Kermit Weeks - Aircraft Collection

Aircraft Collection

Weeks maintains one of the largest private collections of flight-worthy historic aircraft in the world, most of which are at his Fantasy of Flight facility in Polk City, Florida. The collection contains over 140 civilian and military planes including rare originals as well as reproductions of historic aircraft, such as the Spirit of St. Louis. Great emphasis has been placed on historic authenticity and accurate reproductions. Thus, for historical accuracy, the collection's Spirit of St. Louis replica will be fitted with one of the few operational Wright J-5 engines still flying. Another famous replica in Weeks' collection is the iconic Gee Bee "Z", a racing plane originally built in 1931 and destroyed the same year during a world speed record attempt.

Weeks owns one of the four remaining original P-51C Mustangs in the world, with an estimated worth of over US$3 million. Other original aircraft in the collection include a Ford Trimotor, an early civil transport aircraft used by commercial airlines in the 1930s; it has been used in films including the 1930 TWA promotional film, Coast to Coast in 48 Hours, appearing on screen with Amelia Earhart, and the 1984 adventure film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in which the plane is shown being piloted by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Weeks has recently purchased the iconic Sikorsky S-38 replica, Osa's Ark. This historical aircraft is the only S-38 that still flies and was featured in the 2004 film, The Aviator.

Most of the aircraft are functional and able to be flown; Weeks has stated that every aircraft in his collection has been flown by him in the past, is being flown currently, or will be flown in the future.

Inherited oil and gas royalties provide Weeks with funds to pursue preservation of aircraft.