A flight of rare historic bombers, including a B-17, B-24 and — for the first time — a B-25, will touch down at Paine Field for a three-day display June 20 through 22. The planes will be open for tours as well as pre-arranged flights.
The airport also will host an after-hours social Thursday evening, June 21, for members of the Everett, Mukilteo, Marysville-Tulalip and South Snohomish County chambers of commerce.
Both the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator visit the airport almost annually on their national Wings of Freedom tour.
This year, a B-25 Mitchell will join the group in the Western states, with several scheduled stops in Washington state.
Ground tours of the planes will be available for $10 for adults and $5 for children, plus flights in the planes can be arranged ahead of the visit by contacting the sponsoring organization, the Collings Foundation, in Stow, Mass.
Flight experiences are $425 per person aboard the B-17 and B-24, with B-25 flights provided at $325 to $400 for different areas of the smaller bomber.
Collings is a nonprofit education organization founded in 1979 that provides “living history” events throughout the United States each year for Americans to learn more about their heritage.
Since 1989, the foundation has focused on bringing historic military aircraft to airports in the lower 48 states and Alaska. The planes have made more than 1,800 stops on their circuit.
Each year, they provide on-board tours and flights for nearly 4 million people, with tour and flight fees being used to keep the aircraft in top flying condition.
For more information on the tours of historic planes, go online to www.painefield.com and www.collingsfoundation.org.
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