Pieces of the Past; Aviation Buff Brings World War II Plane to Hampden for Restoration

From its perch atop a New Jersey rental truck, the frame of a crippled World War II plane flew through traffic heading north on Interstate 95 en route to its final destination - at least for a year or so.

The Liberty Girl arrived in Hampden on Tuesday to begin a year long restoration of the historic aircraft, believed to have been flown by one of the United States' most prominent military figures.

Maurice Kirk, owner of the aircraft, said French authorities reported that Gen. George Patton flew the aircraft over France after D-Day in 1944.

"General Patton used it to look around the battlefield," said Jeff Russell, owner of the Center for Classic Aircraft Skills in Hampden. "He had a tendency to hop into the smaller airplanes to quickly cover short distances."

The single-engine Piper Cub, which first served the U.S. Army and then later the French, now is owned by Kirk, a retired British veterinarian, who has flown it around three-quarters of the world. In his attempt to circumnavigate the entire globe, Kirk crashed the aircraft in October 2005 in the streets of Kanazawa, Japan.

After the crash, Kirk said, the Japanese impounded the aircraft. He and Russell, who met at an aviation conference, worked together to retrieve the plane with dreams of restoring the authentic World War II bird and fly it again.

Just after Christmas 2006, the Japanese government agreed to release the Liberty Girl. The aircraft was disassembled and shipped from Yokohama, Japan, to Elizabeth, N.J., where the two men met the plane and hoisted it atop a rented truck bound for Hampden.

"Everyone said there is no way we're going to get it back [from the Japanese]. Then they said we would never get it to the U.S., and now they are saying we'll never get it restored and flying again," Russell said. "So far we're two for three, and we're soon to be three for three."

The World War II-era aircraft arrived at its final destination at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when Russell pulled into his driveway on Sunset Avenue in Hampden.

"I never know what's going to be next at this house," said Pat Russell, Jeff's mom. She joked with her son as Kirk backed the truck toward the family garage, telling him he should have left the tattered plane in Japan.

But she and Jeff Russell's children have complete confidence the crippled plane will be airborne once again, because Russell previously built one himself.

"When he first started building an airplane in the garage I didn't think he was going to do it - but he did," said Tom, 12, Jeff's son. "He can do anything."

During the trip up from New Jersey, one of the wings of Liberty Girl was securely tied to the passenger side of the vehicle, stretching down the length of the pickup. The other was in pieces, piled into the body of the truck like a heap of gray and green scrap metal.

Russell said Tuesday he will focus on fixing the wings of the plane while the fuselage will be rebuilt in Milo. The total restoration will cost around $25,000, and people already have offered to donate time and money, he said.

"I have an open workshop policy," Russell said. "If a veteran wants to see the wings that flew over him or her during the invasion of Europe or the invasion of Germany, I'll have those wings and they can watch the restoration. Those wings meant freedom to so many people."

While the aircraft will be restored, it will stay true to its original configuration, he said. The single-engine plane still will have five instruments and use a stick, rudder and throttle for operation, he said.

As the pair worked to unload the crushed wing onto the front lawn of Russell's house Tuesday, the two joked about completing the long journey without incurring any traffic tickets.

"The guys at the shipping company had a pool going on whether we would make it to Hampden, Maine," Russell said. "We made it and didn't even get stopped by the cops."

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