Fagen Fighters WWII Museum’s Victory at Sea

Story and photos by Shawn Byers

As an avid air show attendee, I have a plan that takes shape every December. It wasn’t until June that I saw something online to make me drop previous plans for August and buy an airline ticket for Minnesota.

The Fagen Fighters WWII Museum is located in Granite Falls, Minnesota, approximately 2.5 hours driving time from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. I had long known about this incredible Museum but didn’t know when I would have a chance to visit it. They have small air shows throughout the summer, but this one was shaping up to be what I felt was a once in a lifetime event.

This event, held on August 16 and 17, 2025, celebrated 250 years of the Navy and Marine Corps and 80 years since victory in the Pacific. Featuring multiple examples of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft of World War II, a mini carrier air wing was on the ground. I am familiar with some of these blue Warbirds from East Coast air shows. The rest were from western states that I had not met yet.

I arrived late afternoon on Thursday. It was overcast and rainy. This was an unusual and extremely wet period for this area. Fields typically utilized for parking were unusable. The pedestrian gate was open so I walked in from the Museum parking lot and asked if I could have a look around. I met a nice older gentleman named Ron. He asked me where I came in from and added that some aircraft were inbound. I ran back to my rental car to grab my still unassembled-for-travel cameras. The first aircraft to arrive among the dark clouds was a white Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The clouds were moving off slowly and a Grumman Hellcat and Bearcat entered the pattern in a high-low formation just as the sun broke out. My focus was squarely on the low Hellcat, one of my favorite Warbirds. The break was excellent, and I love the image I got of it climbing away. They taxied past my location to parking near the hangars. A Dauntless Dive Bomber also arrived.

Soon the aircraft were ready to be put in a hangar for the night. That nice guy, Ron, was driving the tug. Already in the hangar were more Grumman products. An F-7 Tigercat, a C-1A Trader and an F4F Wildcat. I went to college in Long Island, the home of Grumman. The love I have for their products grew exponentially there. Grumman Cats were all around. I was feeling great about the weekend.

At one point I was one of the crew, wing walking a few planes into the hangar and setting some drip pans.

I returned Friday hoping to see some movements and maybe see some of the museum. Unfortunately, the Museum was closed to prepare for the next day. I saw Ron again and asked if I could hang around and not be in the way. Of course, he said yes. There was no media program for this event so I decided this report would be my winter project. They weren’t even calling this event an air show. I bought tickets early and even overbought, receiving tickets 0011 and 0012 at full price. Later a reduced-price single ticket was offered for both days. The funds support the Museum, so I was happy to contribute.

A lot of other people had the same idea as the day went on. It was sunny and we saw some flying and aircraft under tow. A Pilatus PC-24 private jet landed to drop of the crew of the Privateer on static display. It idled very close to my location which is why I am always packing earplugs. It left out shortly after and had very good performance on the small Runway 15/33, which is 4,357 feet by 75 feet wide.

A Japanese Navy Zero was towed out and its engine run but it did not fly.

A powder blue T-6 flew with a pilot only and returned a short while later.

The Dauntless was in and out giving a few rides.

I left around dinner time as movements slowed down. When I left, all the performing aircraft were parked on the ramp in front of the crowd line. At this time, I counted:
2 Grumman Hellcats
3 Grumman Wildcats
2 Grumman Bearcats
1 Grumman Tigercat
2 Grumman Avengers
3 Vought/Goodyear Corsairs
2 Douglas Skyraiders
1 Douglas Dauntless
1 Mitsubishi Zero

A Grumman C-1 Trader, a Grumman G-21 Goose and a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer were on static display.

The Curtiss Helldiver was in a hangar and emerged Saturday morning.

Overnight at my hotel a few miles north of the Museum, a strong thunderstorm woke me up. I checked the radar and my first thought was, “The Planes!” Last I saw them, many were parked wing fold to wing fold and in an additional perpendicular line behind.

It was a drizzly Saturday morning when I returned to the museum. I wanted to check out the situation but not interfere or be a disrespectful photographer as it was all hands on deck to salvage this scene. Some aircraft suffered minor damage and some were displaced. One that I assumed was damaged due to its displacement, actually flew that day. The Museum delayed the opening, towed damaged aircraft to the hangar, and went on with the show with the remaining aircraft and a shortened schedule.

It remained cloudy in the morning and there was a brief shower but better weather was expected. The newest Fagen restoration, a Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver, taxiing to participate in the day’s first flight, slipped off the pavement and got stuck in the mud. It was towed back to parking and would fly later in the day.

I took this opportunity to walk from my position at the main taxiway, right of the parking ramp, among the crowded grandstands to see the Helldiver recovery operation. It was a good crowd, and I read that there were between 5,000 and 7,000 attendees. The announcer for this August 16th non-air show was Ric Peterson.

Eventually, the remaining aircraft in the “Bomber” Flight, an SBD Dauntless and a TBM Avenger, took off from Runway 15 and flew some laps.

The next flight was called the “Cavanaugh Flight”. The Texas based museum brought a Wildcat, a Corsair and an Avenger. They flew in formation before breaking out into individual passes.
After this flight, there was a pause in the flying for a tribute back in a hangar. Navy Ace, Don McPherson was a friend of the Museum. He was scheduled to be here for the event but passed away just days prior at age 103. It was an extremely crowded memorial service, so I went elsewhere to see some of the museum. The Fagen Hellcat named in his honor was in another hangar undergoing heavy maintenance.

An additional program called “Tomcat Pilot Talk” was conducted by former Naval Aviator, Ryan Christopherson.

Back to the flying, it was time for the Grumman Cats Flight. Unfortunately, the single Tigercat was damaged during the storm and did not fly. Remaining cats were a Wildcat, Hellcat and Bearcat. After some formation passes, they broke into individual passes offering some topside views.

The next grouping was the post WWII Flight featuring two Skyraiders and a Bearcat.

The final flight of the day was the VJ Day Spectacular. A layered launch and flybys consisted of two Wildcats, two Hellcats, a Corsair, a Helldiver, an Avenger and a Dauntless.

After the show completed, some aircraft prepared to depart. Sunday’s activities, which would have been departure day, were canceled due to a threatening weather forecast. The C-1 Trader was towed out to the taxiway where the wings were unfolded, and it taxied for takeoff. After takeoff, which was great, the crew treated us to three smoke-on flybys before departing the area.

All-in-all, it really was an event of a lifetime to see this gathering of rare Navy and Marine Corps Warbirds in one location. A friend of mine said the Museum was snake bitten with all the events from weather, damaged aircraft, a stuck aircraft, but they pulled it together and gave us something great to see.

That nice gentleman, Ron that I’ve been speaking of, well, I finally put it together Saturday afternoon that it was THE Ron. Ron Fagen is the proprietor of the family run, Fagen Fighters WWII Museum.

The next morning, I had heard that the museum was going to be open so that was my plan. Some online information said it was actually closed. I thought for a minute to drive south to the museum to check for myself but instead, turned east and headed back to the airport. I still have not seen the whole museum so I may return some day. Until then, I thank Ron, Evan, and the rest of the Fagen Family and staff for the hospitality leading up to and during this event as well as all the owners and pilots who brought their precious Warbirds to the event.