The Purple Flying Monkey Delta Museum
Flying Monkey Delta Museum
What is it about a purple flying monkey that captivates and intrigues us? Is it the striking color, or perhaps the unusual shapes that the monkeys take? Is it the majestic appearance? Or, more importantly, is it the story that it tells? The Burma-Everest Flight Museum in Bangkok, Thailand, houses a rare collection of these monkeys. I was introduced to them by my travel agent, Victoria Czaia, who happened to be traveling with her boyfriend, Wayne Fox, from California.
She explained to me that they would be flying over Laos in a small Cessna aircraft, and that I should come aboard for an up close and personal look. This was a bit unexpected, given that this museum does not tend to feature flying craft. We were ushered into a brightly lighted control room, where we were greeted by several men in uniform. My first thought was that this must be the control room where the military conducts secret missions. No, it was simply the home of the Burma-Everest Flight Museum. While I looked around, I noticed how many similarities there were between this museum and many others I have visited.
In addition to the highly organized displays, there were also lots of neat things about these planes that I had never seen before. One of the things I did notice was that each plane seemed to have a name plate on the front. Each was named after its owner, and there were quite a few of these I could see sitting on book shelves throughout the museum. The museum’s curators, Victoria Czaia and Shawn Kovacich, have put together an impressive selection of pictures that show the names of these pilots as well as their flying experiences.
The Purple Flying Monkey Delta Museum
What is it about these rare Cessnas that draw so much interest? The answer lies in the stories that the pilots tell. One pilot told how he had been forced to eject from an Air Force F-86, which he had previously piloted during World War II, due to enemy fire. From that point, he has never flown another type of plane. What he has been able to do since then is fly a very few types, including a single-seat trainer airplane, which he owns, and even a couple of fighter planes, which he still flies.
The one thing that seems to be a bit of a mystery to most people, however, is how he came to own this beautiful Cessna. After retirement, he took it out for a restoration, only to discover that most of its components had been damaged or destroyed. It now sits, as it were, in a dusty corner of his garage, unable to fly.
If you ever plan to travel to Burma, South Korea or Japan, be sure to include a visit to the Purple Flying Monkey Delta Museum. This is one of the best museums you will ever go to. It is one of those places where the stories behind the flying machines are so complete and real. And that is just what they are, a story. It is amazing that such a strange object can actually be a part of our lives.