt. J.M. Stewart, Marrowbone, Kentucky, Lt. W.W. Dickey, Beverly, Massachusetts, S/Sgt. R.C. Schnoyer, East Greenville, Pennsylvania, S/Sgt. H.L. Langan, Los Angeles, California, T.E. McMillan, Boonville, Ohio, T/Sgt. C.J. Merriwether, Sanford, Florida, T/Sgt. Jack M. Wheeler, Des Moines, Iowa., Lt. J.A. Creamer, Louisville, Kentucky.

Cessna UC-78 Bobcat (Serial No. 3696), Reg. No. N6HS, Stow.

(Chris Finney Contrabandit Photos)

(Goshimini Photo)

Consolidated B-24J Liberator (Serial No. 44-44052), Reg. No. N224J, “Witchcraft”, painted as 440973, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

(Frans Berkelaar Photo)

(Andre Wadman Photo)

Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina (Serial No. BuNo 02459), Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD) (Serial No. 16-218), PH-PBY, "Karel Doorman".  This Catalina destroyed three U-boasts during the Second World War.  It served with the MLD in the early 1950s.  Stichting Neptune Association, Lelystad, Netherlands.  Airworthy.  This aircraft has been acquired by the Collings Foundation at Stow, Massachusetts.

Curtiss 1909 Pusher.

Curtiss Model F Flying Boat, 1914.

Curtis P-40B Warhawk (Serial No. 41-13297), airworthy.  Reg. No. NX284CF.  This aircraft was stationed at Wheeler Field on Oahu, Hawii in 1941.

(Greg Goebel Photo)

(Valder137 Photo)

(airforcefe Photo)

Curtiss P-40K Kittyhawk (Serial No. 42-9749), FR293, Reg. No. N293FR.  This aircraft has been acquired from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon and is expected to be made airworthy.

Douglas A-1E Skyraider, Quonset State Airport, Rhode Island.

Douglas A-26C Invader (Serial No. 44-35696), “My Mary Lou”, Uvalde, Texas, being restored.

Douglas F4D-1 Skyray (Serial No. 65-0749), Reg. No. N749CF, Stow.

Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk.

Fairchild PT-19A, being restored.

Fieseler Fi 156C-1 Storch (Serial No. 4621), Reg. No. N156FC, Stow.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8 "White One" (Wk. Nr. 931862), with original BMW 801 radial engine, being restored.  This fighter flew combat while serving with JG 5, stationed in Norway.  Its last mission was on 9 Feb 1945.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 "White Two", being restored.

Fokker Dr.I Triplane replica (Serial No. DR1HB), Reg. No. N14TJ, Stow.

Grumman/Easstern FM-2 Wildcat.

Grumman/Eastern TBM-3E Avenger (Serial No.), Stow.

(Greg Goebel Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

(Valder137 Photos)

Grumman F6F-3N Hellcat (BuNo. 41476), on loan from the National Museum of the USMC, and has been transferred to the Collings Foundation, Stow, Massachusetts.

Grumman S2F-1 Tracker (Serial No. 133242), Reg. No. N31957, Houston, Texas.

(City of Vancouver Archives Photo, AM640-S1-: CVA 260-1530)

Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Serial No. unknown), visiting Richmond, British Columbia, Aug 1945.

 (articseahorse Photo)

(Greg Goebel Photo)

Lockheed P-38L/F-5G Lightning (Serial No. 44-53186), c/n 8441, airworthy, Reg. No. N505MH (1958).  Previously configured as an F-5G photo-reconnaissance variant.  Reg. No. NL62350 in March 1946.  This aircraft has been acquired from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon and is now airworthy.

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star (Serial No. 51-9129), Reg. No. N648, Stow.

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star (Serial No. 51-6953), Houston, Texas.

McDonnell Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk (Serial No. 153524), Reg. No. N524CF, Houston, Texas.

(Jacobst Photo)

McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II (Serial No. 67-463), Houston, Texas, painted as the fighter flown by Steve Ritchie and Chuck DeBellevue fighter during the Vietnam War.

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

(Valder137 Photos)

(Rob Bixby Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U-4 Gustav (Wk. Nr. 610937), Reg. No. N109EV.  This aircraft has been acquired from the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon and may be made airworthy.

(Aldo Bidini Photos)

(Alan Wilson Photo)

(Tascam3428 Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 262B-1c reproduction (Serial No. 501241), "White 1", new build, Classic Fighters Industries Inc., Reg. No. N262AZ, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  Airworthy.

North American AT-6F Texan (Serial No.), Stow.

North American A-36A Apache (Serial No. 42-83738), C/N 97-15956, "Baby Carmen", Reg. No. N4607V, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

(Anthony92931 Photo)

(Goshimini Photo)

(Tascam3438 Photo)

North American TP-51C-10 Mustang (Serial No. 42-103293), C/N  103-22730, "Betty Jane", Reg. No. NL251MX.  New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

North American TF-51D Mustang (Serial No. 44-84655), "Toulouse Nuts", Reg. No. N74045.  Airworthy.  New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  Ex-West Virginia Air National Guard and Bolivian AF.

North American B-25N Mitchell (Serial No. 44-28932), Reg. No. N3476G, “Tondelayo”, painted as 02168, Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville, California.

North American F-100F Super Sabre.

Piper L-4 Grasshopper.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Greg Hume Photo)

(Valder137 Photos)

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (Serial No. 44-33287), B8-A.  This P-47-40 is on loan from the NMUSAF. It was was built at the Republic plant in Evansville, Indiana.  In the late 1940s, it was transferred to the Peruvian air force . The aircraft later came to the museum in 1981.  It is painted as the P-47D-30 "Five by Five" flown by Colonlel Joseph Laughlin, commander of the 362nd Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, in early 1945. This aircraft is on loan to the Collings Foundation, American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts. In exchange, the museum received a PT-17, one of only two existing PT-17s that were utilized as trainers for the Tuskegee Airmen during the Second World War.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX (Serial No. BR601), Worcester, Massachusetts.

(SDA&SM Photo)

(Leonardo DaSilva Photo)

Vought F4U-5NL Corsair (BuNo. 124692), Reg. No. N45NL, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

Waco UPF-7.

Wright Model B Vin Fiz (1911 Replica), Stow.

The Collings Foundation also has a fine collection of classic and military vehicles on display at Stow.

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