Model plane delivered to veterans home Friday

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been changed to reflect the correct amount of vegetables donated by the Southeast Correctional Center.

The Missouri Veterans Home's new World War II-era plane wasn't flown in from some far-off locale -- it came right in through the front door Friday morning.

The model plane, a B-17 Flying Fortress, was built by inmates at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri.

Air Force veteran Lawrence Eeftink smiles after seeing the WWII replica B-17 flying fortress Friday at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. Eeftink had flown in the same type of aircraft during his time in the Air Force. (Laura Simon)

The bomber is lightweight, built using only Popsicle sticks, toothpicks and a few small pieces of clear plastic to serve as windows, then painted. The inmates used diagrams from books in the prison library to construct the model, which took three to four months.

The inmates are not allowed to have anything with a sharp point or edge, so they crease and break the materials, then file them down as needed with emery boards, said Mark Bartlett, restorative justice coordinator at the prison. Bartlett presented the plane to the veterans home.

The correctional facility collaborates with Southeast Missouri State University for the restorative justice program. Inmates work on crafts, record books on tape to send to children and work in a vegetable garden, Bartlett said. The garden has provided 16,110 pounds of vegetables to Southeast Missouri.

"We believe in the educational component, also," Bartlett said. "We have the HiSET program where gentlemen can work on their GED. We have ICVC programs. We offer critical thinking so they can be educated."

Bartlett said the next Popsicle craft underway is an aircraft carrier, complete with tiny planes and a base that will allow the carrier to rock.

The B-17's arrival attracted a lot of attention from residents of the veterans home.

"It will be appreciated," Army veteran James Slinkard said. "... This'll be a good place for it."

kwebster@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3646

Pertinent address:

2400 Veterans Memorial Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.