Sam Winefordner swears he heard a choir of angels singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” the first time he stepped inside Jim Smith’s hangar and cast his eyes on the most extraordinary collection of vintage aircraft he had ever seen.

“I was like a kid in a candy store,” Winefordner recalled about that fateful day as he surveyed the impressive collection. “I’ve always been an airplane geek.”

Smith’s private collection — amassed over the past four decades — is now the nonprofit Stonehenge Air Museum, located in the woods near Fortine. Though the museum is open for tours on weekdays, it is on Smith’s private property in a residential neighborhood, and all visits require a reservation.

Winefordner is the museum curator. 

The story of how this Alabama native found his way to Fortine and ultimately to his dream job is one of pure serendipity.

After spending most of his career as a boat captain and scuba-diving instructor in places such as the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, Bermuda and Belize, Winefordner was “looking for a change of scenery” and found Fortine 10 years ago. He started making furniture and picture frames because he needed something to do.

Several years ago he heard an airplane flying overhead that he thought was a P-51 Mustang with a Merlin engine. His curiosity got the best of him and he jumped in his car, followed the plane and stopped at the “No Trespassing” sign on Smith’s property.

As he was gazing upward at the aircraft — which wasn’t a Mustang but rather a British Seafire — Smith’s brother saw him and then introduced him to Smith, a retired inventor whose passion is collecting significant vintage aircraft.

Winefordner, as it turned out, had the perfect set of qualifications to be the caretaker of Smith’s more than two-dozen meticulously preserved aircraft. He has been a licensed pilot since the 1970s. He has a degree in European history. And he had worked at an aviation museum in Alabama at one point in his life.

He couldn’t believe his good fortune of landing in a rural spot not far from a collection that exalted his love of flying and history.

Winefordner made himself available for anything that needed to be done at the hangar, volunteering for any duty just to be among the vintage aircraft.

“I hung around until he put me on the payroll,” Windfordner joked.

With an ample measure of Southern charm and encyclopedic knowledge of historic aircraft, he’s a natural at engaging visitors and regaling them with wonderfully detailed descriptions and stories about each aircraft.

His enthusiasm is contagious, and it begins immediately as museum visitors step into the brand new two-story entrance lobby to the hangar.

More than 400 model airplanes — two private collections donated to Stonehenge Air Museum — are lined up in display cases. Some are signed by some pretty impressive people such as J.H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, Francis “Gabby” Gabreski, Pappy Boyington and Adolf Galland, all of whom made their mark in aviation during World War II.

Along with the model collections, visitors can see several aircraft engines on display and a growing collection of aviation art, including a set of Frank Lemon lithographs.

Suspended from the ceiling in the new lobby is a replica of a 1917 Fokker DR1 — the only replica in Smith’s collection. It’s a bright red triplane that remains one of the most famous airplanes of World War I.

Without hesitation, Winefordner launches into the story of the famous aircraft, how only 320 of the Fokker DR1 triplanes were built, and how after only a brief familiarization flight the “Red Baron” took one up and promptly shot down a British plane “whose crew probably thought the three-winged craft was a friendly Sopwith (an earlier triplane).”

All visitors to Stonehenge Air Museum are required to schedule tours by calling (406) 882-4714 or email StonehengeAirMuseum@gmail.com. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.

Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for seniors 65 and older, military with ID and children 6 to 12. Children under 5 are admitted at no charge. 

For more information and detailed descriptions of the planes on display, go to stonehengeairmuseum.org.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.