Vintage plane returns Vehicle built by city's first airport manager

When they brought the disassembled airplane to Abilene Regional Airport in April, Jerry Ferrel and his crew handled it as if it were made of porcelain.

Its 14-foot wings arrived at the airport taped up in insulation, but they couldn't stay that way. The tape might damage the finish, after all. Ferrel himself donated the plane to the airport, driving it all the way from Temple. Despite the spiOEy new paint job, it's a vintage model - almost as old as the 87-year-old Ferrel.

So it made sense that he and his crew treated the old bird with such reverence and respect. Ferrel and his helpers leaned the wings against the walls of one of the airport's hangars, carefully padding every place where the wings might touch asphalt or iron. Then they pulled the plane's wheeled body into the back of the hangar. Finally, it appeared safe and sound. "Nobody's going to step on it walking around?" Ferrel asked. He looked to one See PLANE, 7A of his helpers, local pilot David Bradshaw, for confirmation. "Nobody's going to mess with it," Bradshaw replied. "Not in here." Ferrel nodded. This was what he wanted to hear. Ferrel has tinkered with plenty of old planes. But this one is special. In an unveiling ceremony at 6 p.m. today, the rest of Abilene finally will get to see Ferrel's longtime pet project - and a piece of local history. The Discovery Growing up in Great Depression- era Abilene, there wasn't a lot for a young boy to pin his hopes on. But then there was L.E. Derryberry. Soaring up in the clouds in one of his planes, sometimes swooping low to startle young lovers and farmers alike, Derryberry wasn't just a local civic leader. He was a borderline superhero. For a young Jerry Ferrel, Derryberry's flights inspired a sense of wonder and curiosity that eventually converted him into a full-time "airplane nut." "When he came over in his ol' biplane, I just had to come outside to look," Ferrel said. "He was my hero, so to speak." Flash forward about seven * decades. Ferrel, now an established restorer of old planes, was perusing the aviation classifieds publication Trade-A-Plane. An ad stopped him cold: the seller was offering an "Alder-Derryberry" model plane. "The name jumped out at me," Ferrel said. "I thought, 'It can't be one of those.' " But a phone call and a long drive out to Bartlesville, Okla., revealed that the plane was indeed the handiwork of Ferrel's childhood idol. Derryberry, in partnership with W.C. Alder, built the plane from scratch in 1935. Using an old Model A Ford motor, Derryberry constructed the plane to teach new pilots how to fly. There were two cockpits: one in front for the learner, and another in back for the experienced pilot. Of course, by the time Ferrel got to it in 2004, the old plane was a mess. The machine had been disassembled into about 50 pieces, its blue paint job faded, the wooden ribs in its wings rotted out. Still, he bought it without hesitation. It took two years to restore; Ferrel had to rebuild one of the wings entirely. Needless to say, though, it was a labor of love. Through his efforts, Ferrel was resurrecting part of his hometown's heritage. Full Circle After all, Derryberry wasn't just a hero to small boys in Abilene. He also was the town's first airport manager. From 1926 to 1942, Derryberry ran Kinsolving Field - the forerunner to today's airport - which stood where Nelson Park is today. Derryberry said he landed the job only because he was "the only one in the area that could fly an airplane." During World War II, Derryberry made numerous trans-Atlantic flights, ferrying planes for the use of Allied forces. He later served in the Korean War, retiring from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1957. Even though he and his wife, Evelyn (also a pilot), retired to Florida, Derryberry still remained synonymous with Abilene. So after he'd flown the restored plane for a few years, Ferrel began thinking of bringing it back to Abilene's airport.