After 35 years, this Wilmington landmark is moving west to a new N.C. city

A long-time Carolina Beach Road landmark has seen its last days in the Port City.

Since the mid-1970s, an airplane on loan from the U.S. Air Force has marked the location of VFW Post 2573, but that all changed when the group sold its building at 2722 Carolina Beach Road last year. Now, the airplane has been taken apart and transported to an American Legion in a town just east of Charlotte.

There, the plane will be reassembled and, hopefully, refurbished, said Lynn Davis, a former commander with Black-Philips American Legion Post 433 in Midland, N.C. It will join three objects that symbolize different branches of the armed forces.

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Currently, Midland’s American Legion has on display a howitzer artillery gun to represent the U.S. Army, a torpedo to represent the U.S. Navy and an anchor to represent the U.S. Coast Guard. The airplane will add U.S. Air Force representation to the collection, Davis said.

“We do this to help community involvement,” he said, “and to show that we are an active military organization representing all branches.”

The quest for a plane

Over a year ago, Davis submitted an application to the U.S. Air Force National Museum in Ohio for a plane. The museum owns all aircraft loaned to veterans organizations for static display. Davis found out his application was approved about eight months ago, he said.

Then came the challenge of finding the money to pay for its disassembly, transport and reassembly in Midland. Davis and other members of the post relied on a GoFundMe campaign and donations to raise the $10,000 estimated cost.

Members of Midland’s American Legion and WarBirds Restorations, the restoration company charged with moving the plane, came down to Wilmington on Feb. 17 to begin taking the plane apart. They then loaded the pieces onto a flatbed truck for the drive to Midland where they are set to be reassembled next week, Davis said.

The group also plans on doing some restoration and upkeep work on the aging plane. That will be completed piece-by-piece as money becomes available, Davis said.

“It’s an old, old plane, but we will do our best,” he said.

A history in Wilmington

The story goes that the T-33 Shooting Star airplane was brought to Wilmington in the early 1970s as part of an air show. After the show, the plane’s engine wouldn’t start, so it was left to sit at Wilmington’s airport for about two years, said Charlie Copeland, a long-time member of VFW Post 2573.

It was then given to the city of Wilmington and put on display in Greenfield Park. After a few years, the city asked the VFW post if they wanted the plane and its then-commander – an Air Force veteran himself – agreed to take it.

“They said we could have it if we could get it out of Greenfield Park,” Copeland said.

Copeland chaired the committee dedicated to the plane’s relocation. He built a towbar that attached to a hitch on his pick-up truck and pulled the plane down Carolina Beach Road early one Saturday morning with a police escort.

“The plane took up both lanes southbound on Carolina Beach Road,” he said, and its wing reached into the nearest northbound lane.

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A sign of change

After years in Greenfield Park, the plane was in bad shape when it got to the post, Copeland said. The canopy covering the cockpit had been torn off, the plane had three flat tires and no rudder.

One day, an Air Force colonel stopped at the VFW and offered to send a maintenance crew down from Virginia to refurbish the plane. The group’s leaders agreed, and in return the man asked for his squadron’s insignia to be painted on the airplane, Copeland said.

After two weeks of maintenance, the plane was placed on three cement pads, remaining there until earlier this month. The VFW sold its building last March after being purchased by a new owner. The building is now being rented to Citizen Studios, a film production nonprofit that plans to open a coffee shop and set space aimed at independent filmmakers in Wilmington.

Thinking about the plane’s departure from Wilmington brought up feelings of nostalgia for Copeland. For Scott Wallace, VFW post 2573 commander, seeing the plane leave Wilmington is just another sign of the area’s growth and change over the years.

“It’s weird to see the changes, for the good or the bad,” he said.

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington's historic Carolina Beach Road plane moved to new N.C. city