A Brunswick veteran is trying to save a Cold War era military plane amidst a new housing development.

The Bangor Daily News reports that 56-year-old John Vandal who spent 20 years in the U.S Navy is trying to fix up a twin-engine P2-Neptune airplane which has sat beside the access road to the former Brunswick Naval Air Station since 1970.

The Navy base opened during World War II, in 1943. It was officially decommissioned in 2011. During that time, it was home to low-and-slow flying squadrons, including VP-21, which patrolled the North Atlantic, looking for Russian submarines.

But the naval base is gone, and in its place is a housing development that is currently being blocked by the plane. Vandal wants to keep the neglected plane in one piece long enough for the nearby Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum to raise the money it will take to restore and move the plane to safety.

“We have a lot of kids out there who don’t know the base even existed,” said Scott Miller of the museum which is just down the street from the P2-Neptune. “We need to save this plane so they will know, even after we are long gone.”

Besides letting the next generation know the base existed, the P2-Neptune is also important to veterans who once served there. Vandal said that they’re always stopping by when they see him out there working on it. They often thank him for doing it.

“It’s touching, it really is,” said Vandal. “I love it when vets thank me for my service — because I can say the same thing right back to them.”

 

To read the original Bangor Daily News article, click here.