Aircorps Aviation celebrates the restoration of 2 World War II-era planes

Maggi Fellerman, The Bemidji Pioneer, Minn.
·2 min read

Jul. 25—BEMIDJI — Aircorps Aviation opened its hangar at the Bemidji Regional Airport last Friday, July 21, for the public to witness two completed planes — A P-51C Thunderbird and P-47 Thunderbolt.

According to Aircorps Aviation Fabrication and Sales Specialist Stefan Hokuf, Friday's open house was held to celebrate the end of an era, but also the start of a new one.

"We're here to celebrate the finish and completion of these two World War II aircraft as we prepare them to travel over to Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin," Hokuf said. "Our company has been working on restoring these aircraft for the last several or many years. We are really proud to be able to show the community what we've accomplished."

A whole slew of different teams worked together to restore these historic planes, including Computer-Aided Design teams, fabrication teams, assembly teams and the mechanics that make it run — but everyone's goal is the same.

"It's really about the legacy of World War II and honoring the Americans that not only flew these airplanes in combat, but the massive amount of Americans who put the airplanes together," Hokuf said. "We just want to tell that story and honor our veterans."

During Friday's event, community members were invited to learn about their history, grab a bite to eat from a food truck and spark up conversations with other plane and history enthusiasts. Attendees even got to witness the planes take flight.

Next, the two planes will fly over to Wisconsin to be entered in an Airventure event, where planes of all kinds gather from all over the world and competitions are held for restoration efforts.

Hokuf said specifically WWII aircraft will be competing with one another. A team of judges looks at the authenticity and replication of the aircraft to determine which one wins.

"Our goal is to show what we can do and ultimately try to win in our work and we're really proud of what we do, especially when we finish an aircraft," Hokuf said. "We have a lot of local people who work here so it's really fun for this opportunity to put the aircraft on display and share it with the larger community."