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According to a
spokesperson for the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (W.A.S.P.) Museum,
"Over the last two decades, representatives for the Navy have made their
position on the subject of salvaged warplanes abundantly clear. Claim
ownership of any plane ever owned by the Navy and the offending citizen,
organization or museum will likely face charges, often with the Navy
utilizing the full force and power of the U.S. Department of Justice to
‘protect their interests."
Minnesotan Lex Cralley salvaged an abandoned Corsair from a swamp in North
Carolina, and is now going through a Navy quagmire that is now forcing him
to defend himself in court. All for having tried, according to Cralley, to
preserve a tiny piece of the history and heritage of aviation in the
United States.
The Corsair, having crashed into the swamp December 19, 1944, had been
stripped and abandoned by Navy officials at that time.
Congressman Walter B. Jones has aligned himself with Cralley and is
working to see the plane relinquished to the mechanic -- a father of four
who had to mortgage his house to defend himself against the Navy’s
allegations.
The W.A.S.P. Museum’s ‘salvaged plane’ was headed for the crusher in 1993
when Oldham learned of it’s plight. At a publicly sanctioned and properly
advertised legal auction, Richard Oldham, the curator of the W.A.S.P.
Museum in Quartzsite, Arizona won the Panther via sealed bid. According to
Oldham, the Navy is now challenging this process.
"I purchased the plane, and when I would not give it to the Navy upon
demand, representatives from the U.S.S. Hornet Museum offered to complete
the restoration for our museum. Once the plane was moved from our site to
the U.S.S. Hornet under a signed agreement to return the plane in five
years, I was advised by the Admiral on the U.S.S. Hornet that the plane
would ‘never leave their museum,’" Oldham stated.
It's quite possible the Admiral had underestimated Oldham - and his
organization.One
of Oldham’s lawyers, Glen G. Gimbut of Yuma, had, prior to allowing the
plane to be transferred to the U.S.S. Hornet, prepared a contract
concerning the transfer of the plane which the Navy promptly signed,
demanding $750,000.00 should the plane fail to be returned as per the
agreement, following the five year lease. In March of 2005, that contract
was due -- and the Panther was to return to the W.A.S.P. Museum or the
$750,000 paid to the museum to provide the funds for the purchase of
another plane.
Of primary concern in this matter is the precedent that would have been set by the seizing of this
plane. According to Oldham, "...the W.A.S.P.’s case for ownership of the
Panther advances, other museums, themselves holding Navy planes, watch
anxiously."
Throughout the country, many of the displays of planes in museums both
public and private contain planes once owned by the Navy. If Oldham’s case
were to have failed, these planes are certainly at risk of confiscation.
A twice-elected President of the Arizona Historical Society, Oldham
painstakingly documented every aspect of the acquisition of the Panther
and holds every pertinent piece of official
documentation that was available --
documentation the Navy has repeatedly requested, received and
reviewed.
Further, according to Oldham, Senator Bob Stump, having taken the matter
before Congress in 2002, established the plane should be relinquished to
the W.A.S.P. Museum requiring only that they neither fly nor transfer the
Panther to any entity not approved by Navy officials. But when the
documentation arrived, the Navy had added many stipulations -- among
them, that the Panther would remain at the U.S.S. Hornet Museum in
Alameda, California.
The W.A.S.P. Museum officials have agreed to the original stipulations
concerning transfer of title and agreement not to fly the Panther. They
wanted the plane returned to the W.A.S.P. facility or another plane, equally
significant, as the centerpiece for the museum.
Oldham has put the entire story, along with all pertinent
documentation, online at the
W.A.S.P. Museum’s Web site and invites people to evaluate the ‘paper
trail’ for themselves.
The plane, returned to the W.A.S.P. Museum in April, 2005, now resides
at Quartzsite. Pictures of the transfer are
HERE.
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