Reviving history usually isn’t cheap.
One day after several hundred pieces of a C-119 “Flying Boxcar” arrived at the Columbus Municipal Airport, the city’s Board of Aviation Commissioners approved a $15,000 stipend to the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum for the aircraft’s restoration.
Obtained and disassembled earlier this year at a Greybull, Wyoming airport, the 40,000-pound aircraft was transported about 1,500 miles to a Columbus airport storage facility, where it will be reassembled and restored.
While this particular aircraft will never again be airworthy, the “Flying Boxcar” should appear in pristine condition when it is put on permanent display south of the long-exhibited McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft, museum officials say.
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Several museum members have been actively engaged in fundraising for the restoration project, according to Skip Taylor, a museum member who is leading the C-119 project.
“But we just needed a little more money,” Taylor said.
The $15,000 will help pay for costs to date and projected future expenses, Taylor said. In addition, the museum is setting aside money for unexpected costs.
Two significant parts of the C-119 have not yet been transported to Columbus — the fuselage and the wing box, which essentially serves as the spine of the plane, Taylor said. He’s hopeful that those two parts can be transported either late this month or in April.
Also on Tuesday, the Board of Aviation voted to provide the museum $16,500 to assist in covering their operating expenses, museum treasurer Brian Blavat said. The museum has received about the same amount from the board annually over the past six years, he said.
“The Aviation board has always been, and remains generous to the museum,” Taylor said.
Located at 4742 Ray Boll Blvd., the museum attracts several thousand visitors to Columbus every year. While there is no admission charge, the organization supplements their income with membership dues, donations and profits from their gift shop, Blavat said.
Those familiar with historic military aircraft likely know he C-119 was in service with the U.S. Air Force from 1947 to 1972, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients and mechanized equipment.
But most don’t realize the Flying Boxcars are also a significant part of Bartholomew County history, going back to the era when Bakalar Air Force Base (1942-1970) was located where the airport now stands.
During the 12 years before the military base closed, there were three dozen C-119s stationed at Bakalar. During that time, Columbus residents saw more Flying Boxcars flying above their heads than any other aircraft.
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In May 2019, the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum launched a fundraising campaign to bring a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar aircraft to Columbus. That same month, the museum purchased such a plane for $15,000 from a source in Wyoming.
While museum members were able to raise $50,034 to disassemble and transport the plane to Columbus, the organization also received a $50,000 matching grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places program, the state’s crowdfunding grant program.
Current and future fundraising has been broken down into three phases. Phase 1 will be completed when two remaining sections of the plan are transported to Columbus. Phase 2 encompasses the reassembly and restoration of the aircraft, and Phase 3 is site preparation and positioning the aircraft for display on the site across from the museum.
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