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Last Updated on Mar 8 2014, 2:47 pm EST.
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Stuart Jet Center
Welcome to Stuart Jet Center located at Witham Field in Stuart, Florida (SUA). Our professional and courteous staff is trained in offering the highest quality of service and satisfaction to our customers.
Our 53-acre facility has 15+ acres of lighted and secured ramp space and approximately 250,000 sq feet of hangar space available. Hangars are large enough to accommodate aircraft as large as a Gulfstream V.
We have been a major force in the community for the past ten years. Since opening for business, we have provided our space and services for several important community functions, including the Chrysanthemum Ball, which raised over $8.5 million for Martin Memorial Hospital, and the Visiting Nurse Association Air Show, an annual event which is a major entertainment and fundraising venue in Martin County.
Stuart Jet Center is also proud to sponsor non-profit organizations, including Angel Flight and the EAA Young Eagle's program. We provide support to both Angel Flight, which offers free transport for surgical patients around the country, and to the Young Eagles, which offers free flights to children of all ages.
Historic DC-3 joins snowbirds for winter months in Stuart
JIM KOEPNICK - EAA
Aerial view of the Flagship Detroit DC-3 as it flies over a local Florida beach.
STUART — If you have looked up in the sky recently or been out to Stuart Witham Airport, you may have seen a very unusual sight amid the countless light planes and sleek corporate jets that inhabit our local airport and airspace. Among the retirees, business moguls and celebrities that call Martin County home for the winter, there is one new resident that has appeared on film and TV and at airports all over the country that few have heard about. The oldest flying DC-3 in the world, the American Airlines Flagship Detroit, has taken up winter residence at the Stuart Jet Center at Witham Airport thanks to the generosity of owners Jeff, Doug and Dan Capen and their wonderful staff.Aerial view of the Flagship Detroit DC-3 as it flies over a local Florida beach.
After a very successful 2011 Air Show season throughout the USA,
culminating in appearances at the MacDill AFB Florida Air Fest, the
Stuart Road to Victory Air Show in November and the recent Ferrari
Owners Convention in Palm Beach, the Flagship Detroit has settled here
for a few months of cleaning, polishing and light maintenance.
While sitting on the Witham ramp, the airplane has attracted many lookers and visitors to view the airplane during times when the crew was out there working on it. But this unique and historic aircraft has been in the spotlight many times.
Five years ago, when the restoration was completed making it the oldest DC-3 still flying, the Flagship Detroit was featured in an article in the August 2006 edition of "Flying," the world's most widely read aviation magazine. Then again, in the August 2010 edition of the same magazine, the Flagship Detroit was featured on the front cover as part of an article celebrating the 75th anniversary of the DC-3.
The DC-3 was the brainchild of C.R. Smith, then-president of American Airlines, and developed by Douglas Aircraft, which would later become McDonnell Douglas. Smith wanted a plane that could fly more passengers more comfortably, and from New York to Chicago without stopping. Smith got what he wanted, and the airline industry changed forever.
The first group of DC-3s delivered to American were sleepers (DST, Douglas Sleeper Transport) with 14 berths for overnight, five-stop, transcontinental service. The remaining DC-3s delivered to American were 21-passenger "day plane” versions like the Flagship Detroit. American adopted a nautical theme for its DC-3s, calling them "Flagships” and naming them after the city or state served. Flagship Detroit was the 21st off the assembly line and officially joined the American Airlines fleet in March of 1937 and is now the oldest flying DC-3 in the world out of almost 14,000 DC-3s and C-47s (the military version) built.
The airplane flew for American airlines from 1937 to 1947. In time, ownership of the Flagship Detroit passed to corporate hands and the airplane became a light freighter and agricultural sprayer. It was located in Virginia, and purchased by the Flagship Detroit Foundation in August 2004. The plane has been restored to exactly how it looked in 1937.
The Flagship Detroit Foundation is a nonprofit group of dedicated men and women who have committed to make the personal and financial commitment to promote awareness of American's remarkable history and preserve its legacy. The Foundation's goal is to continue operating and maintaining this aircraft as a flying tribute to all American Airlines employees, past and present.
She will take to the skies once again on Saturday, Feb. 4, and has invited any local resident interested in becoming a member of the Flagship Detroit Foundation to come along for an historic "heritage” flight. The flight will be from Stuart to Sebastian and back in conjunction with the LoPresti First Saturday Charity Fly In Breakfast at Sebastian Airport. The guest speaker at the Fly In will be Gene McNeeley, AT-6 Aerobatic Performance Pilot and Reno Air Racer who will be sharing stories of his exciting flying career.
Those who purchase a tax-deductible membership for $150 in the Flagship Detroit Foundation will be invited to fly to the LoPresti Fly In Breakfast on Feb. 4 and will also be invited to ride on the aircraft during positioning flights for a period of a year.
For information on the Feb. 4 Fly In to Sebastian Airport and general membership information, please contact Capt. Tony DeSantis (AA, Ret) at 772-486-2831. Visit us at http://www.flagshipdetroit.org/.
This story is contributed by a member of the Treasure Coast community and is neither endorsed nor affiliated with TCPalm.com
While sitting on the Witham ramp, the airplane has attracted many lookers and visitors to view the airplane during times when the crew was out there working on it. But this unique and historic aircraft has been in the spotlight many times.
Five years ago, when the restoration was completed making it the oldest DC-3 still flying, the Flagship Detroit was featured in an article in the August 2006 edition of "Flying," the world's most widely read aviation magazine. Then again, in the August 2010 edition of the same magazine, the Flagship Detroit was featured on the front cover as part of an article celebrating the 75th anniversary of the DC-3.
The DC-3 was the brainchild of C.R. Smith, then-president of American Airlines, and developed by Douglas Aircraft, which would later become McDonnell Douglas. Smith wanted a plane that could fly more passengers more comfortably, and from New York to Chicago without stopping. Smith got what he wanted, and the airline industry changed forever.
The first group of DC-3s delivered to American were sleepers (DST, Douglas Sleeper Transport) with 14 berths for overnight, five-stop, transcontinental service. The remaining DC-3s delivered to American were 21-passenger "day plane” versions like the Flagship Detroit. American adopted a nautical theme for its DC-3s, calling them "Flagships” and naming them after the city or state served. Flagship Detroit was the 21st off the assembly line and officially joined the American Airlines fleet in March of 1937 and is now the oldest flying DC-3 in the world out of almost 14,000 DC-3s and C-47s (the military version) built.
The airplane flew for American airlines from 1937 to 1947. In time, ownership of the Flagship Detroit passed to corporate hands and the airplane became a light freighter and agricultural sprayer. It was located in Virginia, and purchased by the Flagship Detroit Foundation in August 2004. The plane has been restored to exactly how it looked in 1937.
The Flagship Detroit Foundation is a nonprofit group of dedicated men and women who have committed to make the personal and financial commitment to promote awareness of American's remarkable history and preserve its legacy. The Foundation's goal is to continue operating and maintaining this aircraft as a flying tribute to all American Airlines employees, past and present.
She will take to the skies once again on Saturday, Feb. 4, and has invited any local resident interested in becoming a member of the Flagship Detroit Foundation to come along for an historic "heritage” flight. The flight will be from Stuart to Sebastian and back in conjunction with the LoPresti First Saturday Charity Fly In Breakfast at Sebastian Airport. The guest speaker at the Fly In will be Gene McNeeley, AT-6 Aerobatic Performance Pilot and Reno Air Racer who will be sharing stories of his exciting flying career.
Those who purchase a tax-deductible membership for $150 in the Flagship Detroit Foundation will be invited to fly to the LoPresti Fly In Breakfast on Feb. 4 and will also be invited to ride on the aircraft during positioning flights for a period of a year.
For information on the Feb. 4 Fly In to Sebastian Airport and general membership information, please contact Capt. Tony DeSantis (AA, Ret) at 772-486-2831. Visit us at http://www.flagshipdetroit.org/.
This story is contributed by a member of the Treasure Coast community and is neither endorsed nor affiliated with TCPalm.com
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