On Memorial Day weekend we came to Fayette County, Texas to see the famous Czech/German painted churches. We found something else entirely.
Sitting in a field off State Highway 237 in Warrenton between a rusty Rolls Royce and a row of decaying travel trailers is a genuine Warsaw Pact fighter aircraft. No placard. No explanation. Just sitting there, hiding in plain sight off a two-lane highway most people never take.
Polish-built Lim-5, construction number 1C-0003, nose number 003. Built at WSK-Mielec in 1956. Third off the line. Served the Polish Air Force for thirty-four years through the Cuban Missile Crisis, Prague Spring, all of it before making its last military flight in June 1990. Exported to Holland in 1991, arrived in the U.S. in 1992, spent years as a roadside attraction in Forney, Texas, and eventually made its way to Warrenton.
It's also unexpectedly a story about Czech and German immigrants, painted churches, and what it means when two pieces of the same Central European history end up sharing the same quiet piece of Texas dirt.
We made a short documentary about it in the style of Texas Country Reporter and Charles Kuralt. Under 9 minutes. No hyperbole.
Sitting in a field off State Highway 237 in Warrenton between a rusty Rolls Royce and a row of decaying travel trailers is a genuine Warsaw Pact fighter aircraft. No placard. No explanation. Just sitting there, hiding in plain sight off a two-lane highway most people never take.
Polish-built Lim-5, construction number 1C-0003, nose number 003. Built at WSK-Mielec in 1956. Third off the line. Served the Polish Air Force for thirty-four years through the Cuban Missile Crisis, Prague Spring, all of it before making its last military flight in June 1990. Exported to Holland in 1991, arrived in the U.S. in 1992, spent years as a roadside attraction in Forney, Texas, and eventually made its way to Warrenton.
It's also unexpectedly a story about Czech and German immigrants, painted churches, and what it means when two pieces of the same Central European history end up sharing the same quiet piece of Texas dirt.
We made a short documentary about it in the style of Texas Country Reporter and Charles Kuralt. Under 9 minutes. No hyperbole.