Champlin Fighter Museum, Aviation museum in Mesa, United States

The Champlin Fighter Museum was an aviation museum in Mesa, Arizona, holding airworthy World War I and World War II fighters. Its hangar displays included a single-engine fighter with a blunt nose, a four-bladed propeller with a white-tipped spinner, grey-green camouflage with dark mottling, an open framed canopy and its right landing gear extended, resting on a blue wheeled dolly.

The museum was founded to preserve fighter aircraft from the major conflicts of the 20th century and make them accessible to the public in Arizona. It operated for 22 years before closing in 2003, when its entire collection was transferred to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The museum also published aviation books, among them Henry Sakaida's 1985 "Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots", which tied the collection to the histories of the pilots who flew such machines. Visitors came for airworthy World War I and World War II fighters rather than static replicas.

Since the museum closed in 2003, it is no longer possible to visit it in Mesa. Anyone who wants to see the aircraft can find the collection at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where the planes were permanently relocated.

The museum also published aviation books, among them Henry Sakaida's 1985 "Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots". The photograph shows a single-engine fighter with a four-bladed propeller and white-tipped spinner, grey-green camouflage with dark mottling, an open canopy and its right landing gear extended, resting on a blue wheeled dolly in a hangar.