Warbird Information Exchange

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
A symbol of success and possibility will soon be seen by millions of people driving into downtown, and the history behind the steel bird is fascinating.

It sits outside at a small airport near Ottawa, KS. The DC-3, retired now after 70 years of service, is ready to be stripped, sealed and repainted before its next mission.

The plane was built in 1943, and it didn't actually see action in World War II, but it did participate in the Berlin airlift in 1949.

That was when American soldiers dropped food and supplies for residents trapped in Communist West Berlin.

It was a military plane and sometime in the 50s it transferred over to civilian ownership, and it is as cool today as it was in 1930.

Danny O'Neill owns the Roasterie Coffee Company and the DC-3 is on his logo, a timeless symbol of possibility and adventure.

The DC-3 was developed in the 1930s for TWA and was the first plane to haul passengers for profit. Coffee countries around the world used DC-3's to haul coffee beans. And during Vietnam, the military put Gatling guns on the left wings and rained down bullets on the Viet Cong.

The Vietnamese called it fire from heaven, they called it the dragon.

O'Neill found this DC-3 in Florida being used to drop mosquito spray on fields in Florida - still going strong after seven decades in the air.

"The handles and seats are worn, the thousands of hours that it has served and everybody who has flown in it. I just think about that," said Danny O'Neill.

And now this weathered plane will make a permanent landing in a part of town full of history perched on the new Roasterie building rising up at 27th Street and Southwest Boulevard near Interstate 35.

But the plane weighs about 16,000 pounds. So how will they get it to stay up there?

O'Neill said the structural engineer he hired figured it out within a few minutes while riding in the back of a car, and he has the numbers to prove it will work.

He was actually dead on just using a slide ruler, a calculator and a pencil.

The plane will be fastened to a runway of sorts, sit 75 feet above the ground, and its wings will be clipped so it won't fly away.

"It is going to be anchored securely, but it is still going to be elegant, it is going to look like it is in flight," said O'Neill. "It is absolutely going to be iconic, I don't think you'll be able to come into Kansas City and go by downtown without seeing it."

O'Neill is painting the plane silver, and he hopes it's ready by the end of July.

That is when they will tow the plane down I-35 in the dead of night, and then put it up on their new building.

I am a friend of the other owner's daughter and will see if I can find out more info on this particular plane. What I can tell you is that this plane is most likely out of Dodson Aviation (aircraft salvage) fleet and could very well be a non-flyer. Dodson stores some of the aircraft that are either being scrapped or trying to bring back into service at Ottawa. The only thing that I have a problem with is I am not sure how well you will be able to see the plane from I-35. That part of the highway going into downtown KC is curvy and has some hills so it might be difficult to see it. As for the Roasterie Coffee I do know that they sponsor a lot of thing in KC and do a lot of stuff with the Airline History Museum.

I am a friend of the other owner's daughter and will see if I can find out more info on this particular plane. What I can tell you is that this plane is most likely out of Dodson Aviation (aircraft salvage) fleet and could very well be a non-flyer.