While the disassembled aircraft might not mean a whole lot to some, it’s significance in Bartholomew County — and American — history is greater than the sum of its parts.
Over the past few months, volunteers have worked on restoring a C-119 at Columbus Municipal Airport. The planes, known as “Flying Boxcars” were flown out of Columbus from 1957 to 1969 — longer than any other aircraft dating back to when the base opened in 1943.
Fifty-one years ago, 36 of the planes were worked on by full-timers and reservists at Bakalar Air Force Base. In 1969 the 71st Special Operations Squadron was activated out of Columbus and sent to Nha Trang Air Force Base in Vietnam. The planes, which were outfitted with mini-guns for attacking enemy soldiers, helped protect U.S. ground troops. All members of the squadron would later return home safe.
Seven reservists with the 71st SOS gathered to share stories and see the plane on Sept. 23. Laughs echoed in the hangar, and a few tears were also shed, as the men looked over the planes that became synonymous with the area.
Some of the men brought their families to show them the aircraft they used to work on, proving that their stories of the planes held up after all these years. Seeing the aircraft helped the veterans put their experiences into perspective.
The project has received support from several groups both inside and out of the area, and rightly so.
Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum purchased the plane for $15,000 in May before the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority helped raise $50,034 to disassemble and transport the plan from Greybull, Wyoming to Columbus. The project also received a $50,00 matching grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places.
A total of 1,151 C-119s were built half a century ago, but only around 40 Flying Boxcars are still around today. Having one back on the campus of the old air base is special, and those that put the project together should be commended for making it happen.
It will take time to fully finish the plane, but volunteers hope to move it outside the airport museum by mid-November at the latest.
The C-119 should provide a source of community pride, and a reminder to the importance of knowing local history. The plane will serve as a symbol of the valor and courage that one was, and the promising future that’s ahead.
