Save the Starlifter

Fundraiser puts life in project

MICHEL NOLAN, Staff Writer, Redlands Daily Facts

Posted: 02/02/2011 09:56:11 PM PST

A group of Norton Air Force Base veterans keep running into delays in their efforts to build a C-141 Starlifter aircraft memorial at San Bernardino International Airport. (Courtesy Rendering)

SAN BERNARDINO - It was desperation time when retired Air Force Master Sgt. Ed Jeffries and his fellow 63/445 Norton veterans gathered Tuesday for their monthly breakfast meeting.

The 83-year-old San Bernardino man and his fellow "crew dogs" have been trying for two years to get the first 40 feet of a rare C-141 four-engine jet cargo airplane to the former Norton Air Force Base as a memorial.

The memorial would honor both the service members and civilians who served aboard the cargo plane and at Norton in its heyday.

In their quest for the plane, they've come across obstacles - including costs and fundraising deadlines that jeopardize the chances of even getting the plane.

But on Tuesday, representatives of WLC Architects Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga injected new enthusiasm into the group.

They ramped up fundraising to get the plane by starting a program to raise money by selling memorial bricks. The bricks would line the foundation of the proposed memorial.

It instantly prompted veterans to reach into their wallets to contribute to the memorial project.

"This airplane has quite a history," said the WLC senior director of planning and business development, Ron Pregmon. "It is the only C-141 that landed (in a controlled crash) with two of its engines out."

The architectural firm has volunteered to design the foundation for the C-141 Starlifter aircraft, which the group wants to be at San Bernardino International

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Airport.

Pregmon, who flew the Air Force cargo giant from 1976 to 1982, has worked to help veterans groups in the past.

The firm also volunteered the design of Freedom Courtyard, a planned project for Central Park in Rancho Cucamonga that will honor the sacrifices of veterans.

"This is the time to put the rubber to the road and pony up a little bit of money unless you want this whole project to go down in flames," Pregmon said.

Concrete bricks that would cover the foundation are on sale for $100 each to help generate funds, said Mike Osburn, a retired C-141 loadmaster. Lettering on each brick is laser-printed, using epoxy.

By the end of Tuesday's meeting at Coco's, where Pregmon and designer Brian Andresen presented conceptual renderings, 10 bricks had been sold.

Retired flight engineer Frank Reed of San Bernardino donated $1,000 to the veterans' memorial project.

"I believe in it," said Reed, who spent close to 20,000 flying hours in C-141s.

"Airplanes get in your blood. It's a disease," he said.

But time - as well as costs - are beginning to work against the nonprofit group.

"We have learned that it will cost $14,890 to de-militarize the airplane, which means taking out the hazardous waste and removing the secret stuff. That's the first step," said Jeffries, a 25-year veteran who served in three wars - under seven presidents - logging 16,000 flying hours as a flight engineer.

"We are desperate," he said. "We've gotten word that the plane will be chopped up soon if we don't come up with the money in 30 to 60 days."

The C-141 is at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., where it will be sold for scrap metal, according to Jeffries.

Greg Hofacher is aircraft disposal officer at the Tucson base.

"I have full authority to dispose of that aircraft at any time, but also I'm dragging my feet to slow down the process for them," said Hofacher, a civilian.

"We manage more than 4,000 aircraft that flew wonderful missions. We get monthly requests for these."

According to Patricia Korzec, director at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, the group of veterans should be able to pay a fair price for the de-militarization of the plane.

"It's incredibly frustrating for the veterans to be going through this if the airplane is going to be scrapped anyway," Korzec said.

Korzec's museum gets its airplanes through the Heritage Foundation, which oversees the Heritage aircraft program. The program, which preserves historic artifacts, gets its vintage aircraft from the Department of Defense.

"What Ed Jeffries is doing is different from what we do, but these guys should be able to negotiate the cost to de-militarize the plane," she said. "Almost $15,000 seems like a high price."

The chop/scrap deadline is the latest in a series of hurdles the veterans have faced.

The group had a surge of hope in December when Congress passed new legislation - S.B. 3794 - a bill that said veterans' groups are eligible to receive donated items from the federal government.

Those items would include a C-141.

However, the legislation included only Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans.

"I can't find anyone who knows whether we qualify or not," Jeffries said.

Purchasing the aircraft would cost the veterans an additional $20,000.

Jeffries said interested donors can send their gifts to 63/445 Norton Veterans Group, care of Ed Jeffries, 7125 Elmwood Road, San Bernardino, CA 92404. Gifts are tax-deductible under 501(c)(3), he said.

For more information, call Jeffries at 909-889-1733.