Felts Field to display historic planes for Neighbor Day

Felts Field in east Spokane is hosting its fourth annual Neighbor Day on Saturday with a collection of historic planes on display.

The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

One of the planes on display will be a 1928 Boeing 40C biplane, which was restored by Addison Pemberton, of Spokane, and volunteers.

The plane was designed to deliver U.S. mail and is the oldest flying mail carrier in the world, Marian Heale, an organizer of Neighbor Day, said.

The plane could hold 500 pounds of mail and four passengers. It crashed in 1928 in fog on an Oregon mountainside, where it remained until it was salvaged in 1993. It was restored at Felts Field over nine years.

“It’s always a big event for Felts Field,” Heale said of Neighbor Day. “It gets bigger every year.”

A restored Douglas DC-3 will be offering rides to the public for $350 per person in a fundraiser for Historic Flight Foundation, which restored the DC-3 among the foundation’s other historic aircraft.

The foundation is based at Paine Field in Everett.

The plane was completed in 1944 and was used to fly military cargo in Asia during World War II.

In 1949, it became a Pan American Airways System passenger plane and was later converted to corporate use. Historic Flight founder John Sessions had it restored to match its original look, retaining the corporate amenities.

The DC-3 will be at Felts Field this morning with a planned tour flight at 10:30 a.m.

In addition to those historic planes, Neighbor Day will feature Stearman biplanes flying in formation, experimental aircraft, a Northwest MedStar aircraft and other planes.

Along with MedStar, other companies operating at Felts Field plan to have demonstrations.