Fantasy of Flight is the realized vision of Kermit Weeks, a lifelong aviation enthusiast and an aerobatics champion. Weeks, who grew up in Florida, became enthralled with aircraft in his youth and by his teens had become involved in aircraft restoration and construction.

In 1973, at age 20 and while working toward a degree in aeronautical engineering, Weeks took to the skies in aerobatics competition -- just a year after obtaining his pilot license. Over the next decade, he would win the U.S. National Aerobatics Championship twice and land 20 medals in world competition, including placement in the top three overall five times.

Weeks began acquiring vintage aircraft in the late 1970s and by the early 1980s was displaying what already was becoming one of the largest collections in the world. He first showed his collection at the Weeks Air Museum in Miami, but, needing a bigger place for the collection as well as a body of water for his seaplanes, he moved to Polk City and a nearby lake. Fantasy of Flight opened in 1995.

Aircraft on display -- amazingly just a fraction of Weeks' collection -- include: detailed replicas of the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk and Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis; several World War II-era bombers, and, the showcase piece, a Short Sunderland seaplane used by the Royal Air Force out of Belfast in the 1940s as anti-submarine patrol. Like most planes at Fantasy of Flight, the Sunderland still flies.

"One of the many parts of our museum that sets it apart from the rest is 97 percent of it still flies," says Chris Weatherington, a museum official. "If it doesn't, we have a restoration shop on site. The Wright flyer is one of the most exact replicas and has flying time. It was built by one of our restorers here. The Spirit of St. Louis replica (the original's in the Smithsonian) was built from scratch."

The museum features: Vintage aircraft, nearly all of which flies; simulations that create the feeling of actually flying in aircraft and combat missions; video and sensory view of a how a paratrooper's pre-jump would feel from a C-47; and footage from a live bombing aboard a B-17. In another area, visitors sense the sights and sounds of World War I soldiers in trenches as early combat planes fly overhead.

In Fightertown, the visitor takes the controls for simulated combat missions. Fightertown is replete with a pre-combat briefing before the visitor climbs aboard a cockpit and takes the controls for a computerized fighting mission. As one staffer in Fightertown notes, "Some of these younger Sega players can put us gray-headed fellas to shame."

The price of Fantasy of Flight admission entitles the bearer to as many rides as they wish aboard the Great Balloon Experience, a tethered balloon that lifts as many as 25 passengers 500 feet above the Fantasy of Flight site. Ultralight introductory flying lessons, meanwhile, cost extra and are subject to certain restrictions.

Fantasy of Flight is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission is $21.95 for ages 13 and older, $19.95 for seniors 60 and over, $10.95 for children ages 5-12, and free to children 4 and under. Phone: (941) 984-3500. Web: http://www.fantasyofflight.com