Wings of Freedom Tour 2022

By James | Last updated August 23, 2023

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In addition to the Commemorative Air Force AirPower History Tour there is the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour which often visits some of the Southern States including Florida in the Spring.

Each year, the Collings Foundation take their Wings of Freedom Tour through Florida with their Consolidated B-24 Liberator and two-seater North American TF-51D Mustang fighter. Their North American B-25 Mitchell also joins the tour at selected venues though it does not always visit Florida.

They fly into a number of regional airports and at some venues you can take a ‘walk through’ tour of one of the bombers for $10 for adults and $5 for children (aged 12 and under). World War II veterans get free access.

STOP PRESS – Tragically in October 2019, their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Nine-O-Nine” was involved in a fatal crash landing at Bradley International Airport and the 2019 season was cut short. The Collings Foundation agreed to stop air experience flights and only offer ground tours whilst the Federal Aviation Administration completed its investigation into the crash

You can also get some idea of what it was like to fly in these amazing aircraft on a 30 minute ‘air experience’ flight. Prices are $425 for the B-25 and $475 for the B-24.

A minimum of six passengers is required for each flight (four for the B-25) and it is recommended you wear foam ear-plugs as inside the aircraft can be very noisy! It can also be quite draughty so a sweatshirt is also useful.

For the TF-51D, prices range from $2,400 to $3,400 for a half hour or one hour flight respectively.

The Collings Foundation have stated that their tour is currently on hiatus with no plans to resume the tour in 2023.

Wings of Freedom 2020 Tour Schedule (Florida Locations)

For the 2020 tour, the B-24, B-25 and TF-51D took part in the Florida portion of the tour but not all aircraft appeared at each destination.

Tour schedule/locations in Florida for 2020 were:

Dates	Location
January 17 to 19, 2020	DeLand Municipal Airport-Sidney H Taylor Field [1120 Airport Terminal Drive]
January 20 to 23, 2020	Tampa Executive Airport [6530 Tampa Executive Airport Road]
January 23 to 26, 2020	Venice Municipal Airport [400 Airport Ave. East ]
January 27 to 30, 2020	Fort Myers Page Field Airport [5200 Channing Page Drive – West Ramp]
January 30 to February 2, 2020	Naples Municipal Airport [500 Terminal Drive]
February 3 to 6, 2020	The Florida Keys Marathon Airport [9850 Overseas Highway]

History of the Collings Foundation

The Collings Foundation is a non-profit, Educational Foundation (501c-3) and was founded in 1979.

It provides “living history” events to allow visitors to learn more about their heritage and in recent times has focussed more on the Second World War, Korean War and the Vietnam War and in particular on aircraft of those eras.

In total the Collings Foundation has around 20 aircraft in flying condition and some of them take part in the Wings of Freedom Tour.

Though the Collings Foundation is based in Stow, Massachusetts, quite a few of the collection spend time at their maintenance facilities at New Smyrna Beach, Florida.