STRATFORD -- The Corsair fighter plane displayed at Sikorsky Memorial Airport will never fly again, but a tax-deductible fund is being launched for its badly needed restoration.
Morgan Kaolian, former Sikorsky Airport manager, said today that those interested in the plane's welfare can contribute to the Corsair Restoration Fund, a 501C3, non-profit organization.
"The pilots are pushing for it, and enthusiasm is high," Kaolin said. "But it won't be an easy task - or a quick one."
Kaolian said that it's difficult to determine how much the effort will cost. "We won't know until we get inside the thing ands see what's going on." He added that the work will be carried out by volunteers at the Connecticut Air and Space Center in Stratford, the group that restored the Sikorsky Flying Boat, now on display at the Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks.
On Sept. 10, a group of about 25 aviation buffs, along with five decorated pilots who flew Corsairs in hundreds of missions in the Pacific Theater of World War II, staged a rally to drum up support for the monument.
More than 10,000 Corsairs were built in Stratford at the Chance-Vought plant. It was recently named as the Official State Plane because it was almost entirely built in Connecticut; the propellers were from Hamilton-Standard and the "Twin Wasp" engine was by Pratt & Whitney, both of East Hartford.
Meanwhile, questions remain over which group actually controls the Corsair monument in Stratford.
The Marine Corps League -- a group of retired Marines -- was entrusted with the stewardship of the plane in perpetuity when it was installed 35 years ago. But Kaolian said that the chapter of the league mentioned in legal papers "was disbanded and no longer exists." This has been disputed by Bridgeport lawyer Thomas L. Kanasky Jr., who represents the Greater Bridgeport Detachment of the Marine Corps League. On May 1, he sent a letter to Bridgeport Mayor John M. Fabrizi protesting any removal of the Corsair from its concrete pedestal.
Although the airport is in Stratford, it is owned by the city of Bridgeport.
Kaolian said the effort to removed the Corsair, restore it, and return it to its perch, might cost as much as $200,000 -- perhaps more.
He said that those wishing to contribute to the Corsair effort can send checks payable to the Corsair Restoration Fund, Connecticut Air and Space Center, Sniffins Lane, Stratford, CT 06615.
