• Bronze sculptures to be unveiled
By Tom Blakey
Transcript Staff Writer
Parks and Recreation officials were at the site of Norman’s fourth Legacy Trail plaza project Friday afternoon, preparing for Thursday’s dedication ceremonies.
The ceremonies will begin noon at the plaza, located south of the Depot near Eufaula Street and Jones Avenue.
“We’re putting sod down today,” said Parks Supervisor Bill Ulch. “The landscapers will plant the beds Monday. Tuesday we’ll install the biplane, using a crane from OG&E.;”
The fourth plaza depicts “The War Years in Norman, 1941-1954,” and features a bronze, quarter-scale sculpture of a Stearman biplane. The biplane, cast at the Crucible Foundry, will rest on a black slab of granite, ordered and shipped last week “on a slow boat from China.”
The first slab had to be returned, several inches short of the specified 10-foot length, officials said.
“We had to re-order it, but it was worth the wait,” said Parks Director Jud Foster. “The black marble is spectacular.”
Foster said the bronze sculpture of the Stearman is exquisitely detailed, with a crank that actually turns the propeller. The sculpture display also features a pilot preparing to climb into the plane’s cockpit and a mechanic standing nearby.
Steve Palmerton, co-owner of the Crucible foundry, fashioned the pilot in the likeness of his father-in-law, Lt. Col. Glen Francis Redmond. The mechanic is in the likeness of Palmerton’s son, Army Sgt. Jason Thomas Palmerton, killed in Afghanistan combat in summer 2005.
The Stearman, nicknamed the “Yellow Peril,” was the aircraft of choice for the Navy’s flight training at the Naval Air Station on the North Base, according to architect and city planner Bob Goins.
Goins recently authored historical essays on the Naval Air Station and the Naval Air Technical Training Center (South Base), the text of which has been used for the plaza’s explanatory bronze plaques.
“The time in history, 1941-1954, had a lasting impact on the city. It was the time when the North and South bases came to Norman,” Foster said.
Foster said the bronze sculptures will be veiled until Thursday’s dedication ceremonies.
“It’s going to be a mostly military dedication. Mayor Harold Haralson will emcee the ceremonies, which start at noon,” he said.
Haralson will introduce the dignitaries expected to attend, including Palmerton; Capt. Scott Bohnenkamp, commander of the OU Naval ROTC unit; Capt. Dan Seesholtz, commander of the Strategic Communications Wing at Tinker Air Force Base; and Rear Admiral Greg Slavonic (ret.) USNR. Also scheduled to attend are a color guard from Tinker; sailors, ROTC midshipmen; and other ROTC units at OU, Foster said.
“Any veterans who served at the Naval Air Station will be offered the opportunity to speak and help with the unveiling. When the unveiling is completed, we’ve arranged for at least one Stearman to make a couple of passes overhead,” Foster said.
The Legacy Trail Historical Plazas project has been recognized as part of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission’s master plan for commemorating Oklahoma’s 100th year of statehood in November.
“The plazas, in chronological fashion, tell the history of Oklahoma, and of Norman and its residents, from the time prior to statehood through a century of development and evolution,” Goins said.
Goins designed the plazas, in addition to the Legacy Trail corridor, which stretches from Duffy Street north through the downtown area.
Tom Blakey366-3540tblakey@normantranscript.com
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