F-86 placement delayed ... again
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 27, 2015 1:50 AM
The relocation of the city's F-86 Sabre fighter jet from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base to behind the traffic circle on East Ash Street has been delayed an additional week.
The new target date for the plane to be placed atop its pedestal is either Oct. 8 or Oct. 9, said Deputy City Clerk Laura Getz, and it will be transported from the base down East Ash Street at 5 a.m. on Oct. 3.
This marks the second time the relocation of the fighter jet to downtown has been delayed -- placing the date of placement close to the date of completion for the city's Streetscape project.
When it is relocated, 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. They will also be the company in charge of relocating the plane from SJAFB to the traffic circle.
While the mount for the plane is installed, it will rest on a flatbed trailer behind the traffic circle.
The fighter 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 round of 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 course of 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.