Living history takes off near Platte Valley Airpark

By Belen Ward bward@coloradocommunitymedia.com

You could call it a family obsession.

Andy Parks learned his love of flying and of vintage aircraft watching his father.

“When growing up, my best analogy – I was like a puppy dog underneath my dad’s foot, and I liked going to the airports,” Parks said.

A respected doctor and professor at University of Colorado Obstetrics and Gynecology, flying was a hobby for Jim Parks, Andy’s father. He loved airplanes and he loved talking flying with other pilots.

“He had the opportunity to go to Munich to teach, so we moved there in the late 1960s, which allowed my dad to meet a lot of German and European pilots,” Parks said.

One of those was famous World War I German Fokker Triplane ace Josef Jakobs before his death in 1978.

Parks’ grandfather, Charles Fred Parks, had the same obsession. His served in the artillery in World War I and was gassed in the Meuse Argonne offensive. He later transferred to the Army Air Service as an observer, joining his cousin Capt. Victor Parks, who was with the 166th Daylight Bombardment Squadron.

Since 1999, Parks has made his obsession open to the public, every other Saturday by appointment.

His Vintage Aero Flying Museum is

MUSEUM

FROM located just east of Fort Lupton in Platte Valley Airpark. The museum houses accurate replicas of aircraft flown by famous World War I pilots, as well as an intimate collection of pilot uniforms, memorabilia and real stories of the original pilots who flew these vintage planes.

Bringing Them Home

Parks thinks his is a rare attraction.

“There are some war museums on the East Coast and the West Coast, but in the middle of the country, this is the only one,” Parks said.

Parks started flying solo when he was 21 years old, and after college got back into flying. He said he was inspired by his father to build the museum.

“My dad built one of the planes here in the museum. He started building a replica of the Fokker D.VII from plans,” Parks said “He worked on it since 1971, out of his garage when I was 8, and finished it in 1979. I’ve been involved with that airplane one way or another for most of my life, either building it, flying it, or maintaining it.”

They started building their airplanes in their father’s garage. Parks moved them all to Platte Valley Airpark in 1999 and built his own hangar in 2000. With that, his vintage aircraft museum was in business.

The Vintage Museum is a nonprofit at the Lafayette Foundation and honors the World War I flying corps the Lafayette Escadrille. Made up of American volunteers, the unit flew missions based out of France. That foundation helps support the museum, although Parks, a reverse mortgage specialist when he’s not working on his aircraft, does his share.

“The job is what I do to support the museum,” Parks said.