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Airport’s
plane is symbol of freedom
By TONY SAILER
Staff Writer, Brainerd Daily Dispatch
To some it’s just a plane sitting on a pedestal
at the entrance of the Brainerd-Crow Wing County
Airport.
To others it’s a symbol of our country’s
freedom.
The unique aspect about the Marine jet is that
it is the only plane in the country, and
possibly the world, that swivels and points its
nose into the wind. But getting the plane to
Brainerd and the history behind the jet is a
story in itself.
Getting permission to obtain the plane was no
problem. It came free of charge as long as it
was to be placed on public property for public
display. Getting it to Brainerd caused a few
problems, however, but all were solved with a
little American ingenuity.
Dick Dean, of Dean’s Towing, was called on to
pick the plane up at Virginia Beach Naval Air
Station in Virginia. Although he was told it
couldn’t be taken apart and transported by
truck, he felt it could be done and took off to
Virginia to pick it up. The plane had hydraulic
wings used for aircraft carrier transport, but
Dean got it broken down and loaded onto a
low-boy gooseneck trailer for delivery back to
Brainerd.
The plane is a Grumman Marine F9F Fighter, first
developed in the early 1950s. The particular
model at the airport is a swept wing, according
to Tom Dunlap of Brainerd, who flew the F9F in
the ‘50s and ‘60s. He said the straight wing
Panther model was used during the Korean War.
“The true air speed of the jet was about 420
knots (485 m.p.h.) but it could go faster,”
Dunlap said. “It wasn’t a supersonic jet, but it
could break the speed of sound if it was taken
up to about 35,000 feet and nose dived. The
plane was considered fast in its day, but is
considered slow by today’s standards.
“The unique thing about the plane is that it had
a back-up for the back-up system, meaning that
if the emergency back-up system failed, another
system could be implemented to get the plane
back down to the ground. It was also the first
plane designed to eject the pilot through the
canopy if the plane had to be aborted.”
Dunlap was in the Marine Corp for more than 20
years and spent most of the time flying jets,
although he flew a helicopter in the Vietnam
War. “The plane was used as a combat fighter in
its early years,” he said, “but served a dual
role during the Korean Was as a fighter and an
attack plane. As a fighter, it had four 20
millimeter cannons built into its nose, but as
an attack plane, bomb racks and rocket rails
were added to it. Later a system was implemented
to allow the plane to be refueled in flight.”
Now retired, Dunlap said it was “a very
forgiving plane. It had no hidden tricks and it
wouldn’t ‘bite’ you when the going got tough. It
was an honest aircraft.”
Bringing the plane from Virginia to Minnesota
caused a lot of problems. Because it was 14’ 6”
in height and 11 feet wide loaded, Dean had to
reroute much of his trip because some states
wouldn’t allow it on their highways. “Along the
way I had to take different routes because the
load wouldn’t fit under bridges,” Dean
remembered. “Some times I actually scraped the
bottom of underpasses, but we made it.”
Dean thought it would be great if the plane
would be able to rotate in the wind once
erected. At first the airport commission denied
that request because it had never been done,
Dean said. “John Riedl Sr. advised the
commissioners to allow me to give it a shot, but
I would have to do it all at my own expense.”
To mount the plane allowing it freedom of
movement, a special bearing had to be made and
predetermined fitting had to be constructed. The
bearing used weighed 2,400 pounds, according to
Dean. The plane was lifted by a crane and stood
on its edge and a pipe was welded into the
bottom of the plane which would act as the
recipient to the main pipe sunk into the ground.
“There are no bolts or welding holding the two
pipes together. It can be lifted right off the
main pedestal.” The total weight of the bearing
and base adds 3,000 pounds to the plane which in
itself weighs about 10,000 pounds.
It takes about a five or ten mile per hour wind
to turn the nose of the plane into the wind but
the actual movement of the plane is hard to
detect because winds normally change gradually.
“The plane doesn’t help pilots judge the wind
direction when they come in for a landing,” said
John Riedl Sr. “The pilots use radios and the
wind socks located near the landing strips for
landing.”
Riedl said the plane is completely stripped of
instruments and guns and is basically only the
shell of the original plane. At one time
thoughts of lighting it with landing lights was
discussed, but it was felt that it may cause
unnecessary problems at night with a highway so
near to the plane.
A close look at the plane shows a steel cable
hanging from the end of the plane. “I put that
on myself,’ Dean said. “By hooking it and
turning the plane away from the wind direction,
I can actually see it turn back into the wind.”
Why did Dean become so interested in the plane
and want it to be fitted onto a swivel? “I
thought of the people who have died fighting for
America and wanted it to represent the freedom
of our country. If it was fixed in place, the
plane wouldn’t have its freedom. By mounting it
so the plane had mobility, it had the freedom to
turn, like we do.” |
