The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen
Presented by J.R. Williams
Saturday, January 18
11 am – 12:00 pm
Born and raised in a Prussian aristocratic family, Manfred von Richthofen began military training when he was 11 years old, entering service as a cavalry officer. After the onset of WWI, he started aviation training in 1915 and initially appeared to be a below-average pilot, struggling to control his aircraft. He crashed during his first flight at the controls.
Richthofen’s first confirmed aerial victory was in the skies over Cambrai, France, nearly a year after his initial pilot training. Manfred was a cautious airman, not particularly adept at spectacular aerobatic feats, but he was a patient and excellent marksman. Using a set of eight proven tactics devised by German ace Oswald Boelcke, Richthofen himself became a fighter ace, which required logging a minimum of five confirmed aerial victories. In 1917, he received Germany’s highest military honor, the Pour le Merite (also known as the “Blue Max”) after his 16th kill.
As a squadron commander, Richthofen took the flamboyant step of having his Albatros D.III painted red, hence his designation as “The Red Baron”. He logged 80 kills before the end of his brief career.
At the age of 25, Richthofen was fatally wounded on April 21, 1918. Flying a Fokker Dr.1 triplane, he was in pursuit of Canadian pilot Wilfrid May over the Somme River when Richthofen became embroiled in a dogfight with May’s flight commander Arthur Brown, flying a Sopwith Camel. During a low pass, a single bullet fired from the ground struck Richthofen. He regained control of his aircraft and landed roughly in his last seconds of life. His intact aircraft was completely dismantled by souvenir hunting Allied soldiers who had observed the entire aerial combat and arrived on the scene almost instantly. Richthofen’s body was given a full military funeral by the Number 3 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, which was the nearest Allied air unit.
J.R. Williams is a Financial Advisor from Monterey, California. He is a member of Cross and Cockade International and is the Past President of the League of WWI Aviation Historians.
Tickets available on Eventbrite
Fokker Dr.I Cockpit Grand Opening
Following the presentation will be the grand opening of the Hiller Aviation Museum’s recently-completed Fokker Dr. I replica. This iconic aircraft’s cockpit opens to the public for the first time on January 18, providing an exciting perspective on the best-known of Manfred von Richthofen’s fighter planes.
MacArthur’s Air Force
Presentation and Book Signing by Bill Yenne
Saturday, January 25
11 am – 12:00 pm
General Douglas MacArthur is one of the towering figures of World War II, and indeed of the twentieth century, but his leadership of the second largest air force in the USAAF is often overlooked. When World War II ended, the three numbered air forces (the Fifth, Thirteenth and Seventh) under his command possessed 4,004 combat aircraft, 433 reconnaissance aircraft, and 922 transports. After being humbled by the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942, MacArthur and his air chief General George Kenney rebuilt the US aerial presence in the Pacific, helping Allied naval and ground forces to push back the Japanese Air Force, re-take the Philippines, and carry the war north towards the Home Islands. Following the end of World War II MacArthur was the highest military and political authority in Japan, and at the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 he was named as Commander in Chief, United Nations Command. In the ten months of his command his Far East Air Forces increased dramatically and saw the first aerial combat between jet fighters.
Written by award-winning aviation historian Bill Yenne, this engrossing book traces the journey of American air forces in the Pacific under General MacArthur’s command, from their lowly beginnings to their eventual triumph over Imperial Japan, followed by their entry into the jet age in the skies over Korea.
Kids’ Carnival
Sunday, November 24, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, December 29, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, January 26, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 23, 10 AM – 12 PM
Event included with Museum admission. No charge for Museum Members.
Join the excitement with special activities just for kids! Aircraft checkouts, cockpit exploration, glider and helicopter construction and more are just some of the activities available at each Kids’ Carnival.
Advance tickets available on Eventbrite
(Select the date you would like to attend)
Kids’ Carnival Activities
Indoor Kids’ Carnival
December 2019 – February 2020
- Vertical Wind Tunnels
- Paper Helicopters
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Glider Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Rig-a-ma-Jig Construction
Outdoor Kids’ Carnival
November 2019
- Paint-a-Plane Cessna Cardinal
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Glider Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Open Cockpit Aircraft
Sunday, January 26
Up to the Moon
12:00 PM
Special children’s book reading event and book signing featuring astronaut Dan Bursch and children’s author Sharon Yencharis
Sponsored by
Flight Sim Club
Sunday, January 26
Sunday, February 23
Flight Sim Club meets 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM in the Museum’s Flight Sim Zone.
Join the Hiller Aviation Museum’s simulator community at the monthly Flight Sim Club!
Intended for adult enthusiasts and families with children ages 10+, the Flight Sim Club is a regular meeting of flight simulation enthusiasts focused on testing new ideas and learning new techniques. Simulators running the latest versions of X-Plane 11 and Prepar3D will be make available, and special projects using modern flight simulator hardware will be discussed.
No registration fee or advanced reservations are needed, but club participants must purchase Hiller Aviation Museum admission on the day of each meeting to participate (no charge for Hiller Aviation Museum Members).
Flight Simulator Rally
Sunday, November 17 – Formation Flying
Sunday, December 1 – Las Vegas Night Flight
Sunday, January 5 – Miracle on the Hudson
Sunday, February 2 – Boeing Factory Tour
30-minute sessions begin every half hour between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM. Event concludes at 3:30 PM.
Take up the challenge in the Flight Sim Zone!
The Flight Simulator Rally, held monthly in the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Flight Sim Zone, presents participants with a specific mission in simulated flight. Each 30-minute session provides ample time for participants to learn a particular flight, then ends with a challenge flight to achieve the best possible results!
The Flight Sim Zone features a full lab of high-fidelity flight simulators, each equipped with realistic flight controls, high speed graphics processors, and dramatic widescreen-format monitors. Using state of the art flight simulation software, the Flight Sim Zone provides an exceptional recreation of flight suitable for non-flying novices and veteran aviators alike.
Pilots ages 8 and up are welcome to join each month’s Flight Simulator Rally. The event is included with Museum admission, but space is limited. Participants must secure a timed ticket from the Admissions counter in the Museum Gift Shop on the day of each program.
Las Vegas Lights
Take a slow flight over the famed Las Vegas Strip at dusk and enjoy a spectacular show of lights.
Boeing Factory Flyby
Depart Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for a scenic flight over historic Boeing Field and on to Everett, Washington, birthplace of widebodied Boeing airliners.
Formation Flying
Take on the challenge of slow flight while matching airspeed with an airborne blimp!
Drone Meet
Event Schedule
Sunday, December 22, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Precision Landing
Sunday, January 12, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Code & Fly
Sunday, February 9, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Relay Race
All competitors must be at least 8 years old to fly at the Drone Meet.
Fly a multi-rotor drone in one of several different skill-specific competitions held in the Hiller Aviation Museum Drone Plex.
Join a Drone Competition!
Fly with the best of the best in a thrilling series of multirotor competitions. Each Drone Meet event focuses on a different skill in quadcopter flight, and utilizes the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Drone Plex facility. Drone Meet events include:
- Preflight briefing
- Practice with a drone flight simulator
- Competition using a Museum-provided Drone appropriate for the event
Each Drone Meet features rounds at 1, 2 and 3 PM. Events are included with Museum admission, but space for each round is limited. Competitors must register at the Invention Lab (10 AM – 1 PM) or Drone Plex (1 PM – 4 PM) on the day of competition.
Event Descriptions
Precision Landing: Fly a small multirotor aircraft and land it as close to the target as possible before time expires!
Code & Fly: Use drag-and-drop programing to code a simple flight routine for a Parrot Mambo drone. Launch the aircraft and watch it complete its mission autonomously!
Relay Race: Fly like the air racers of old, completing a circuit around pylons spaced around the Drone Plex. Fly in teams to complete the race without crashing ahead of the competition!
Early German Helicopters
Presented by Phil Gioia
Saturday, February 15
11 am – 12:00 pm
Germany was far ahead of other nations in the early development of rotary-wing aircraft.
Focke-Wulf’s Fw-61, the world’s first practical helicopter, flew in 1936, three years before Igor Sikorsky demonstrated his prototype in America. German designs also negated the effects of rotor torque, which requires constant pilot correction.
During WW II the Germans developed and deployed heavy-lift, reconnaissance, light-attack, and towed rotor-kite designs.
Germany’s helicopter designers and pilots included Heinrich Focke, Georg Wulf, Gerd Achgelis, Anton Flettner, and Hannah Reitsch, the world’s most accomplished woman aviator, test pilot, and holder of multiple flight records.
Phil Gioia will take us through this little-known and fascinating chapter of aviation history, with commentary and pictures of the designers, pilots, and German rotorcraft, developed and deployed from 1933 to 1945.
Kids’ Carnival
Sunday, November 24, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, December 29, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, January 26, 10 AM – 12 PM
Sunday, February 23, 10 AM – 12 PM
Event included with Museum admission. No charge for Museum Members.
Join the excitement with special activities just for kids! Aircraft checkouts, cockpit exploration, glider and helicopter construction and more are just some of the activities available at each Kids’ Carnival.
Advance tickets available on Eventbrite
(Select the date you would like to attend)
Kids’ Carnival Activities
Indoor Kids’ Carnival
December 2019 – February 2020
- Vertical Wind Tunnels
- Paper Helicopters
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Glider Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Rig-a-ma-Jig Construction
Outdoor Kids’ Carnival
November 2019
- Paint-a-Plane Cessna Cardinal
- Scorpion Helicopter Checkout
- Glider Construction
- Penguin Airplane Assembly
- Open Cockpit Aircraft
Sunday, January 26
Up to the Moon
12:00 PM
Special children’s book reading event and book signing featuring astronaut Dan Bursch and children’s author Sharon Yencharis
Sponsored by
Flight Sim Club
Sunday, January 26
Sunday, February 23
Flight Sim Club meets 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM in the Museum’s Flight Sim Zone.
Join the Hiller Aviation Museum’s simulator community at the monthly Flight Sim Club!
Intended for adult enthusiasts and families with children ages 10+, the Flight Sim Club is a regular meeting of flight simulation enthusiasts focused on testing new ideas and learning new techniques. Simulators running the latest versions of X-Plane 11 and Prepar3D will be make available, and special projects using modern flight simulator hardware will be discussed.
No registration fee or advanced reservations are needed, but club participants must purchase Hiller Aviation Museum admission on the day of each meeting to participate (no charge for Hiller Aviation Museum Members).
Easter Bunny Arrives by Helicopter!
Saturday April 11, 2020
10 AM-1 PM
The following activities are from 10 am – 1 pm:
- Enjoy face painting.
- Have fun on the jump and slide!
- To top it off, BBF & FFR Model Train display will also be open for everyone to enjoy.
Come see the Easter Bunny fly! Rain or shine!
Join the Easter Eggstravaganza from 10 am – 1 pm. The Bunny arrives by personal helicopter at 11 am.
Get an Easter Egg straight from the Bunny and enjoy face painting, a bounce house and slide, and a model train display.
Tickets available at the door
Members Free, no advanced tickets necessary.
Sponsored by
