I'LL FLY AWAY . . .
The day finally came. The largest, most extensive airplane restoration MMS has done was finished. N300MF was about to rejoin the other three Douglas DC-3 aircraft owned and operated by Missionary Flights International (MFI).
MFI personnel who came to take delivery of the plane were pleased with the appearance of the aircraft and the quality of workmanship. Brief flight testing only revealed a faulty radio transmitter switch which was quickly repaired. No adjustments to flight controls were necessary as the plane performed like a perfectly normal DC-3.
Such a happy reunion of the flight crew and airplane did not happen without some last minute heroics by the ground crew. A week before the MFI flight crew was to arrive to take the plane, a crack in a secondary wing attach angle was discovered. The crack did not show up until after the wing was reinstalled.
A special wing fixture was needed in order to change the cracked angle. The fixtures MMS uses were in West Palm Beach, Florida where MFI mechanics had finished a wing inspection on another DC-3 in their fleet. While MFI maintenance personnel trucked the large wing fixtures to Ohio the MMS crew removed the wing from the plane and prepared for installation of the new wing attach angle. Mechanics from both organizations worked together to complete the repair and reinstall the wing.
The weather on Sunday, June 9th cooperated and a celebration was held to rededicate N300MF to continue in mission service. An estimated four hundred people visited the MMS facility during an open house that afternoon. Many of them were on hand for the DC-3 dedication and its departure.
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MMS is a member of the International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA).