BLOOMINGTON - The term "oversize load" seemed a comic understatement as the Boeing North American F-100C Super Sabre jet fighter made its way Sunday to the Prairie Aviation Museum.

Accompanied by personnel from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Police, the aircraft and its nearly 39-foot wingspan took up the entire westbound lane of Empire Street, which had been blocked by police to make way for the museum’s latest acquisition.

In a rare move, the plane was left intact and on landing gear for its transport, which began at 7 a.m. Sunday at the Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul, where it moved across county roads to Illinois 136, to Interstate 57, then to Interstate 74 to the Downs exit. From there, it traveled to Towanda Barnes Road, right to Illinois 9 and on to the Central Illinois Regional Airport.

The Bloomington museum learned about 18 months ago that the plane was scheduled to return to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the National Air Force Museum as an excess aircraft. The Bloomington musuem then made a request for a transfer.

"This is part of our nation’s aviation history," said John Ohler, restoration coordinator for the Bloomington museum.

"We wanted to salvage it," he said. "If we hadn’t found a home for it, it would have been scrapped."