In 1996, the City of Owatonna acquired a T-38 Talon jet from the U.S. Air Force for display at the airport, but when the project exceeded the city's budget, the plane was placed in storage. In 1997, R.W. "Buzz" Kaplan proposed creating a signature display outside Heritage Halls Museum, one-quarter mile north of the airport, using three planes in flying formation. The city then acquired two more jets from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The aircraft, originally painted a drab military color, were stripped of nearly 2,000 pounds of excess weight and repainted in authentic Thunderbird colors. Heritage Halls officials spent more than a year helping acquire and design the display and believed there was none other like it in the world. Engineers spent several months developing a structure able to withstand the area's high winds, and the final design endured 113-mile-per-hour winds in wind tunnel testing. Each 12,500-pound plane measured 46 feet, 4 inches long, with steel I-beams through the tailpipes mounted to pylons 36 feet in length. Because of the display's curvature, the noses rose 70 feet into the air. The base used 308 tons of concrete and steel, with 6 1/2-foot anchor bolts extending through it. From 1998 to 2006, the jets stood in a bomb-burst formation at Heritage Halls Museum without cost to the City of Owatonna. The project fulfilled the dream of Heritage Halls founder R.W. "Buzz" Kaplan to create a realistic aerobatic display and honor United States fighter pilots who help protect the country.