RANTOUL, IL — In what Mayor Chuck Smith called “a huge surprise and a disappointment,” the Air Force has rejected Rantoul’s request to keep three vintage aircraft currently housed at the Chanute Air Museum.
The museum will close at the end of the year due to financial issues but the village had hoped to keep a P-51 Mustang fighter and AT-6 Texan trainer in a hangar and display an F-86 Sabre fighter outdoors.
Mike Nash runs the crane as an F-86 plane is lifted from its pedestal and set down on U.S. 45. The aircraft was being moved in May 2002 from north of Rantoul through town to the Chanute Air Museum.
In its application to the Air Force, the village argued: “These aircraft have significant symbolism to those who served in the area and provide a unique history lesson to those learning of our veterans’ sacrifices.”
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Air Force rejects Rantoul request for Chanute Air Museum planes