Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum receives new C-130 replica

After having to postpone the arrival of the Lil Bill C-130 replica plane due to transportation challenges, the replica plane has finally arrived at its new home.

Getting Lil Bill loaded up and moved out of Keesler Air Force Base wasn’t an easy task, but now the C-130 replica sits in its new home at the Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum.

Francisco Gonzales, executive director of the museum, says when he heard Keesler was getting rid of the replica he jumped on the opportunity and contacted the base right away. “We got some volunteers and we went to get it.”

The museum opened just six months ago, but it is already packed with numerous replicas and artifacts. “A few years back a few volunteers from Keesler, soldiers, they decided to build Lil Bill to honor the Hurricane Hunters.”

Lil Bill C-130 was used in many Veterans Day and Mardi Gras parades along the Coast, but after Hurricane Katrina the trailer broke so Keesler Air Force Base decided not to use the plane anymore. “They were going to tear it down and throw it away and I asked for it and they gave it to us.”

Now that the replica C-130 has found a new home, the process of refurbishing the plane begins. “We will hold it. We will restore it and hopefully in a couple years put it back in parades.”

Gonzales says getting this plane is going to add to his vision of preserving the history of aviation. “There is a lot of history here on the Gulf Coast and in the whole state of Mississippi. You must remember this is a state wide museum so we try to honor from the Delta to the Gulf Coast and from the Alabama line to the Mississippi River, anything that has to do with aviation.”