If you cruised on Interstate 80 near Madison Avenue in Sacramento back in the early 2000s, you might remember seeing a World War II fighter plane perched by the former Holiday Inn.
Now a Wyndham hotel — at least before it gets turned into apartments, according to the Sacramento Business Journal — the building at 5321 Date Ave. stands without its star-stamped airplane.
Reader Ken Ketsdever asked The Sacramento Bee: “What happened to the WWII era airplane (P-51 Mustang?) that was atop the hotel along I-80 at about Madison Ave?”
Here’s what Bee Curious discovered.
What was a fighter plane doing at Sacramento hotel?
Nearly 20 years after it was constructed in 1980, the Holiday Inn Sacramento Northeast was renovated in 1999.
According to a Bee story about the hotel’s reopening day in 1999, the multimillion-dollar makeover included an expansive interior lobby, a convention area, a business center with computers and Internet access and two new restaurants — plus a scale model of a P-51 Mustang World War II-era fighter plane.
The aircraft was an ode to Chuck Yeager, a long-time Grass Valley resident and World War II fighter pilot known for being the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound in 1947.
Dubbed “Glamorous Glen,” the plane was stationed atop a 46-foot reproduction of an airport control tower by the hotel’s aviation-themed restaurant, Aces Supper Club.
“It sort of breaks the spell, which at Aces Supper Club runs to the catchy glitz, glamour and giddiness of a World War II lounge and dinner house where military personnel might gather for one last bash before tomorrow’s uncertain fate,” Bee restaurant critic Mike Dunne wrote in March 2000.
It was a restaurant where you’d find executives conferring “conspiratorially” over papers while the band paused their set to salute U.S. Navy personnel.
“Aces is a fun landing strip, where the 1940s aviation theme is carried off with equal measures of discipline and energy,” Dunne wrote. “Motorists along Interstate 80 at Madison Avenue get a hint of the freedom and gumption inside when their eye is caught by a large model of Chuck Yeager’s World War II fighter plane ‘Glamorous Glen’ buzzing a 46-foot flight control tower next to the Holiday Inn Northeast.”
The plane eventually became an Interstate 80 landmark.
Where is model aircraft now?
The plane was grounded in September 2003, The Bee reported, to get assessed for structural damages.
According to the story, the foam on one wing was sliding off of the plane’s structure.
If the damages were minor, the plane was expected to be fixed and propped back up the tower.
But the hotel general manager at the time, Dwight Miyakawa, told the Bee then that all bets were off if the damage was extensive, and that the assessment could take a couple of weeks.
In a November 2003 story, The Bee reported that Glamorous Glen was “still in limbo.”
At the time, the plane was still grounded and there was no word on when or if the fighter plane would grace Interstate 80 again.
The assessment was complicated and Miyakawa wanted it to be thorough, the Bee wrote.
“We want to make sure four years from now that we don’t have to take it down again and do this all over,” Miyakawa told The Bee.
As of November 2003, the plane sat in an enclosure behind the hotel.
The Bee reached out to Miyakawa, who didn’t immediately respond, as well as the current hotel manager of the Wyndham, who declined to comment.
It’s unclear where the plane is now.
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