From the Wednesday edition of the Florida Today...
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 7708010310
C-123 repairs continue
Air America plane gets spare parts
BY LYN DOWLING
FOR FLORIDA TODAY
TITUSVILLE -- - The C-123 Provider aircraft undergoing refurbishment by the Air America Foundation at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum is looking less like a lumbering hulk and more like the plane its owners hope it will become.
With a little more money and a few more volunteers, it could happen sooner, rather than later, said foundation president Paul Vasconi, who has worked to restore the former Air Force and Air America cargo craft at Space Coast Regional Airport since the beginning of the decade.
"We're still struggling for money and it's hot, but we're still moving ahead, slowly but surely," said Vasconi, a resident of Palm Bay, and a chiropractor in Melbourne. "We're still in discussions with people about support, and people still show up to help on weekends."
The C-123, a 34-feet-high, 33,000-pound aircraft with a 110-foot wingspan, stood derelict for years at the airport before becoming the Air America Foundation's major project: a fully functional, flying museum and classroom.
It will be dedicated to telling the story of the people of Air America, a covert, CIA-operated passenger and cargo airline that operated from the Korean War through Vietnam War eras, foundation officials say.
Originally in the Air Force inventory, it was based in Panama and later was used in special operations in Southeast Asia before going to a Pennsylvania-based reserve unit. Taken out of storage in the 1980s, Provider 54-674 flew covert missions during the Iran-Contra operations in Central America.
The non-human star of the motion picture "Double Cross," the plane eventually was flown to Titusville, where it became a landmark of sorts, slated for demolition by the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority before the Air America Foundation saved it.
Volunteers from throughout Brevard County worked on it at locations west of the airport's main terminal, before it was towed to the Valiant Air Command facility early last year.
Volunteer Lyle Barney said the Provider, "was just standing there in the weeds" when he first went to Titusville to work on it.
"The soles of my boots would be full of sand spurs when I came home, but we moved it once and then again, and finally to this area," he said. "We are making progress."
The aircraft recently was renamed "Big Lou" in honor of Cocoa resident Lou Comeau, a longtime volunteer with the Air America Foundation who died in June.
The organization continues to seek serviceable parts for the Provider, including main fuel tanks, and recently found tires for it in Pittsburgh.
Volunteers now are working on various projects, such as wiring and engine-related repairs and/or installation.
"We just started doing cockpit (refurbishment), which is a huge project," Vasconi said. "How long it will take, we can't say because it all is related to fundraising. We estimate that with $50,000 to $75,000, we can have the aircraft flying in a year."
Vasconi said the foundation continues to be grateful to the Valiant Air Command, "which has been so helpful to us."
For information about the Air America Foundation, a Florida-based, nonprofit tax-exempt organization, call 725-4043 or go to
www.airamfoundation.org.
For information about the Valiant Air Command, call 268-1941 or go to
www.vacwarbirds.org