Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) is home to a rare collection of vintage military aircraft, tanks, combat armor and other technologies. Nearly every plane and piece of armor on display is restored and maintained to the highest standards. In fact, most of our artifacts are in working condition.
Maintaining a vintage operational collection is painstaking work! Our mechanics are subject matter experts and masters of their craft. They have expertise in a wide variety of foreign and domestic aircraft, vehicles, and machinery that is generations old, coupled with the skill to perform the work, which often involves fabricating parts from scratch. They perform their work out on the museum floor, so it’s common for guests to see them actively engaged in a project.
Nothing compares to hearing the Hellcat’s engine start up, watching the Sherman Tank roar around the track, or feeling the percussive blast from the 88 Flak Gun firing blanks. Visit and partake in the vibrant, living history experience that we offer!
FEATURED ARTIFACT
In Germany they make some very long words. Helpfully, they also come up with abbreviations. Here, Panzerkampfwagen (armored fighting vehicle) becomes Panzer. In World War II, German panzer tanks were given roman numbers and so the fourth model was a IV. The Panzer IV was the most produced German tank in World War Two with over 8,500 manufactured.
The FHCAM variant is an Ausführung H, which fought in two of the most significant wars of the Twentieth Century – World War II and the Six Day War. It was built in late January or early February 1944 at Nibelungenwerk, in what is now Austria. This was the only purpose-built tank factory in Germany during World War Two and it was known by the code name Toys and owned by Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG. A top production rate of about 300 tanks per month was only achieved for a few months in 1944. This factory was visited on several occasions by Hitler and other leading Nazis. All tanks produced at the Steyr plant were driven on the test track or nearby roads for 120 kilometers before completion and delivery. A Panzer IV Ausf. H from Nibelungenwerk cost about $440,000 in current value.
You can see the Panzer IV in Alpha Hangar at FHCAM and learn more about its amazing history.
