Shane Carter of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport supplies this photo of the move of a historic Command-Aire airplane from the former Arkansas Aerospace Education Center, due for demolition, to vacant hangar space at the airport . The airport owns the old museum building, which closed in 2011.

The plane had been on loan to the museum by its private owner, but the Airport Commission is now in charge of its well being. “We’re going to protect it and make sure we keep it safe and make a place in the terminal,” Carter said.

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The plane is one of about 300 made by a company that operated  in Little Rock from 1926 to 1931. The Enyclopedia of Arkansas has the history here. It’s one of fewer than 10 models of the Little Rock-made plane still in existence. When the museum sold off its collection, David Snowden, a son of one of the airplane company’s former owners, bought the plane and agreed to let the airport display it.

Carter recounted that the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission voted in June to demolish the building. Operation and maintenance for the unused facility cost the airport approximately $180,000 yearly. The contractor has 120 days to complete demolition.

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