Lady Liberty Limped In For A Landing In What Looked Like A Scene From A World War II Movie

Last month while the Lady Liberty was on route to Hutchinson, KS to attend an air show, she suffered a left engine failure. The whole town was witness to the Lady’s approach to the Hutchinson airport with the left side smoking profusely as if she were returning from a combat mission.

The engine was a total loss, but the aircraft landed unharmed other than the badly damaged engine. Now the sponsor group is faced with installing a new or serviceable engine to be able to return home and to continue air show service. Lady Liberty has several air shows scheduled for the 2014 summer season, but the cost of a new engine is threatening to cancel her attendance at all these events.

The Lady Liberty is a Douglas Aircraft Company A26-B “Invader” which was manufactured in 1944 and saw combat against the Third Reich during WWII. She is the oldest flying A26 today. Other models of the A26 saw action in the Korean conflict and in Vietnam.

The Lady Liberty has a quite colorful history ranging from flying radar research and firebombing before moving to the dark side as a drug runner, and later joining the good guys in drug interdiction work. Finally, the Lady settled down and was donated to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) to be cared for and operated by volunteers in several states. She is currently the centerpiece of the Lady Liberty Sponsor Group of Enid, OK.

The aircraft is always on display in her WWII era hangar where a complete complement of maintenance equipment and tooling are at her mechanics’ disposal. Lady Liberty is the focus of many school field trips where students learn of earlier times when the nation depended on these aircraft and the men who flew them for the survival of our nation.

Donors, Sponsors, and Benefactors are helping to raise the $60,000 to replace the engine and get Lady Liberty back into the air doing her work. The sponsor group has mechanics, tools, and equipment necessary to get the job done to return her to flight status, but donations are needed from people who understand the importance of the mission of the Lady Liberty and are willing to help in the efforts to get Lady Liberty flying again.

All donations to help Lady Liberty will go to the returning of the aircraft to flying status as quickly as possible

(Image provided by Lady Liberty Sponsors)

FMI: www.a26ladyliberty.com