F-86 fighter jet placement is delayed until October
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 1, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus file photo
The F-86 Sabre fighter jet has been undergoing renovations since February of 2014.
The placement of the F-86 Sabre fighter jet behind the East Ash Street traffic circle that was scheduled for the first three days of September has been delayed until Oct. 2.
But the jet will be brought back to downtown Goldsboro approximately a week before it is placed in its new resting place.
The jet, which has been undergoing renovations since February 2014, will be brought back downtown in the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 26.
A tentative time of 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. has been set on that day for picking up the jet from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and it will then be brought down East Ash Street until it reaches the traffic circle.
After the jet is brought downtown, it will rest on a flatbed trailer behind the traffic circle from Sept. 26 until its placement atop a pole on Oct. 2.
It will be placed on the north side of the East Ash Street traffic circle, behind the brick "Goldsboro" wings sign, and will be set in place atop a pole with its nose facing upward and the plane tilted at a 15- to 20-degree angle, as if the plane were flying down Center Street.
This will cause the plane to appear as though it is banking east, and flying south.
Worldwide Aircraft Recovery will be the company that places the jet atop the pole being installed behind the traffic circle.
City clerk Laura Getz, who has been working alongside assistant city manager Randy Guthrie on the project, said the project was delayed because of scheduling issues.
"We had a few little hiccups. Bringing the jet home at the end of September just worked better for everybody's schedule, from the base, to the company doing the work, and for the city, too," Ms. Getz said.
The jet was originally loaned out to the city in 1970 from the Air Force through Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, and was placed in Berkeley Park once it arrived in Goldsboro.
In 1993, the plane underwent its first refurbishing and was placed next to the fire and police departments.
The F-86 was moved from its previous location on Feb. 20, 2014, around 2 a.m., because of the issues associated with moving a display that large through town, such as traffic.
Airmen at SJAFB worked on refurbishing the jet in their spare time over the past year, sanding down the paint, repairing the plane's structural integrity and giving the jet a new coat of paint before deeming it ready for display.