Local residents band together to restore historic airplane

A nondescript warehouse in Cary has a sight to behold.

Once you open the doors to Warbird Restorations, a beautiful blue 55-year-old airplane awaits you.

The airplane, a 1955 T28C Trojan, served as a trainer after World War II for the U.S. Navy and was also involved in combat during the Vietnam War as a fighter plane.

A coterie of nine men and one woman have bonded over restoring the plane, a project that began in mid-2006.

"It's like a club," said Manfred Laupp of Crystal Lake, a retired machinist who is volunteering his time to help bring the plane back to its glory days.

"We work on the plane and we have lunch."

Steve Kulovsek of Prairie Grove bought the plane in California four years ago, where it had been in storage for nine years.

He credits the airplane and its publicity with introducing him to a lot of colorful people willing to help with its restoration - their goal is to get it back into the wild blue yonder.

"We're going to put it the way it was," said Kulovsek, who flies planes as a hobby. "I like it the way it was."

A few times a week for several hours, the group meets to work on the plane and Kulovsek, a firefighter in Hoffman Estates, has overseen its face lift, which has included reassembling the airplane, a new paint job and decals, ripping out the old wiring, refurbishing gauges and hydrolics.

Jim Roozee, a retired application engineer based in Prairie Grove, said the project is very addictive.

"When you're flying in a small plane, it's like flying in a bird," he said. "That's why these guys get hooked on it."

Laupp, who moved to the United States from Germany in 1961 because he wanted to be a cowboy, agreed.

"I enjoy every minute of it, every minute of it," Laupp said.

Terry Harris, the lone woman in the group, is proud of her contribution to the project - its nose art.

Nose art distinguishes one plane from each other and at times, helps boost morale.

Harris, of Fox River Grove, created a buxom redhead named Lucy, a pinup wearing dog tags and underwear.

She appears to be blowing a kiss to her admirers and lettering in the kiss's path says "wishful thinking."

"I'm the only girl here, so you kind of have to make your mark," Harris laughed.

Darren Meyers, a pilot from Crystal Lake, taught Kulovsek how to fly seven years ago and has a collection of stories from visitors who walk in to see how the plane is coming along.

Meyers recounted the time Bob Tastsides, of unincorporated McHenry County, came into the warehouse and recognized the plane as one the his father George had flown - log book entries showed the planes had identical tail numbers.

"It seems like every week we meet a new person that knows some facet of aviation," Meyers said.

The group is at the tail end of the project, at the moment.

The only things left to do are installing new wires and overhauling the engine.

The engine, rebuilt in 1981, is expected to cost between $10,000 and $40,000, said Kulovsek.

He isn't quite sure when the group will get around to that part of the project.

"It depends on the economy," said Kulovsek, adding that he has a child in college.