Wayne Brown hopes history will be taking to the skies in Vicksburg very soon.

In about a month, Brown, of Port Gibson, expects to take his first flight in a newly restored World War II-vintage airplane.

The Interstate L-6 Grasshopper was used as a training and transport aircraft. The U.S. military ordered about 250 and designated the airplane as the XO-63. It was the last to receive the “O” designation, meaning observation.

Although produced during wartime, the model never saw overseas service. The remaining aircraft were sold as surplus after the war.

“There are supposedly 20 flying” today, Brown said.

In spite of their domestic-only service history, Brown said the aircraft’s paint and marking will be accurate and true to the plane’s military and wartime heritage.

“The colors and stars are all correct,” and “the numbers are in the right place,” said Brown.

Brown’s airplane, serial No. 230, barely survived a tornado in Alaska and wound up in Helena, Mont., where Brown noticed it while working on another restoration project.

“Everything in it has been replaced or rebuilt,” he said, including the engine, a 150-horsepower Lycoming 4-cylinder.

After serving briefly in the Air Force as a mechanic, Brown took flying lessons, then studied to earn his airframe and powerplant license, which is a federal airplane mechanic certification. The certification process often takes more than two years. Brown has more than 20,000 hours of flying experience in a variety of aircraft, including crop dusters, which he flew locally until 2000.

“I’ve always liked flying, and I’ve been working on airplanes since 1970,” said Brown. He estimates he has helped rebuild about a dozen airplanes and a helicopter. Three of the restoration projects were on Piper J-3 Cubs, a late-1930s airplane often compared to the Ford Model T car for its popularity and affordability.

However, another one of his airplanes will never fly again. The fuselage of a Grumman Gulfstream G1 abandoned by the government for years in a hangar at the Vicksburg Municipal Airport will be converted into a deer camp, he said.

“They just wanted to get it out of here,” Brown said, so he had it hauled to his property in Claiborne County, just off U.S. 61 South.

But for now, the 63-foot-long plane, clipped of its wings and stripped of its turboprop engines, sits in a field as his work on the World War II plane nears completion. Stripped by the government of all of its usable parts, the Gulfstream is beyond restoration, he said.

Brown estimated that he’s invested $50,000 in parts and materials to restore the L-6, but “my labor is nothing,” he said referring to the fact that he is retired and performing all the restoration work himself. Fully restored, Brown estimates the plane will be worth about $170,000.

He also plans to add another genuine World War II era enhancement

“I bought these from a guy in Hattiesburg,” he said resting his hand on one. “These will give me an extra hour of flight time

By next summer, Brown said he’d like to be showing the Grasshopper at air shows. Officially, “We have to get the FAA to come over and issue an air worthiness certificate, but I think within a month, it’ll fly.”