WIX Archives
Chris, if you look at Mick's questions below....
Posted by Tony on Thu Nov 08, 2001 07:33:50 AM
In reply top Slight chance of help w/ Guad Wildcat posted by Chris Livingston on Thu Nov 08, 2001 12:37:12 AM
Welcome back Chris,
Mick's asking the question, because there is now a very very real chance of recovering aircraft from a territory, that are significant.
Mick, blimmin hell, you missed your calling in life, can just see you being the scourge of juries everywhere -lol
Why work on a manky old wildcat, when you can lavish TLC on a Hawg or an F51? :0)
Best regards
Tony
: I was checking the archives to see what's been going on in
: my absence--didn't have the heart for WW2 stuff for awhil
: e there, what with a real war now.
:
: About bringing in the Wildcat to the States, the general a
: nswer 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 Proper
: ty." 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 w
: ould-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 r
: estore it, and did not want private interests doing so, ju
: st because. Unless you have written permission otherwise,
: DO NOT attempt to import ANYTHING that ever carried a BuN
: o into the United States. The USAF is a bit more understa
: nding, I hear, but I don't know for sure.
:
: However, once in a great while, the Navy exhibits some com
: mon sense and makes deals with salvors to recover airframe
: s in return for being allowed to keep some of them. I bel
: ieve Mark Clark's F4F-3 is one of these. Should someone e
: lse 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 le
: tters 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 M
: iami, Florida, USA and provide a space and tools and mater
: ials, I can help restore it. All the foregoing would be i
: n return for an ownership share including equal rights to
: flight time.
:
: Japanese aircraft don't present the same legal problems, s
: o long as ATF is satisfied you're not trying to import an
: implement of war--a fellow around here got his MiG-23 conf
: iscated due to exactly this kind of misunderstanding ("Dud
: e, where's my Flogger?"). I will be more than glad to hel
: p with a Japanese project, since my air museum including K
: i-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 ta
: king my niece to see a pile of aluminum oxide powder.