An A-3 Skywarrior made its final journey down Ault Field Road early this morning.

Crews shut down the road to escort the 76-foot-long jet to its final resting spot outside the main gate to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station at Langley Boulevard.

By the end of September, organizers hope to have the jet mounted in a static display.

Even with the jet wings folded, crews were pulling out road signs in the rain to squeeze the behemoth through.

“We waited six years to get to this point,” said Bill Burklow, one of the directors of the A-3 Skywarrior Whidbey Memorial Foundation.

The jet is known as the largest and heaviest to operate from Naval aircraft carriers. It was a bomber originally intended to carry nukes during the Cold War. The jet also provided aerial refueling during the Vietnam War.

The jet was flown by pilots at Whidbey from 1957 to 1968. The Navy retired the jet from service in 1991.

The foundation successfully argued this was a good home for one of the few remaining airworthy A-3s because of the large Naval community that included many former A-3 pilots, engineers and mechanics.

The jet was the first aircraft Burklow worked on as an aviation electronics technician. He called it “my baby.” Many people put in thousands of volunteer hours to refurbish the plane, which had been sitting on the tarmac on base. Two people in particular — Jim Croft and Jeff Hanson — put in so much time that they are honored with having their names on the plane.