Historic Wissler airplane prepped for installation at museum
After nearly three years of restoration and fabricating missing pieces, a group of volunteers began the final assembly of a historic airplane Thursday.
HOME PAGE SLIDE SHOW PHOTO: Volunteer Brian Baker, left, steadies the wings of a WA-6 airplane as Dwight Hansen, right, Terry Conley and George Wackerman attach wooden supports Thursday at the Logan County History Center are part of the original fuselage likely above the Wissler Dry Goods store at 110 S. Main St. The plane, built by Clarence Wissler in 1922 and restored and rebuilt by local volunteers over the past three years, will be on display during a Sunday, Jan. 15, open house before being hoisted to its permanent perch above the atrium of the transportation wing of the museum the following week. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES)
The WA-6 aircraft originally was built by local aviation mechanic Clarence Wissler in 1922, likely on the upper levels of the 110 S. Main St. Wissler Dry Goods Store.
The Logan County History Center will host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, before the 600-pound aircraft is hoisted to its permanent display location about 30 feet or so above the floor of the museum’s transportation wing.
The company Orbit Movers & Erectors, which has hung planes at the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum, Grimes Field and other locations, has been hired to lift the plane into place, Logan County History Center Curator Todd McCormick said. They expect the work to be done on Jan. 17 and 18 and the display should be available for public viewing beginning Wednesday, Jan. 19.
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