BHAF acquires another C-97

Air Classics, Jun 2003

After removing parts the aircraft was, unfortunately, broken up

On 20 March, one of our dwindling number of large four-engine piston aircraft met its end at the hands of scrappers at Tucson International Airport in Arizona. The aircraft was Boeing C-97G USAF s/n 53-3816, last carrying the Mexican registration XA-PII. Long a fixture of the field, the plane was in good condition and had last been utilized to haul Bimbo Bread in Mexico. Bimbo, besides being a great name, is Mexico's most popular bread and the C-97G was used to carry the bread to remote areas.

The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation had examined the craft and after much discussion and consultation, it was decided that the benefits of purchasing the C-97G far outweighed the drawbacks. It was decided to go ahead and purchase the airplane for spares to aid in the preservation of BAHF's C-97 Angel of Deliverance. This gives the organization a number three R-4360-59B which they needed for their aircraft along with other engines and components.

The dark side is that once BAHF removed all the useful components from 53-3816, the aircraft was immediately scrapped. BAHF attempted to find a home for the machine but there were no takers. The airport is on a "clean up" policy and virtually all vintage aircraft have been scrapped over the past few months.

BAHF became aware of the status of 53-3816 through a January issue of Trade-A-Plane. An inquiry was made and BAHF purchased the craft for $75,000 from John Shoffner of Knoxville, Tennessee. Since Tucson International Airport was under an orange security alert, a fence had to be installed around the aircraft while work was in progress. The C-97G had freshly recovered flight controls and two spare QEC engines inside the massive fuselage so it was really a pretty good deal for BAHF. The next hurtle will be getting the components transported from Tucson to Hangar B at Floyd Bennett Field in New York.

As soon as the components were removed the C-97G, the last of 888 examples built by Boeing, was chopped up in half a day. The nose and a few fuselage sections (being utilized as sheds) are now in the ARM yard near Davis-Monthan AFB.