Group working to restore a legendary, airplane-shaped gas station

POWELL, Tenn. – Joe Inman remembers flying by in the 1970s.

And, like so many others drivers on the Clinton Highway in East Tennessee, he thought he was looking at a real airplane.

A crashed one.

It landed on the road, so the legend goes, and then some enterprising young men took the wreckage and turned it into a store, adding gas pumps – and even a place to change oil.

These brothers – Elmer and Henry Nickle – really made their airplane soar.

Only, you can forget all that stuff about this once really being any kind of bird.

FASCINATED WITH FLIGHT

This roadside oddity was never an airplane; it was only built to look that way on the outskirts of Knoxville.

Why, back in the early 1930s, airplanes were just simply fascinating to people, Inman learned.

And the Nickles were no exception.

So, using wood, covered with tin, these brothers built this 58-foot-long, airplane-shaped structure, then used part of the 42-foot wingspan as a shelter for patrons who pumped gas.

Inside the plane, the Nickels set aside space for a little office.

They had a toilet, too.

But, their business didn’t last forever.

Over time, the Nickles’ creation – what became known as the "Airplane Filling Station" – became a home to a business selling produce and another selling bait and tackle. It was once part of a car lot, as well.

And then? It just lay in a forest of overgrown weeds, rotting by the roadside.

LOVINGLY RESTORED

Today, this weathered relic with chipped white paint is being lovingly restored by folks like Inman, plus retired antiques dealer Tom Milligan and Rock Bernard, a Knoxville-area barber who first took notice of the plane in 1993, soon after moving to Tennessee.

"It’s a very rare piece of roadside architecture that’s just about extinct," Bernard, 58, said. "The only other strange piece of roadside architecture like that, nearby, is the Grand Guitar in Bristol."

Bernard, Inman and Milligan began working to save the plane about four years ago, soon after Milligan bought the structure for $20,000.

"That’s when we formed our grassroots organization – the Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association," Bernard said. "And we’ve gotten quite a lot of support from the community."

It’s going to take about $150,000 or more to restore the building and re-landscape the grounds, Bernard estimated.

"That’s if we hire a contractor on most of that," Bernard said. "We want to restore it to look like it did in the early 1930s."

‘NOT PUMP GAS’

Plans call for once again making the plane look like a gas station.

"We plan on having some non-functioning gas pumps," Inman said.

But, Bernard quickly pointed out, "It will not pump gas. It wouldn’t be feasible, because of all the environmental stuff."

Perhaps, Inman suggested, the airplane might one day be made into an office space, so rent from the office tenants could be used to pay for the continuous upkeep of the structure.

Bernard, meanwhile, considers this restoration a community project.

"We’re not doing this for ourselves," Bernard said. "It’s for the benefit of the community so they can enjoy this for another 75 years."

| (276) 791-0704

YOU CAN HELP

What: Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association

Address: P.O. Box 74, Heiskell, TN 37754

Info: (865) 933-7158

Web: www.powellairplane.org