Fighter jet finds home at Heritage

U.S Air Force F4 Phantom II, tail number 550: Weight, 10 tons; length, 58 feet; wingspan, 38 feet; altitude, 0 feet; top speed, 2 mph.

The fighter plane in which retired Brig. Gen. Dan Cherry of Bowling Green, then a U.S. Air Force pilot, shot down a North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter plane southwest of Hanoi on April 17, 1972, will make one more ground-level, walking-speed journey to its permanent display site at the new Aviation Heritage Park on Three Springs Road. That trip is scheduled for late Sunday night and early Monday morning, requiring a procession of vehicles and temporary closing of local roads.

Tuesday morning, Cherry directed a meeting of 17 members of the &#8220Move Phantom 550 Task Force,” representing BellSouth, Insight Communications, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, city Public Works, Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, Bowling Green Police Department and Warren County Sheriff’s Office, to go over the logistics of moving the plane from its current site next to the airport terminal to the new park.

The plane will be pulled into the first display site of the new Aviation Heritage Park, at the front of the county’s Basil Griffin Park, and parked on concrete footers, Cherry said. The gravel drive into the park still needs to be smoothed and packed to bear the weight, he said.

&#8220The ground, fortunately, is hard as a brick,” Cherry said. &#8220I think it’ll roll just fine across that sodded area.”

So far, the weather forecast calls for dry conditions, but a last weather check will be made at noon Sunday, and a heavy rain could cancel the trip, he said.

If all goes as planned, the procession will start at 11:30 p.m. and creep toward the intersection of Lovers Lane and Scottsville Road, arriving there around midnight, Cherry said. It will continue down Scottsville Road, turning onto Three Springs Road, a total distance of about three miles, he said.

&#8220My best estimate is, it’ll take us two to two and a half hours to get there,” Cherry said.

The plan is to travel in a convoy, headed by a city police car, then a tractor pulling the plane itself, a Bowling Green Municipal Utilities bucket truck, two airport vehicles, a backup tractor and then a deputy sheriff. The route has already been inspected, but even so the plane will be shepherded by six walkers with flashlights – including Cherry – looking out for obstructions such as signs and low-hanging wires. So far, it appears that only one mailbox will have to be temporarily removed, he said.

Since the tractors are unlicensed vehicles, the group is seeking a parade permit from the state to legally use the roads, said Scott Pedigo, the transportation cabinet’s branch manager for traffic, District 3 office.

Three city police and two sheriff’s cars will complete the escort, closing intersections in advance of the procession, according to Capt. Glenn Bratcher, BGPD. That will require closing the outbound side of Scottsville Road, and blocking off Three Springs Road entirely, he said. Three Springs will be closed at its intersection with Smallhouse Road, but the movers will still have to watch out for people pulling out of the residential side-streets along Three Springs, Bratcher said.

Pedigo said they’d also have to plan ahead for dealing with any tractor-trailers making night deliveries on Lovers Lane, such as to Fruit of the Loom.

The Phantom 550 was found in poor condition outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Ohio, from which the Air Force agreed to permanently loan it to the Aviation Heritage Park. Volunteers have restored its interior and original paint, and it will be the park’s first exhibit.

Plans call for displays of aircraft associated with people who had a connection to Bowling Green, Warren County or Western Kentucky University. The aircraft will be displayed around a circular plaza. The park is expected to cost about $475,000 altogether.

For more information, visit http://www.aviationheritagepark.com.