Wichita ? One of the few Boeing B-47 Stratojets left in the U.S. is on display at the Wichita Kansas Aviation Museum less than a mile from the factory where the plane was built in more than five decades ago.

Museum officials spent Thursday morning moving the plane off supports that held it during a yearlong restoration. Some final assembly and fresh paint are needed before the project is complete, said Lon Smith, executive director of the museum.

The plane came from the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, where it was last displayed. The museum had 30 days to come up with the money to move it to Wichita or it would have been destroyed.

“It took a lot of hard work from volunteers and donations to make it happen,” said Tim Bonnell, president of the museum’s executive board.

Most of the money to move and restore the plane came from a $40,000 donation from local businessman Brad Murray, who died of leukemia April 24 at age 60.

Both wings had to be removed before the plane could be moved from the fairgrounds in Oklahoma City to Wichita. The cities are about 125 miles apart, but the plane had to be taken on a 500-mile route through backroads to avoid bridges on the interstate.

A Boeing B-47 model was built in 1947, and the bombers were delivered to the military beginning in 1954. Most were retired from service by the late 1960s.

But a few stayed in use until the early 1970s and became special-purpose airplanes. The plane on display in Wichita was converted to use for reconnaissance.

“(B-47s) flew secret missions over the arctic and Siberia, listening to things they weren’t supposed to and taking air samples,” said Walt House, volunteer curator of the museum. “At around 40,000 feet, this plane was faster than most of the fighters of its day.”