LOCAL MEN SET-UP ROCKEFELLER PLAZA AIRCRAFT DISPLAY The Centennial of Powered Flight – the 100-year anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ First Flight on December 17, 1903, is being celebrated in manyways all over the world this year. Right now, in New York City, a specialexhibit has been set up in Rockefeller Plaza for three weeks, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Pentagon Office for the Centennial of Flight and Rockefeller Center. If you’re a morning TV person and you watch closely on NBC’s "Today" show you might even catch a glimpse of the airplanes when the camera pans around the crowd waving to the folks back home. They’re set up right above the ice skating rink under the flags and pennants. A group of eight men from Florida, California and Michigan converged on Dover Air Force Base in Dover, DE in late July as part of this spectacle. Their task was to disassemble a P-51 Mustang and an F-16 Falcon, load them on a flatbed truck for transport to New York City, then meet the truck at Rockefeller Plaza and reassemble the two planes and put them on display. These two aircraft are the property of the Dover Air Force Base Air Mobility Command Museum. The project coordinator was Charles "Chuck" Mosely, a resident of Love’s Landing in Weirsdale. Also on the team were Dick Krause, Herb Clark, and Ray Brown, also from Weirsdale, Sean Mahany from Sanford, John Macon from Michigan, and Denny Parmer and Lynn Hunt from California. Mosely and some of the men on the team have disassembled, moved, and reassembled large aircraft in the past, but this was the first time this particular team worked together. This was also the first time it was such a high-visibility project and one on such a short timetable. Normally, the aircraft only need to be moved once; this time there was a narrow window – the aircraft needed to be in place for the exhibit’s grand opening on July 28, then had to be back off the premises in three weeks. And it was necessary for the work in New York to be accomplished at night so as not to interfere with the business going on in Rockefeller Plaza (such as the "Today" show)! The exhibit is almost a museum in itself. On display with the Mustang and the Falcon are replicas of DaVinci and Wright flyers, two World War II aircraft (a Fokker and a Deperdussin), an AV-8A Harrier jump jet from the USS Intrepid, a Predator remote-piloted reconnaissance airplane, a Redstone Rocket with a Mercury Capsule on top, a lunar module and a moon rover. General Electric has a large engine display and the Federal Aviation Administration has a mock control tower, complete with air traffic controllers! There are also video halls and other narrative displays. Interesting, eh? Be sure to watch for the planes on TV right away though. Early next week the gang will get back together and will repeat the process, but in reverse. This time they will start disassembling the planes in the dark of night in NYC, returning them to their former residence at Dover Air Force Base by the end of the week. Quite an amazing feat! Congratulations to Mosely and his team for a job well done! |
| WINGS ‘N THINGS by Judie Betz Ocala Star Banner August 13, 2003 |
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