Rare KD2R-5 Added To Colorado's Spirit Of Flight Center

For more than 30 years, a Northrop (Radioplane)-built KD2R-5 Shelduck target drone sat on a pole in the dry desert near El Paso, Texas.  It was used as a low budget weather vane at the Horizon Airport (T27), rarely getting attention and rarely attended to.  The Spirit of Flight Center air museum, located at the Erie Municipal airport (KEIK) just north of Denver, had been looking to add a target drone to its collection, and through a tip from a visitor they became aware of the lonely weather vane. 

Several calls and e-mails later, the drone was recovered, taken apart and shipped to Denver.

"The owner of the drone couldn't believe that we wanted it" said Gordon Page, President of the Spirit of Flight Center.  "The first thing he said to me was that it had up to eleven coats of paint on it, weighed a ton, and wouldn't be easy to take apart" added Page.

A month later, Astre Air of Watkins, Colorado did the recovery, disassembly and shipping of the drone.  They immediately called Page to alert him when the drone had arrived and wanted him to come pick it up as soon as possible.

"We had no idea why someone would want a big airplane model that was 14 feet long and weighed over 300 pounds" said John Mulvey, President of Astre Air.  He went on to say "The thing was full of sand and dirt, had a ton of paint on it, and the engine and prop were in terrible shape.  It was also incredibly hard to disassemble after all the years in the desert, and we didn't want to see it anymore after we got it to Denver".

The Spirit of Flight Center knew what they were getting and have now begun to bring the target drone back to life.  "We had been looking for a target drone for the collection for years because we knew that most of the 73,000 built had been destroyed, which was the job of the drone" said Gordon Page.  "We also knew that actress Marilyn Monroe had been discovered in 1944 while building the Radioplane drones, so it would be a neat addition to the Spirit of Flight collection" added Page.

Several museum volunteers have now begun cleaning out dirt, stripping paint, pounding out dents and rebuilding the engine to bring the drone back to the way it looked as it originally came from the factory. Museum officials say the drone should be completed soon and will be taken to Airshows and other public events in the museum's 24-foot mobile air museum.

Museum volunteer and WWII veteran George Meshko of Denver, CO said "That engine on the drone was a bear to take apart and rebuild.  Thirty years of sitting in the desert and ten coats of paint really did a job of seizing things up, but I love working on it!"

Founded in 1998, the non-profit Spirit of Flight Center facility features over 1000 aviation artifacts at its Erie,CO Municipal Airport facility.   The museum counts a rare German Messerschmitt Bf-109, North American P-51 Mustang and a Russian MiG 17 fighter jet in its collection.

FMI: www.spiritofflight.com