Fantasy of Flight: Kermit Weeks and the Collection That Survived a Hurricane
Near Lakeland, Florida
Somewhere along this stretch of Polk County, tucked between the orange groves and the truck stops, sits one of the most remarkable aviation collections in the world. It is called Fantasy of Flight, and it exists because of one man's obsession, a devastating hurricane, and a determination to keep as many of his aircraft flying as possible.
Kermit Weeks grew up in Miami and heard a novelty song called Snoopy and the Red Baron on the radio at age thirteen. That was enough. By nineteen seventy-seven he had built his own aerobatic aircraft from scratch, a design he called the Weeks Special, and was competing on the United States Aerobatics Team. He went on to win twenty medals at the World Aerobatic Championships over about a dozen years, and claimed the United States national title twice. He is one of the most decorated aerobatic competitors in American history.
Alongside his competitive career, Weeks was accumulating vintage aircraft. By nineteen eighty-five he had enough to open the Weeks Air Museum in Miami, a nonprofit facility that housed both his private collection and aircraft donated by others. Then came August twenty-fourth, nineteen ninety-two: Hurricane Andrew made landfall south of Miami as a Category Five storm, one of the most destructive to strike Florida in the twentieth century. The museum's facility was destroyed. Most of the aircraft inside were severely damaged.
Rather than rebuild in Miami, Weeks bought land in Polk City, in the middle of Florida, and started over. Fantasy of Flight opened in nineteen ninety-five. Unlike most aviation museums, it operates as a living collection: Weeks has long made a point of restoring aircraft to airworthy condition and flying them. The result is a place where visitors can watch a nineteen eighteen Albatros fighter or a World War Two bomber taxi across the grass and lift off. The collection ranges from the earliest era of flight through the Second World War, and the majority of it can still leave the ground.
