Yellow and white vintage Air Force plane inside the Heritage Flight Museum hangar in Burlington

Heritage Flight Museum

Photo: Kyle Waggener via Google Maps

The Heritage Flight Museum is a collection of vintage military aircraft at Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington, founded by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders and his wife, Valerie. The museum houses 15 aircraft, several antique military vehicles, a library and many artifacts donated by veterans, and it sits just off Highway 20 west of I-5, on the way to Anacortes and Whidbey Island.

These are not museum pieces that only gather dust. Most of the aircraft are fully functional, kept up by the museum’s mechanics and flown by its pilots, and on Fly Days you can watch them take off from the field. The museum also tells a story few aviation museums can: the Apollo 8 mission, told through the eyes of the family of the man who took the famous “Earthrise” photograph.

What You’ll See

  • Aircraft and vehicles: Historic military planes and vehicles on display in the hangars, where you can get an up close look between flights. Mechanics work on site, and the Mechanic’s Corner and an engine collection show what keeps warbirds flying.
  • Earthrise Gallery: Opened in spring 2022, six display units walk you through humanity’s first trip to the Moon, with video recreating the Saturn V launch, life aboard the command module and the Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbit. Artifacts include a piece of the Moon encased in NASA’s Ambassador of Exploration Award, presented to William Anders.
  • The ’68 Experience: Puts Apollo 8 in the context of a turbulent year, covering the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race. A personal calendar kept by Valerie Anders tracks the family’s year up to her husband’s launch.
  • Cornelia Fort and the Interstate Cadet: The small plane flight instructor Cornelia Fort was flying over Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, when she grabbed the controls to avoid an attacking aircraft and landed safely with her student. That Cadet now lives in the museum’s hangars.
  • Skyraiders and “Sandy” pilots: The museum’s early 1950s Douglas Skyraider, “The Proud American,” anchors an exhibit on the pilots who flew rescue escort missions in Vietnam.

You will also find a Link Trainer, the early flight simulator used to train hundreds of thousands of World War II pilots, along with exhibits on military uniforms and on the women who flew with the WASP program.

The Story Behind It

William and Valerie Anders founded the museum in 1996 in Bellingham, and the collection began with a single Mustang. In 2014 it moved to its current home at Skagit Regional Airport. Two of the Anderses’ sons joined their father in the Puget Sound area to help run it, and the museum’s logo comes from a photo sortie that paired Bill in the Mustang with his son Greg in an Air Force Eagle fighter.

Bill Anders flew in the Air Force before NASA chose him as an astronaut in 1963. As lunar module pilot on Apollo 8 in December 1968, he was one of the first three humans to travel to the Moon, and while in lunar orbit he took the “Earthrise” photo, which Life magazine later named one of the 100 photographs that changed the world. He and Valerie settled on Orcas Island in 1993. Anders died in 2024 when the vintage plane he was flying crashed in the San Juan Islands, and the museum carries on as his family’s tribute to military aviation and spaceflight.

Tips for Your Visit

  • To see the planes fly, come on a Fly Day. The museum holds them on select Saturdays from spring through early September and posts each year’s dates on its Fly Days page. It suggests arriving within an hour of doors opening and planning to stay three to four hours, since there are usually four to six flights and no set schedule.
  • On Fly Days a food vendor is usually on site, kids can try the Future Flyers activity table, and parking is plentiful but can mean a long walk to the door. Office phones are not staffed that day, so call with questions beforehand.
  • Pets are not allowed on museum grounds; only service animals are permitted.
  • Groups of six or more should call a day in advance to arrange a tour. Pilots can fly in to Skagit Regional Airport after completing the museum’s prearrival form.

Plan Your Visit

Address: 15053 Crosswind Dr, Burlington, WA 98233
Phone: 360.424.5151
Website: heritageflight.org
Hours and admission: Check the museum website for current days, hours, and admission before you visit.
Directions: View on Google Maps