WIX Archives

Slight chance of help w/ Guad Wildcat

Posted by Chris Livingston on Thu Nov 08, 2001 12:37:12 AM

I was checking the archives to see what's been going on in my absence--didn't have the heart for WW2 stuff for awhile there, what with a real war now.

About bringing in the Wildcat to the States, the general answer you would get from "YOUR US Navy and Marine Corps" (as they like to refer to themselves over the loudspeakers at Blue Angels performances) is "DO NOT touch OUR airplane or we will have FBI/NIS/ATF arrest you and you will serve prison time for theft or conversion of US Military Property." The US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided last year that the Department of the Navy has the perfect right to do this, even if the aircraft in question is the last known TBD and is corroding away to nothing and the would-be salvors dropped over $100k to find it. I attended the oral argument of that case and the open hostility of the government attorney was deeply disturbing, as was the candid admission that the Navy has no budget or plans to restore it, and did not want private interests doing so, just because. Unless you have written permission otherwise, DO NOT attempt to import ANYTHING that ever carried a BuNo into the United States. The USAF is a bit more understanding, I hear, but I don't know for sure.

However, once in a great while, the Navy exhibits some common sense and makes deals with salvors to recover airframes in return for being allowed to keep some of them. I believe Mark Clark's F4F-3 is one of these. Should someone else want swing a similar deal, I would be glad to help in one or both of two ways: (1) I make no pretense of having any special influence whatsoever, but I am able to send letters with a law office's return address, and these have a higher likelihood of being paid some attention than other letters might. (2) If you get your project aircraft to Miami, Florida, USA and provide a space and tools and materials, I can help restore it. All the foregoing would be in return for an ownership share including equal rights to flight time.

Japanese aircraft don't present the same legal problems, so long as ATF is satisfied you're not trying to import an implement of war--a fellow around here got his MiG-23 confiscated due to exactly this kind of misunderstanding ("Dude, where's my Flogger?"). I will be more than glad to help with a Japanese project, since my air museum including Ki-61 has been taken away.

Best of luck with the Wildcat, or maybe it will just stay there for more decades, in which case I look forward to taking my niece to see a pile of aluminum oxide powder.

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