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Restoration is complete on the former U.S. Air Force plane — and landmark just off W.Va. 7 — that greets residents and visitors headed to Blacksville.
Robin Ammons, who was one of a group who painted the plane in 1993, reached out to see if any of her former cohorts were interested in spiffing up the aircraft.
“Rhonda Owens is the epitome of C-B pride,” Ammons said in an email. “She is the ringleader. I have a niece in the class of 2020 graduates, Joleigh Sollars. I was thinking about all the class had lost, because of the pandemic and as I passed the plane, the idea came.
“I reached out to the original gang on [Facebook]. Joe Statler agreed to lead the project. Along with Ron Lytle, Andrew Price, Bob Brookover, James Thorn, they cleaned and patched and painted the plane.”
Cadets from the West Virginia University Air Force ROTC program spent three Saturdays, with the help of the community, painting and doing detail work on the F-84F Thunderstreak.
After Ammons reached out to Detachment Commander Lt. Col. Mark Arellanes to find out information about the aircraft, he realized it would be an ideal community project for the cadets.
“It was the perfect fit,” he said, adding the residents have really helped out.
“The Blacksville community pitched in for funding for paint and supplies and with machinery,” he said. “Every time we’re up there, every car that passes honks and people wave.”
The plane was purchased as salvage for $50 by the late Carley McCoy in the 1960s. McCoy then set the plane up on his property. McCoy’s grandson, Daniel, now owns it.
The F-84F started to be developed in 1946 and first flew in 1949 or 50, Arellanes said, adding that it was originally designed as a ground attack fighter-bomber.
“It had six machine guns for aerial fights and could carry bombs and rockets for ground attack,” he said. “And it was one of the earlier aircrafts, at the beginning of Cold War, to deter Soviet bombers.”
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