WWII-era planes damaged in high monsoon winds that swept through Mesa's Falcon Field
MESA, Ariz. - The East Valley was hit especially hard during Tuesday's monsoon, and Falcon Field in Mesa sustained heavy losses as dozens of planes were damaged.
Some of the World War II-era planes will be tough to fix.
The trees, the hangars, and the planes are nearly eighty years old. They all sustained heavy damage when a storm ripped through Falcon Field Airport in Mesa with pounding rain, and relentless wind.
"This is a historic building in and of itself," said Scott Andrews, President of the Falcon Warbirds Foundation. "Built in 1941 for the war effort in World War II. It survived all these years only to sustain this damage from Mother Nature."
The Warbirds fly many of these planes for veteran funerals and for missing man memorial flights. Inside one of the hangars, they have WWII-era planes worth about $4 million.
A 1940s T-6 plane sustained the most damage when the wind blew down a hangar door, crashing it into the historic plane.
Getting the parts for such an old plane is tough.
Phoenix area monsoons left destruction in its wake
A round of monsoon weather on the night of Sept. 12 definitely made its presence felt in the Phoenix area, with various places seeing heavy wind and rain. The storm caused a lot of damage in various parts of the Valley, including at Mesa's Falcon Field. FOX 10 has team coverage on the powerful storm.
READ MORE: Monsoon rips through Falcon Field Airport, flipping planes, damaging buildings
"No longer manufactured and parts become harder to get and keep them operational," Andrews said. "It gets quite expensive."
But, they have their sights set on rebuilding and plan to continue supporting veterans, helping them soar for years to come.
The Falcon Warbirds Foundation is looking for donations to help cover the cost of repairs, and you can find more information on how to help here.
‘Bunch of debris everywhere’
After running for safety inside, Jayden Long, a civil air patrol, started recording the storm slowly entering their building at Falcon Field in Mesa.
"Windows started shaking. Our building right there is solid brick solid concrete and that was even shaking," Long said.
Once it cleared, he saw the damage. The roof of the hangar was gone.
"It was weird seeing pieces of metal pieces of an entire hangar building just thrown off," Long said.
Just to the north are three Cessna planes that now form a ball of mangled debris.
"They’re all chained down in three different positions of the plane. To get lift, you need more than 60 miles per hour winds so of course the winds were hitting harder than 60 miles per hour," Gilbert Medina with Leopard Aviation said.
All their chains snapped.
The drive in for Russ Ary with Precision Heli-Support was shocking.
"Just saw a bunch of debris everywhere, and I wondered where it all came from. I looked to the right, and it was our hangar, so everything on the ground is our hangar," he said.
Inside, multiple planes and helicopters were damaged.
But, then insult to injury.
"The rain we got this morning made it even worse," Ary said.
There used to be four 30-foot-tall hangar doors. Only one remains. Another was found hundreds of yards away wrapped into another hangar.
"I’m surprised the weather in Arizona decided to throw us this curve ball," Long said.