Boeing C-97G on static display

"Dodgeville, Wisconsin is a very scenic land with lush green meadows and a Boeing C-97G parked outside a hotel. The fantasy-suite Don Q Inn is the final resting place for 52-2764 (N227AR) which has an interesting post USAF history.

Withdrawn from use by the California ANG and interned at MASDC by 1971, it was sold along with 3 other C-97’s and four C-133’s to the Long Beach,CA based Foundation for Airborne Relief. It was used for the filming of two Mercury (Ford) Cougar car commercials (see nose art) in 1975, featuring Farrah Faucett (of Charlie's Angels fame) whose painted autograph is still applied to the fuselage. Purchased in 1977 from the by then bankrupt FAR the Strat was flown by pilot Bill Schmidt from Long Beach, arriving at the 2.800ft Dodgeville airstrip on 16th October 1977 with 10,068 hours on the clock.

The strip was next to the Inn and six feet narrower than the wheel track of a C-97, creating a large dust storm on touchdown. This airstrip has since been developed over, giving the aircraft no easy exit but there are no plans to remove this large billboard in the future. Though stored for many years the interior and cockpit remain well preserved creating somewhat of a time capsule... the autograph may be false at it is incorrectly spelled as Faucett."