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Sorry for the delay, but your crack LAist Aviation Staff Reporters had their attention seized (at the time) by the guy at LAXwith wires coming out of his…err…body cavity, and this slipped under the radar.
However, after a 17 month investigation, three Federal Agencies announced Tuesday they had taken into custody four F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft, three from air museums around Chino and one from the company that produced the series “JAG” stored near Victorville. Why? The craft (which cannot fly) acquired from the U.S. military might still have technology which could be removed and sold on the black market. Who might benefit from this? The only country that still flies the F-14 fighter, obviously, which is -- Iran!
There are a few incredulous questions which this story raises, but must at least be asked. Might our nation’s air museums really be a security risk? Are the Producers of “JAG” working against our country? Are our armed air forces afraid of museum piece caliber technology? Did it really take three government agencies 17 months to track down four fighters – three on display, and one used in a television show spanning nearly ten seasons?
Clearly all of these questions should be answered with a resounding no. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case. However, being skeptical about air security, we are mightily impressed with the guys at LAX who nabbed that dude with the wires coming out of his body cavity.
Photo by hober