This weekend in Indiana County, the Jimmy Stewart Museum is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and it is doing so with several big events around town.

One event is seeing one of Stewart's planes, a P-51c Thunderbird, that's not only still flying, but has an incredible history in its own right.

Jimmy Stewart's roots in Indiana, Pennsylvania

To understand how much this community loves Stewart, the Indiana County airport is named after him. They even have one of his old planes, a Cessna 310 F, on display right outside the main terminal building. 

But another plane associated with Stewart is on layover at the airport this weekend and has a great tie to the star and the aviator. That plane is the P-51c Thunderbird.

The Thunderbird is a racing plane built just after World War II. Not only does this plane still hold some incredible world records, like racing from California to Cleveland in 1949 at 470 mph and winning the Bendix Trophy, but it also was the to quickly fly the film of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 back to the States for broadcast.  

But now, for the first time, Stewart's old plane has landed at the airport that bears his name for a weekend celebrating this one-of-a-kind native son.

Warren Pietsch, the current owner of this plane, flew it in earlier this week, and he says he is proud to be adding to the festivities here and for this Thunderbird to have the homecoming it never got while Stewart was alive.

"When we circled town," said Pietsch, "we circled the museum, and I patted it on the inside and I said 'there you go, girl, this is where your old owner grew up.'"

Pietsch bought the plane about 20 years ago and restored it to the way it looked back when Stewart owned it. While he keeps the plane near his home in Minot, North Dakota, Pietsch says he takes it all over the country as a way to keep its great history alive.

Kelly Stewart-Harcourt, the daughter of Jimmy Stewart, also flew in for this weekend. She says she is amazed by this aircraft, because like many in Indiana, she is seeing it for the very first time.

"I know dad loved flying," Stewart-Harcourt said. "And I think he loved flying more than anything. He loved it more than acting; he didn't love it more than his family, but he loved flying. And seeing this just makes it real. It makes his love tangible in the form of this gorgeous blue and yellow plane. I am just overwhelmed. And the big gift is that dad is still alive, so our family has never lost dad."

Now this plane is going to be on display on Saturday and Sunday at the airport. For more information on the plane and its history, . And for more information on all the events going on in honor of Jimmy Stewart this weekend, .  

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• Pennsylvania