Jim McBurney said he believes he was called to build planes and spread God's Word.

In the early hours of Monday morning, someone with an evil spirit visited the Pea Patch Airport in Blythe, where his experimental aircraft is stored, to shoot his mission full of holes.

"If he would have shot just a couple of inches further, my control panel would have been destroyed," Mr. McBurney said. "God was showing those bullets where to go."

Vandals damaged his plane and others at the Experimental Aircraft Association's airstrip.

Eight shots hit Mr. McBurney's Zenith CH-801 aircraft, which he had been working on for several months.

Dozens of shots were fired at three airplanes at the airstrip from a shotgun about 3 a.m. Monday, Richmond County sheriff's Sgt. Horace Anderson said. The vandals also defaced the association's clubhouse with graffiti of a swastika, a Confederate battle flag and the letters "KKK," Sgt. Anderson said. The cost of the damage has been estimated at $33,000.

The pilots who own the airport were still stunned by the damage Tuesday afternoon, said Steve Thompson, one of the co-owners.

The experimental aircraft at Pea Patch are used to teach and entertain more than 200 children around the Augusta area every year.

"We do the KidsFest every year," Mr. Thompson said. "And we have Vietnam and World War II vets that use the clubhouse, so the kind of stuff they put on that clubhouse is a slap in the face."

Mr. McBurney has been a licensed commercial pilot since 1963. He worked as an electrical engineer for 17 years, but in his late 50s he found his true calling.

"God said, 'I want you to leave that company.' He told me he wanted me to build airplanes and train missionaries to fly them," Mr. McBurney said.

The single-engine, diesel-fuel planes will one day be used to transport food and medical supplies to Third World countries, Mr. McBurney said.

It will cost about $1,000 to repair the damage to Mr. McBurney's missionary airplane, but the delay will not deter his plans, he said.

"There was no thought in this. I think the guy must have been mad at something," Mr. McBurney said. "God called me to do this. I'm still going to finish."

The 20 pilots who run the airport are offering a reward for any details leading to an arrest, Mr. Thompson said.

The incident remains under investigation by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.