Thursday, March 08, 2007

F-14 Tomcats Seized in Southern California

From the Los Angeles Times courtesy of gemcohauler and the SoCalMilcom newsgroup:

Federal agents seized four F-14 Tomcat fighters in San Bernardino County on Tuesday — three from airplane museums — after investigators determined that the jets were not demilitarized and were improperly sold or transferred to private companies, including the producer of the TV show "JAG," authorities said.

When the jets were retired in the mid-1990s at the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu, Navy officials failed to ensure that the aircraft were stripped of military hardware, according to a court affidavit filed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Read the complete story by Maeve Reston and Garrett Therolf, Times Staff Writers at
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jets7mar07,0,5971777.story?coll=la-home-headlines