{"id":64184,"date":"2026-03-27T17:14:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64184"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:14:41","slug":"lockheed-vc-121a-macarthur-bataan-to-join-sun-n-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/27\/lockheed-vc-121a-macarthur-bataan-to-join-sun-n-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed VC-121A \u201cMacArthur Bataan\u201d to Join SUN \u2019n FUN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lockheed VC-121A \u201cMacArthur Bataan\u201d Photo via SNF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It is official: the Lockheed VC-121A \u201cMacArthur Bataan\u201d<\/strong> is coming to the SUN \u2019n FUN Aerospace Expo<\/strong> here in Lakeland this April!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one of only two airworthy Constellations (“Connies”) left in the world, its arrival is a massive deal for the local aviation community. This particular aircraft is legendary\u2014it served as General Douglas MacArthur’s<\/strong> personal transport and flying command post during the Korean War and later supported NASA’s Apollo program<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Details for the Visit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Arrival:<\/strong> Scheduled to touch down at Lakeland Linder International Airport (LAL)<\/strong> on Tuesday, April 14th<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Performance:<\/strong> It is set to fly in the airshow on Wednesday, April 15th<\/strong>, as part of the new “Composite Airshow” format.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • On the Ground:<\/strong> When not in the air, the “Bataan” will be on static display, allowing visitors to see its iconic triple-tail design and polished finish up close.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Special Companion:<\/strong> The Air Legends Foundation is also expected to bring their Grumman G-73 Mallard<\/strong>, making for a great “golden age of aviation” double feature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Event Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The 52nd SUN \u2019n FUN runs from April 14\u201319, 2026<\/strong>. Since the “Bataan” has recently undergone an extensive interior restoration to match its 1950s VIP glory, this is a rare chance to see it in peak condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pro Tip:<\/strong> If you’re planning to catch the arrival on Tuesday, remember that the main parking entrance is on Pipkin Road<\/strong>, and the event is 100% cashless<\/strong> this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is official: the Lockheed VC-121A \u201cMacArthur Bataan\u201d is coming to the SUN \u2019n FUN Aerospace Expo here in Lakeland this April! As one of only two airworthy Constellations (“Connies”)… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64185,"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":"7254","_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wMy0yN1QxNzEwMDQuNDA3LndlYnA_Zml0PTU2NCUyQzMxMiZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkxvY2toZWVkIFZDLTEyMUEgXHUyMDFjTWFjQXJ0aHVyIEJhdGFhblx1MjAxZCB0byBKb2luIFNVTiBcdTIwMTluIEZVTiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.8s0k-Dy2V0ImlaI6c3J7IlraZUvLiuAz6hiFTvuJkG8MQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7254],"tags":[14223],"class_list":["post-64184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sun-n-fun","tag-lockheed-vc-121a-macarlockheed-vc-121a-macarthur-bataan-to-join-sun-n-funthur-bataan-to-join-sun-n-fun"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64184","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=64184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64186,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64184\/revisions\/64186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}