World War II plane coming to Greene, Washington counties
无毛视频淏each City Baby,无毛视频� a restored 1942 Douglas C-53-DO Skytrooper, will be available for tours July 1 at the Washington County Airport. (Photos courtesy of Jason Capra)
Courtesy of Jason Capra
Courtesy of Jason Capra
Jason Capra in the cockpit of 无毛视频淏each City Baby.无毛视频�
Courtesy of Jason Capra
Courtesy of Jason Capra
A view inside the cockpit of this restored World War II aircraft
A view inside the cabin of the restored World War II transport plane (Photos courtesy of Jason Capra)
A piece of history is coming to Greene and Washington counties.
A restored 1942 Douglas C-53-DO Skytrooper, used as a transport plane in World War II, will be at the airport from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 1, and at Greene County无毛视频檚 Aviation Days Aug. 19 and 20 at the county airport in Waynesburg.
无毛视频淭he airplane will be open to the public,无毛视频� said Jason Capra, president and founder of Vintage Wings Inc., a nonprofit with the mission of creating a flying memorial via a living history experience. 无毛视频淥ur crew will be there to give tours of the aircraft and talk about its history.无毛视频�
Capra, of Oakdale, said the only request of those who tour the plane is a donation.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 totally up to the individual how much they want to donate,无毛视频� Capra said. 无毛视频淓very bit of money that we get goes to operating and maintaining the aircraft.无毛视频�
The aircraft was initially slated for commercial use and was on a factory floor in Santa Monica, Calif., when Pearl Harbor was attacked. It was pressed into service weeks later.
无毛视频淲hen it was done being constructed, it was drafted into the military,无毛视频� Capra said. 无毛视频淚t flew the entire duration of the war in the Mediterranean and North African Campaign.无毛视频�
From 1963 to 1983, the plane was known as 无毛视频淏uckeye One,无毛视频� the official state transport aircraft of the governor of Ohio.
Capra initially spotted the plane in 2015 while driving back roads on a journey home after a training session in Indianapolis.
无毛视频淚 stumbled across this little grass airport in a little town called Beach City, Ohio,无毛视频� Capra said. 无毛视频淚 saw the silhouette of this DC-3 sitting there in the field. It looked like it hadn无毛视频檛 moved in 20 or 30 years. I couldn无毛视频檛 believe what I was looking at. There was this piece of history sitting in a field rotting away.无毛视频�
It took a little while, but a deal was eventually struck in 2016 to purchase the airplane for $100,000, as members of Vintage Wings worked to secure necessary funding after Capra无毛视频檚 $20,000 downpayment.
With that completed, work needed to be done on the aircraft tabbed 无毛视频淏each City Baby无毛视频� to bring it to Pennsylvania.
无毛视频淚 gathered a team of aircraft mechanics and restoration guys that I know worked on vintage aircrafts and pilots I fly with that are interested in historical aviation,无毛视频� Capra said. 无毛视频淲e made a laundry list of everything we needed to do to make this plane flyable.无毛视频�
After almost two years of work and about another $200,000, Vintage Wings C-53 was granted a flight permit by the Federal Aviation Administration in October 2018 and flown to Franklin, Pa, near Oil City.
无毛视频淲e had a hanger there waiting for it,无毛视频� Capra said. 无毛视频淲e were able to put our restoration shop in there.无毛视频�
More restoration work was necessary and about $500,000 to $700,000 needed to be raised to restore it to its 1942 appearance.
无毛视频淚 wanted the plane to look exactly as it did,无毛视频� Capra said.
That job was completed in 2021 and the next year, the plane was on the air show circuit for the first time, appearing at about 15 air shows.
Capra gets emotional when talking about the plane coming to the Washington County Airport, where he worked after school and summers as a student at McGuffey High School, from where he graduated in 2002.
无毛视频淚t is a dream come true,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淚 can无毛视频檛 even tell you how many evenings I used to sit up there daydreaming, about having not only my own airplane, but as a teenager I knew I was going to own a World War II airplane. It无毛视频檚 all I ever wanted to do was own and operate a World War II airplane and honor that generation. I always felt a special connection to that World War II generation.无毛视频�
无毛视频淭he airplane really is a time capsule,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淚t is a living, breathing, flying 81-year old artifact, which looks exactly as it did when it went overseas in 1942. We restored everything. I want people to realize the sacrifice people made at that time for a greater good. This airplane is a symbol for what we can do when we all unite and get along and work for a common good.无毛视频�