,M* *ncia eles o'. eul*lai*np g Vol. 10, No. 39 Wednesday, September 24, 1980 40 Pages Whi'thy landmark gets new life in U.s. By S. GREENAWAY Free Press Staf f One of Whitby's most notable landniarks took to the air for a brief 'moment last, week for the first time since World War Il to start a long new journey to Florida. A BT 13 tramner plane was hoisted by a crane fromn the roof of the Fawcett Motor Carriage Ltd.'s Brock Street North facility. The. anitque aircraft was purchased by Tom Reilly of the Reilly Vintage Aircraft Company for $4,500. Reilly, an aircraft en- thusiast, purchased the war veteran with the intent of returning it to flight con- dition. "I read up on this type of plane and it is said that if you could fiy one of'these, you could fly anything because it is a very heavy plane to fly," said Mark Piper who drove the 1,500 miles to Whitby as Reilly's representative. He will return the 3,000 pound aircraft to Florida where t.he reconditioning will be done. The arcraft became a landmark in Whitby in 1972 when Ron Fawcett, the owner of the carniage com- pany bought it at an auction sale. Fawcett Motors is a com- pany that specializes in reconditioning antique cars. Reilly plans to take the aircraft back to his Florida beadquarters, take it apart and rebuild it in ful operational order. ".It will (sic> take a lot of man hours and a lot of money to get it back in shape," Piper said. The BT 13 was used to train pilots during the last world war and after they completed their training went on to fly such famous fighters as Corsair, P 51's and P 40's. the recondiioning work is expected to take six to eight months. Piper notea .ïaat conf- sidering the length of time the aircraft spent perched on Fawcett's roof it is in good condition with only the expected amount of rust. The cockpit is stili intact, however, the seat and fiying instruments are missing. Hollywood made exten- sive use of the BT 13 after the war in such famous war films as "Tora, tora, Tora", where it was featured as the Japanese Zero Piper said that the only major difference between the Zero and the BT 13 was the canopy covering the cockpit. According to Piper it is not unusual for Reilly to go out of bis way to purchase air- craft such as this one adding that semehow where ever he went, the plane he was sear- chiig for turned Up. "My dad and I were reading the Toronto Star and there was a piece in there about this place (Fawcett Motors> and we saw the plane," he said. "We told Tom and he started to make inquiry's into purchasing Piper described Reilly as an expert on exotic things. "He lives, breathes and sleeps planes." The aircraft will make the journey to the southern American state on the back of a flat bed truck with the wings and tires removed to make transporting it easier. Last week the famîllar BT 13 training airpiane whlch sat on top of the roof of Fawcett Motors Ltd for the past nîne years was removed and sold to Tom Reilly, a vintage alrcraft collector f rom Florîda. It took a crane and several men about two hours to hook the alrcraft Up wlth cables and lower It from the roof onto a f lat bed truc k. Once on the truck the wheels and wlngs were removed and the craft was firmly secured to for lt's long ride back to Florîda where Reilly plans to renovate the alrcraft to flylng order. -Free Press Photo by Stephen Greenaway