WW2 museum in Granite Falls MN

[GBSoren]

If your in the upper midwest and are into WW2 era warbirds I would highly recommend this museum. It's located at KGDB in Granite Falls, 3 hangers full of WW2 displays. All of the planes that have the wheels on the ground are fully restored to flyable condition.

I flew my father there, from KOTG to KGDB was a quick half hour flight, then we spent a couple hours going through the hangers. Tip, enter the small hanger by the terminal building first, they have a greeter there that'll explain the layout and you can sign a guest book. My Dad is a collector of WW2 firearms so he was very excited go through this. The planes are restored beautifully! That P-38 Lightening is one impressive plane!

Anyway, I highly recommend it if you're looking for a fun reason to fly, open Thur-Sat, opens a 10am. They also have a warbird airshow coming up in June.

Here are a couple pix, please ignore the fact that my Dads hand is on the P-40, I had to keep reminding him of the signs "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE DISPLAYS"....

 

[jimhorner]

Here are a couple pix, please ignore the fact that my Dads hand is on the P-40, I had to keep reminding him of the signs "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE DISPLAYS"....

Looks like a nice museum. There can be some real gems out there when looking at these small museums.

And, that P-40 your dad’s hand is on? It sure looks amazingly like a P-51 to me. Just sayin...



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[GBSoren]

Oops, my bad, yes obviously that's a P-51. They do have some P-40's but unfortunately the one they have an exhibit of was in annual.

 

[jimhorner]

Oops, my bad, yes obviously that's a P-51. They do have some P-40's but unfortunately the one they have an exhibit of was in annual.

That in itself is a very encouraging thing. How many WW2 era fighters in museums are not on display because they are in annual? It’s great that there are people who keep the old birds flying.


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[PeterNSteinmetz]

They do have some P-40's but unfortunately the one they have an exhibit of was in annual.

Do these planes actually fly?

 

[GBSoren]

Do these planes actually fly?

All of them fly except a BF-109 that was displayed hanging from the ceiling. Every plane with the wheels on the ground fly. I’m not kidding when I say these planes are restored to like new condition. I think they said they have 6 full time mechanics restoring and keeping the planes flyable.

 

[SkyDog58]

Awesome. I love museums like that.

 

[SgtJoe]

This is one of my favorite places to fly. I flew there twice well time building for Commercial.

 

[Palmpilot]

Looks interesting. I have some family members in the area who will also probably be interested the next time I'm in Minnesota.

 

[champ driver]

I went to Ron Fagen's museum in Granite Falls a couple of years ago and it was worth it.
I know from a friend of mine that's been there that every other year in the summer they have a spectacular air show with tons of Warbird flying.
On display in the museum is a Jenny, an uncovered CG-4A transport glider, a BT-13, B-25, two P-40's, a P-38, two P-51's. They're working on an SB2C-5, an Army version of the Helldiver.
He has a landing craft display like was used on D-day with real sand shipped from the beaches of Normandy. In the restoration shop next door was a full P-40 wing being re-manufactured in a jig.
Well worth the trip.

http://fagenfighterswwiimuseum.org/index.html