In the late 1940s this WWII surplus T-6 trainer aircraft made a forced landing on US127 near the present Taco Bell south of Dunlap center. This aircraft with the damaged landing gear was acquired by the late Morris Green a local pilot and was somehow towed to the family home on the ridge behind the damaged aircraft. There the aircraft sat for many years unattended until woods took over the view of the historic plane. I had heard the story of the plane from the late Kathern Standifer as her husband transported the uninjured pilot of the plane to Knoxville after the crash. I even drove up the driveway to the Bruce Green home place but saw nothing of an old plane and dismissed the story. In the late 1980s or early 1990s Bird Spangler acquired the aircraft from an ailing Mr. Green which by then had slowly been overtaken by the overgrown state of the property. Several trees were removed to get the old plane out from the woods. He unbolted the radial engine and propeller and mounted it on a display stand and sold the remaining aircraft to Wayne Anderson on Cagle Mountain. It last sat beside TN State Hy111 in a field near McGlothen Cemetery. I believe some pilot in Kansas bought it to get parts for a restoration project aircraft. The original radial aircraft engine was sold to someone in Florida for another restoration aircraft. After the death of both Morris Green and his Dad, the old home place and farm were sold off and the new owner gave my brother and I permission to look for historical items before it was demolished. Inside the home amongst a pile of old discarded trash was a box of black and white photo negatives of the WWII era plane. I printed them in my darkroom and with assistance of a Green family member identified the people in the images. History preserved through these images of the past. These old planes which were partially covered in painted cloth and aluminum have become very valuable and sought out with many restored for flying and museum exhibition. We have some small parts of the T-6 aircraft at the Coke Ovens Museum discovered on the property before it was dozed.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:35:12 +0000
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