Group Pays For Flyover Message Before OU Football's Season Opener

A small plane with a sign flew overhead as fans waited for the University of Oklahoma football season opener.

The sign was not for the football team, but a message for OU President David Boren about a painting that has become the center of a legal battle. 

The small plane carried a big message on a banner that read “David Boren #returnthestolenart.”

The plane was paid for by Americans for Limited Government, and it flew over Norman and the OU campus for two hours on Saturday.

The sign referred to a valuable painting that was donated to university and put on display at the university's art museum.

A French woman is suing the university to get the artwork back. She said Nazis stole it from her family during the Holocaust.

OU has maintained the donors bought it legitimately before giving it to the university 15 years ago.

And while that court battle is underway, the group fought for its cause by flight and on foot outside the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

“I think it needs to go back to the family. This was taken by the SS. Her entire biological line was exterminated in death camps. Does the University of Oklahoma want to not give back one of the only things left from her family? That’s all she has,” OU student Lang Eric Sundby said.

Sundby worked in conjunction with the group that funded the flyover to hand out fliers.

Some other fans weighed in on the issue.

“I believe that it should go back to the family that it was stolen from,” Angelina Coffey said.

“If they can’t prove that it’s theirs then it’s in a really good place for everybody to view,” said Ronny Vance.

And apparently Boren took notice too, telling News 9:

"Such an action is highly inappropriate because the matter is in the courts and in the midst of legal negotiations. It is an unfair attempt to simplify the issue. Two very fine families are involved in this issue. The University is seeking a solution that will be fair to the family that first lost the art and to the family, which purchased it in good faith and gave it to the OU Foundation so that the public could enjoy it free of charge."