Gooney Bird joining the Kansas City Skyline...

[Warbirdnerd]

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.

Found it here:
http://www.kctv5.com/story/16921032/ico ... ty-skyline

[K5DH]

It's a shame to take a flyer and turn it into an advertising gimmick. There must be dozens of non-flyable DC-3s available for this kind of thing. Aren't there 3 or 4 of them sitting on an airfield elsewhere in Missouri?

[Pogmusic]

Communist WEST Berlin? Guns mounted on the left wing.... Wow, great fact checkers!

[slinky]

"Steel bird"??????

[flyingsailor]

Based on what I was told by Danny when he flew with us aboard "FIFI" last year is that this bird was far from airworthy. Might be another example (as pointed out elsewhere) of the fine reporting of the media.

Chris

[The Inspector]

'dropped food to.....'?????? I'd hate to be on the receiving end of sacks of coal booted out of an airplane and that would give a whole new meaning to 'scrambled eggs'.

[dusttinbound]

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.

[The Inspector]

If you can get the aircrafts serial number that would be a great start--------------------------

[kscessnadriver]

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 seem to recall there was a DC-3 at the airport in Ottawa a few years ago when a thunderstorm, with I seem to recall a tornado, hit the airfield there. The DC-3 got drug probably between 1/4 and 1/2 mile from the airfield, out into a field and possibly thru some of those large, round bails of hay.

But that's from my foggy memory of the events of a few years ago. I don't know any more than that, and it's simply speculation at that.

[WallyB]

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.

It's one of the Lee County Mosquito Control fleet recently retired and moved from Fla to Ks. Two are shown in the video and it's hard to make out the N-number visible but it looks like N837M msn 12524.

[The Inspector]

l/n 12524, C-47A-10-DK, 42-92695 then R4D-5 buaerno 17168 then C-47H buaerno 17168. then N 74611 then N 837M, (WFU)

[GARY HILTON]

As stated by the new owner, he bought the Goonie Bird in Fla. It was flown into Ottawa, Ks...... Dodson Aviation used to be in Ottawa, but has moved to Rantoul, Kansas,....right across the street from Bill Dempsey. I can't remember the name of the outfit, in fact it could have been Dodson Av., but a company used to convert the Goonie's from piston to kerosene burners like the fine folks in Oshkosh....

I also agree on using the non-airworty aircraft for static display as much as possible. Yes, there are three in Missouri that Baron Aviation has that would have been perfect for this, as the tornado had driven the landing gear through the wing structure, but that could have been cosmetically fixed....but on the other hand, as much as we all want to see them flying, I know of some warbirds that do a lot of sitting...not because the owners want them to, it just takes a lot of hard earned cash, so don't condemn the new Goonie owner too soon, at least he plans to display it for all to see for some time in the future.