Aviation and automotive preservation foundation in Massachusetts, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit educational foundation located in Stow, Massachusetts, with a mission dedicated to the preservation and public display of transportation-related history, namely automobile and aviation history.[1] The Collings Foundation is headquartered at a small private airfield in Stow that includes a small museum that opens for special events and pre-scheduled tour groups.
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_B24-P51-B17.jpg) Collings Foundation's B-24J, TP-51C and B-17G | |
 Location within Massachusetts | |
| Established | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Location | Stow, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 42.403293°N 71.5078°W |
| Type | |
| Founder | Bob Collings |
| CEO | Rob Collings |
| Website | www.collingsfoundation.org |
The American Heritage Museum, a collection of military vehicles, is located on the grounds of the foundation. The organization also has a satellite operations base at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas, primarily housing its Korean War and Vietnam War jet aircraft and helicopter collection.
The Collings Foundation operated two touring collections of historic military aircraft: The Wings of Freedom Tour and The Vietnam Memorial Flight. The Wings of Freedom tour ended in 2023 after the organization grounded their WWII aircraft.[2]
The Collings Foundation sold vintage warbird rides to the general public through a flight exemption until permission for such flights was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration following the fatal 2019 crash of the foundation's B-17G.[3]
The organization was founded in 1979 by former Data Terminal Systems chairman Robert F. Collings and his wife Caroline Collings.[4][5] As of April 2020[update], Caroline Collings continues to serve as financial director, while son Rob Collings is the CEO and chief pilot of the foundation.[6]
On July 4, 2013, the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation founded by Jacques Littlefield and located in Portola Valley, California, donated their entire collection of military vehicles to the Collings Foundation. A year later, the Collings Foundation auctioned off 120 of the vehicles to fund creation of a new museum at their headquarters.[7] The remaining vehicles are now the centerpiece of the American Heritage Museum in Stow, Massachusetts.
In 2015, the Stow Planning Board questioned the educational merit of the proposed museum. The educational purpose was needed in order to allow the planned 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) museum to be built on land that was zoned for residential use.[8][9] The Planning Board rejected the foundation's application in August 2015[10] but a settlement was eventually reached in July 2017 and construction of the museum was completed in 2018. The museum held a "preview" opening in October 2018 and fully opened in May 2019.[11][12]
The foundation acquired 9 of 25 airplanes for sale from the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in exchange for helping the museum out of bankruptcy in May 2015.[13]
The organization's B-17G Flying Fortress crashed in October, 2019, killing seven of the thirteen people on board. In March 2020, the organization's permission to carry passengers was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), citing “notable maintenance discrepancies” and a failure to maintain a “a culture of safety” leading up to the crash.[3]
In 2023, it traded a Stearman PT-17 to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in exchange for a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.[14][15] The following month, an original Nieuport 28 owned by the foundation was damaged in an accident.[16] Later that year, it announced it would be ending its Wings of Freedom tour and grounding its aircraft.[2]
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