Warbird museums could be in for trouble... US govt laws

I have heard coming from a source in central west US that there is a potential issue arising over people restoring wrecked aircraft that have been removed from crash sites without the official approval of the US govt.

My source is saying that the limitations of who is given the ownership is at stake and maybe up for debate, in that the govt retains all ownerships of the wrecks regardless how big or small they are.

I have myself known some people to remove partly wrecked aircraft left by the govt at crash scenes and proceed to restore them over numerous years but without any issues until now.

Wonder why the govt would all a sudden be wanting to close the loopholes if any exisit? What they afraid of - old flying memorials ?

Will be interesting to see if my source backs up the info with more when he can.

[RickH]

It is actually the other way round. Unless the site is a wargrave the NMUSAF doesan't care and doesn't claim ownership. It's true that a permit for recovery must now be sought from the respective controlling agency but the USAF is virtually rubber stamping the approval for any wrecks. The Navy is slowly coming around, there is a glimmer of change there.