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Re: That old ownership issue...again!

Posted by Elliott on Thu Sep 18, 2003 05:51:26 AM

In reply top Re: That old ownership issue...again! posted by andy saunders on Thu Sep 18, 2003 02:43:56 AM

Hi Andy,

No - the tank is still in kent and i am still in india, but i'll be at shoreham - hopefully i can pick it up when i get back :)

Perhaps it was incorrect, but that's how the law stood at the time. Who knows the exact agreement, if any that was reached with the usaaf after the war? There must have been some sort of dictat for dealing with remains of us aircraft and airmen left over here.

Tampering with a wreck site without a licence IS an offence and i was told by the mod they were fined under the 1986 PMR act and done for theft. I don't think courts make retrospective decisions, but it is an interesting case.






: : Interesting point you mention about the people who were
: ar
: : rested, they should have known another group was involve
: d
: : as a letter was written to them via the landowner. Woul
: d
: : have been polite to have replied (assuming they got the
: le
: : tter), then they could have avoided ripping the intact w
: in
: : gs to shreds, tearing the nacelles out and leaving the b
: ea
: : ch strewn with live rounds. They did dig up two .50 cal
: m
: : achine guns and I know the police were considering firea
: rm
: : s charges.
: I really know nothing of the exact circumstances of that c
: ase, Elliot,and I think there were licence offences anyway
: but that is not an arrestable offence in itself. Theft is
: . One cannot condone what they may have done. Equally, the
: MOD Police have no cause to arrest people for a theft the
: y cannot have committed when the property concerned has be
: en abandoned formally! I believe the MOD knew that to be t
: he case and perhaps why, apparently, they dropped that cha
: rge later on?
: Andy.
: PS - That tank? Did you ever collect it???
: :
: :
: :
: : Interesting news today from the MOD who concede that for
: me
: :
: : : r USAAF/USAF lost in the UK are apparently NOT the pro
: pe
: : rt
: : : y of the US Govt as the MOD have long claimed. Althoug
: h
: : th
: : : e provisions of the PMR Act apply in the UK to US cras
: h
: : si
: : : tes, the ownership question is outwith MOD or US Govt
: co
: : nt
: : : rol and it seems the MOD are likely to accept that pos
: it
: : io
: : : n formally in due course and re-issue Notes of Guidanc
: e
: : to
: : : those involved in recoveries! A small point, but perh
: ap
: : s
: : : an important one. So what about those individuals who
: we
: : re
: : : arrested by MOD Police (not me!) a couple of years ba
: ck
: : a
: : : nd charged, inter-alia, with theft of US Govt Property
: ??
: : O
: : : bviously no theft could have taken place since the stu
: ff
: : d
: : : idnt belong to them, and this has formally been USAF p
: ol
: : ic
: : : y since at least early 1995 if not before. Mmmmm.....!
: I
: : nt
: : : eresting! Andy Saunders.

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