“Forgotten Hollywood”- It’s a Wonderful Plane…
Manny P. here…
“`Five years after saving it from a scrap dealer, a group of aviation enthusiasts have finished restoring James Stewart’s personal airplane, and put it on display outside the terminal of the airfield named in his honor. This project was approved by members of the boards of directors of both the James M. Stewart Museum Foundation and the Indiana County Jimmy Stewart Airport.
“`Stewart, a combat pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve, bought the brand new plane in 1961 and piloted his wife and kids in their travels around the nation. Ultimately, the plane was mothballed, but as a common and popular model for private aviation, it remained in storage for years.
“`Folks in Texas traced the ownership to the film star and dialed up politicos in Indiana on the hunch that someone in Stewart’s hometown might be interested. Research confirmed that this was definitely Stewart’s craft. The wings were detached and trucked to Indiana. The paint was stripped and redone it to 1961 standards. It has not had a mechanical do-over. It does not fly. But it certainly has the look.
“`This airplane sits above the ground, and it appears to be hovering and looking for a landing spot. The pedestal itself weighs as much as the plane.
“`As a tribute to Stewart, the group later will hold a formal dedication ceremony. This exhibit should be a tourist draw for Indiana County.
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“`Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History is available as an e-book at the Oceanside Public Library. This is part of the Indie California network of libraries making self-published works available across the nation.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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