Vintage Aero Flying Museum

Vintage Aero Flying Museum

VAFM's Fokker Dr.1 and SE.5 taxiing at Platte Valley Airpark
Established	1997
Location	Platte Valley Airpark Fort Lupton, Colorado
Coordinates	40°06′09″N 104°41′52″W
Type	Aviation
Director	Andy Parks (owner)
Curator	Andy Parks
Website	Vintage 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 (6.4 km) northwest of Hudson, Colorado and 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Denver, Colorado.

Andy Parks, son of the last World War I Lafayette Escadrille member who 'flew west', James Parks², 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 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 James Parks in 1984 as a historical and educational foundation.

Flying aircraft on display

• 1917 Fokker Dr.I (replica)
• 1918 Fokker D.VII
• 1918 Fokker D.VIII
• 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)

See also

Museums

• CAF Rocky Mountain Wing Museum, Grand Junction, CO
• 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

Lists

• List of airport museums in the United States
• List of American Aero Squadrons

References

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.

External links

• Lafayette Pilots' Memorial
• History of the Escadrille
• New England Air Museum's Lafayette Escadrille Online Exhibit
• Motivations of the Lafayette Escadrille Pilots by Guy Nasuti