A local businessman associated with Vic’s Antiques and Uniques in Edinburgh has bought the nose cone that came with the C-119 “Flying Boxcar” aircraft that the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum had purchased in 2019.
The nose cone, which is 53 inches wide, 63 inches long and 67 inches top to bottom as mounted on the fuselage and weighs less than 80 pounds, was sold earlier this month for $200, said museum president Nick Firestone.
However, the businessman who purchased the nose cone has not responded to numerous requests from The Republic to talk about what his plans are for the discarded aircraft part.
Nose cones are located at the foremost point of an aircraft and are designed to minimize aerodynamic drag. They also often house radar and other equipment that can transmit electronic signals.
The particular nose cone that the museum sold is different than the nose cones that were typically on C-119s when they were stationed in Columbus — and made the aircraft “look a little bit like a porpoise or beluga whale,” said Skip Taylor, C-119 project leader.
In its place, museum volunteers have installed a conventional nose cone that was given to them by officials from March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, California, Taylor said.
The proceeds for the sale will go into the C-119 project fund.
The roughly 38,000-pound plane, which is not airworthy, was taken apart at an airport in Greybull, Wyoming after it was purchased in 2019. The parts — including the iconic fuselage that gave the aircraft its nickname — were loaded onto trucks and driven 1,460 miles to Columbus Municipal Airport. The final pieces of the aircraft arrived last year.
The plane was moved to its display site just south of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft near Columbus Municipal Airport in May.
The Flying Boxcars are of particular historical significance to Columbus, according to museum volunteers.
From 1957 to 1969, 36 C-119s for the 434th Troop Carrier Wing were stationed at Bakalar Air Force Base, which is now Columbus Municipal Airport. The C-119s were a staple in Columbus, flown out of the base longer than any other aircraft.
