Sunday, September 14, 2014

Airplane to be moved to park next weekend: Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport (KBWG), Kentucky

Bowling Green and Warren County streets will become a runway of sorts Sept. 21 as a recently restored airplane is moved to Aviation Heritage Park.

A restored NASA T-38 Talon will be moved from the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, where the restoration was completed and where the airplane was displayed as part of the Aviation Heritage Park annual Hangar Party fundraiser in June.

Moving the plane has been delayed because volunteers were working on completing the restoration of the cockpit of the plane, including some instrumentation, said Jim Wright, Aviation Heritage Park president.

“That’s one of the things that we’re known for at Aviation Heritage Park,” he said.

The plane had to go through a make-safe process where a lot of cockpit elements were removed before it came to Bowling Green, and those needed to be replicated, including an ejector seat, Wright said. The goal was to make the plane look the way it did when it was flying, he said.

The plane is set to leave the airport at 10 p.m. Sept. 21. It will be towed through the rear gate of the airport along Lovers Lane to Scottsville Road, south on Scottsville Road to Three Springs Road and then along Three Springs Road to Aviation Heritage Park, which is located at Basil Griffin Park.

The time of day for the move was selected to prevent disrupting traffic too much, Wright said.

“We try to make the lowest impact to the community as possible,” he said.

The Bowling Green Police Department and Warren County Sheriff’s Office will accompany the plane as it is towed, and some traffic will be stopped or delayed, Wright said.

Moving the plane should take about two hours, he said.

Wright said Aviation Heritage Park officials also are sending out notices to people in neighborhoods along the route to let them know they may be affected.

As the airplane makes its way to the park, some people have been chosen to ride in the cockpit, said Dan Cherry, executive vice president of Aviation Heritage Park. Two of those riders will be Gary Ransdell, president of Western Kentucky University, and Jill Finney, widow of Dave Finney. Other riders have not been finalized.

Dave Finney lived in Logan County for many years and also worked for NASA as director for the administration’s fleet of T-38s. Finney is also set to be honored when the airplane is dedicated, Cherry said.

The airplane will be dedicated at a ceremony Oct. 18, Wright said.

The T-38 was flown by Russellville native Col. Terry Wilcutt and a number of famous astronauts including Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and Alan Shepherd. Wilcutt, a Western Kentucky University graduate, joined NASA in 1991 and made four space shuttle missions, two as a pilot and two as mission commander aboard Atlantis and Endeavour.

It will be the fifth plane on display at Aviation Heritage Park, he said. It will join an F4D Phantom, an F9F Panther, a T-33 Shooting Star and an F111 Aardvark.

There are seven display pads at Aviation Heritage Park. Park officials are next looking to acquire a Vietnam War-era helicopter and another that is similar to the helicopter used by the president, Wright said.

 — Those with questions about the plane route can contact Sandra Pence, executive assistant to the president of the Aviation Heritage Park, at 270-202-7248.


- Source:  http://www.bgdailynews.com

A NASA T-38 Talon was unveiled Saturday, June 14, 2014, during Aviation Heritage Park's Hangar Party at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.
 (Bac To Trong/Daily News)  

A NASA T-38 Talon was unveiled Saturday during Aviation Heritage Park's Hangar Party at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.
 (Bac To Trong/Daily News) 

Joseph Johnson (left) and Luke Johnson, 11, both of Louisville, look at a NASA T-38 Talon that was unveiled Saturday during Aviation Heritage Park's Hangar Party at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport. 
(Bac To Trong/Daily News)

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