INFO SHEET #19 FROM WESUPPORTTHEVETS

Last of the gooney's flys to museum

Group of Douglas employees recycle reconstruct last DC2 with emotion and expertise.

Goodbye in the sky  Long Beach Press-Telegram 10/12/04  author: Tim Grobaty   Tim Grobaty: Fly-bye: The skies over Long Beach, at least the always-interesting skies over Bixby Knolls and California Heights, will have a decidedly retro look for a few glorious moments Wednesday morning as a vintage Douglas DC-2 the last flyable one in America takes to the sky on its final flight.  The magnificent twin-prop, 18- seater, DC-2, is heading to its plush new home in a hangar, protected from the elements, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.  This particular DC-2 came off the line as No. 77 (out of 156), on March 13, 1935, to join the fleet of Pan American Airways. No. 77 flew commercially in the U.S. for a couple of years before Pan Am transferred it to Mexicana Airlines.  In 1953, the plane came back to the States, where it was purchased by Johnson Flying Service, out of Missoula, Mont., and served mainly to carry fire jumpers to battle forest fires.  In 1974, it was donated to the Donald W. Douglas Museum and Library in Santa Monica, where it suffered corrosion from the salt air from the nearby Pacific.  Eventually, a small and devoted group of former McDonnell Douglas/Boeing employees began to put No. 77 back together in showcase shape, and, after putting more than $150,000 and 16,000 volunteer hours into the project, they succeeded.  If you're near the Long Beach Airport, especially on its west side, it'll be worth the effort to glance up at around 9:30 a.m. to watch No. 77, christened Donald W. Douglas by the volunteers who got it back into flying shape, grab the sky one last time.