Recap: Tankfest Northwest 2017 - What's Up Southwest

With the warm sun shining down on the field and thousands in attendance, I had the amazing opportunity to check out Tankfest Northwest at the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) this past weekend.

Churchill Mk VII Crocodile, one of the heaviest Allied tanks of WWII. (Photo Credit: Lesley Haenny)

Being Memorial Day weekend, I couldn’t have felt more patriotic watching history right before my eyes. Walking around the museum hangars and watching the tank demonstrations, you get the true feeling of what it must have been like for those soldiers that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

David Statham’s DUKW (Photo Credit: Lesley Haenny)

The story of FHCAM begins in 1998 when Microsoft co-founder, Paul G. Allen, began acquiring and preserving restored combat vehicles and aircraft, many of which were the last of its kind. His passion for aviation and history, and his awareness of the increasing rarity of original WWII vehicles and aircraft, motivated him to restore these artifacts to the highest standard of authenticity and share them with the public.

FHCAM’s M60A1 (Photo Credit: Lesley Haenny)

While the education they provide to the public is truly significant, the museum takes pride in the fact that these historic vehicles and aircraft are not meant simply for display. As part of FHCAM, their destiny is to return once more to the roads and the sky, where they were always meant to be.

FHCAM’s SCUD Missile Demo (Photo Credit: Lesley Haenny)

Tankfest Northwest provides the opportunity to get up close and personal with tanks and watch tank demonstrations and World War II reenactments (with actors wearing authentic WWII uniforms from Germany and the United States). Two lucky families also had the chance to find out the gender of their babies with a “baby boom,” which was a blast of confetti from one of the cannons – and both families had blue confetti for two little boys!!