The Poletto Collection is the largest model aircraft and airliner collection in the world.

“There are 885 aircraft in the collection total,” said Benjamin Donnelly, the stepson of the creator and a Professor of History at University of Providence.

Bary Polletto began the collection in the late 1970’s, first put on display at the Great Falls International Airport.

It was then the collection grew, and a hobby became an overwhelming and unfathomable number of aircraft for one many.

With 885 total planes, there are 97 types of aircraft from 190 nations around the globe. Some of which are not countries anymore.

MTN News

Poletto worked for Pan American Airlines as a load master in the 60’s creating a spark for a cabin in the sky.

For Donnelly, his love began with his biological father.

“My dad was in the Air Force, so I grew up around airplanes. So, my earliest memories are my dad taking me out to the to the tarmac out at Malmstrom. And there’s he’s got a picture of me as a three-year-old hugging the landing gear, an F-4 Phantom fighter. And so, I’ve been around airplanes all my life today.”

As much as his love for planes began at a young age, Ben doesn’t call himself a model builder. He is a historian by trade and his vast knowledge of each aircraft in the collection is documented.

The collection grew and others donated to it, time began to fade for his stepfather.

MTN News

Poletto built his final aircraft model in 2008 and five years later he passed away, leaving the collection to his stepson, Benjamin.

“It means a lot to me to be able to continue on their legacy of that. I mean, I may not be a model builder myself, but I can at

Over the summer last year I took my daughters out to Bong State Recreation Area in Wisconsin. The massive park offers miles and miles of walking and riding trails, large camping areas, a place to ride your dirt bike, and even a model rocketry range. During my stay I was reminded that it was once an Air Force base, and that it’s named after Richard “Dick” Ira Bong, the United States’ top ace of World War II. Active from 1941-1945, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions over the Pacific. By the end of the war, and before his untimely death as a test pilot for one of our country’s first combat jet aircraft, he was credited with 40 air-to-air kills.

As a thank-you for the trip and the brief history lesson, my daughters got me a model of his airplane — the P-38J, perhaps the best airplane of WWII and, incidentally, one of the very latest designs by Japanese model-maker Tamiya. It was even made in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and The Richard I. Bong Center.

I was touched, honestly, but also a bit overwhelmed. I haven’t built or painted a model airplane since I was 12 — although I have spent the past several years getting back into the hobby of painting Warhammer 40,000 miniatures. Once I dove in, I found that taking some time off to create something completely different was refreshing — and educational. I ended up devouring hours of YouTube tutorials and fan-made guides along the way, as well.

So here’s what good old Dick Bong’s twin-boomed warbird taught me about Space Marines — and the people who love them.

Model planes get way more expensive than 40K

Turns out that while 40K is considered an expensive hobby, scale modeling can