NAMPA, Idaho — The Spirit of Flight Foundation (SOF) is asking the public for financial help to truck a 1937 Waco EGC-7 Bi-plane to their museum at the Nampa Municipal Airport.
SOF relocated the museum from Colorado after its founder, Gordon Page, moved to the Treasure Valley 18 months ago after years of visiting the area. The organization focuses on preserving aviation history between 1935 to 1975, according to Page.
Page bought the Waco to add to SOF's collection. A friend owned it and no longer had an interest in maintaining the piece; Page begged for years to get his hands on it.
"We got really fortunate to find one of the few airplanes that survived," Page said. "It got taken into WWII. It was part of Lockheed for a while, which is weird. They didn't fly Lockheed airplanes. They flew this airplane around with their executives. It was probably smart; so, the bad guys didn't know if there was somebody [important] in the Lockheed airplane."
The Waco is a 16-hour truck drive away. SOF has trucked roughly 50 planes since its founding in 1998, according to Page.
Page anticipates the Waco trucking costs will total $8,000. The museum is a non-profit and none of the volunteers receive payment, according to Page. The museum stays afloat, partially, through $10 donations at the door.
The museum works diligently to restore the planes to flying condition to properly preserve history.
"As soon as we get here, I think we could have it in the air a year to 18 months," Page said. "I'm looking for stuff you're not gonna see in any other collection."
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