Groundbreaking Pending for Air Park at Scott Air Force Base in Southern Illinois

Fund-raising is underway to build Scott Field Heritage Air Park to be located near the gate to Southern Illinois's Scott Air Force Base. It will feature a display of aircraft that have served at the 3,278-acre military installation over the decades.

FUND-RAISING

"I think we'll start breaking ground next summer," Ray Holden or nearby O'Fallon said. "The plans are pretty well finalized at this time. We're in the fund-raising process now."

A foundation has been established to fund the $1.5 million project. So far, Holden says they have commitments from neighboring communities and from St Clair County. ""So, we've got about $300,000 on hand or committed," Holden said.

He said founding members are also being signed up by the foundation at $100 per person with sign-up to continue until the groundbreaking. Names of founding members will be added to a plaque at the air park.

A four-acre site has been set aside for the Air Park which will be accessible without entering the base. "That land is actually on Scott Air Force Base," Holden said. "They've contributed that." The county has agreed to provide additional land that might be needed.

AIRCRAFT ON DISPLAY

On static display will be a C-140 JetStar, C-141 Starlifter, KC-135 Stratotanker, and C-9 Nightingale. The C-141 is the workhorse of Air Mobility Command which is headquartered at Scott, as is the United States Transportation Command. "All those aircraft there had some relationship to Scott at one time," said Holden.

"Some of the aircraft are already on base," he added, "the 141, the 135...the 140 is here also. It could be a nice place for people to come and see some of the heritage and see some of the aircraft that were integral to the Air Mobility Command and to Scott itself.

A visitor's center is planned which will provide visitors with information about the history of Scott Air Force Base, established in 1921 as a lighter-than-air station for airships and balloons.

The Air Park project has been coming together for the past five years. "We probably began working on it in earnest about two years ago," said Holden.

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