![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/437931451_455086763759986_4557149084850584612_n.jpg?resize=526%2C701&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nStanding along the side of Interstate 4 near the exit for Fantasy of Flight is a\u00a0Douglas DC-3<\/a>\u00a0painted with the attraction’s name to get the attention of passers-by. The aircraft itself is not part of the collection and was specifically purchased for its intended purpose as an attraction sign. The airframe is far too corroded to make restoration of the DC-3 feasible. The aircraft was displayed for a period of time in a ‘crashed’ position, nose down in the ground with a mannequin hanging from the tail wheel, apparently a ‘man’ evacuating the aircraft with a parachute. The mannequin was dressed up for certain occasions around the year, including\u00a0Santa Claus<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Christmas<\/a>;\u00a0Uncle Sam<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Independence Day<\/a>; and a\u00a0Pilgrim<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Thanksgiving<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n The aircraft in this crashed position received a mixture of criticism and compliments. Some people claimed that the display made the aircraft look bad and set a bad example to airline passengers without an aviation background, while others found the position of the aircraft comical, and many enjoyed guessing what the mannequin would be dressed as next. Currently, the aircraft is in an upright position with the mannequin seated in the opened cockpit hatch on the left-hand side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DC3 has become a liability and has decayed over the past 20 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Unfortunately, this will be its last trip down the runway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay tuned for more photos and videos on Friday, 4-19-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, be on the lookout for a mini-documentary that will be shot on the day by one of Polk\u2019s best videographers, Jonathan Andress, of ZAO Multimedia!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Central Florida Crane\u00a0will be lifting this iconic DC3 aircraft from its podium, which has been sitting as a landmark along I-4 for over 20 years! Standing along the side of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[8226],"class_list":["post-44419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-fantasy-of-flight-is-planning-to-remove-the-dc3-near-i-4"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/fof_sm.jpg?resize=290%2C193&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/220px-Douglas_DC-3_FOF_Below_LFront_FOF_14Dec09_14403942537.jpg?resize=219%2C147&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n