FRANKLIN COUNTY, N.C.-- People will be able to take a flight back in time in Franklin County this weekend.

 

The non-profit group called History Flight is displaying and flying restored World War II aircraft on its 2008 Barnstormer Tour.

 

For donations of at least $225, people can sit in the pilot's seat and take the controls of a North American AT-6 Texan, or an open-cockpit 1941 Stearman Biplane.

 

"You can go to a museum and see many static displays, and look at them and sometimes touch them," said John Makinson, chief pilot with History Flight. "But you don't get to sit in the cockpit, you don't get to fly the airplane, you don't get to experience what it was like for the World War II aviators."

 

The non-profit group uses the donations to help fund education and preservation of historic aviation, and search and rescue missions for the tens of thousands of troops still missing in action.

 

"We've just located approximately 60 unmarked graves on the island of Tarawa, and the military's going in and bringing those folks home that were supposed to be brought home 60 years ago by the Army," Makinson said.

 

"It's kind of my way of giving back to the people in World War II who fought and died for us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom."

 

The Barnstormer Tour will be at the Franklin County Regional Airport, May 8-18. Saturday, May 10, there will also be a car and plane show that is open to the public at the airport.

 

For more information on History Flight or for more details about scheduling a flight, go to www.historyflight.com.