Flight and military history enthusiasts are furious about plans to place a decommissioned fighter jet left by the US Navy outside the headquarters of a local flight school. Critics of the plans argue that the jet, which is already corroded, will not stand up to the elements outdoors and want it kept in a museum.
The Phantom fighter jet was originally kept on a pedestal outside the offices of the commander of the US Naval Air Station that was operated in Keflavík Airport from 1951 to 2006. When the navy left, local flight enthusiasts, interested in preserving the jet, placed it in a hangar at the airport.
Permission from the National Museum of the US Air Force
Two former board members of the Flight and History museum of Reykjanes peninsula are highly critical of plans by the Flight Academy Keilir to place the fighter jet outside its headquarters. They claim they had already told the director of Keilir, the educational institution that runs the area that was once the US Navy base, that the jet could not be kept outdoors.
Hjálmar Árnason, the director of Keilir, told local newspaper Fréttablaðið, that the National Museum of the US Air Force had already signed off placing the fighter jet outside on the condition that it be inspected first. He claims the jet was already deteriorating in the hangar where it has been kept.
The jet should be as a symbol of history and of the work that goes on at and around the airport, Hjálmar said.
Flight and military history enthusiasts are furious about plans to place a decommissioned fighter jet left by the US Navy outside the headquarters of a local flight school. Critics of the plans argue that the jet, which is already corroded, will not stand up to the elements outdoors and want it kept in a museum.
The Phantom fighter jet was originally kept on a pedestal outside the offices of the commander of the US Naval Air Station that was operated in Keflavík Airport from 1951 to 2006. When the navy left, local flight enthusiasts, interested in preserving the jet, placed it in a hangar at the airport.
Permission from the National Museum of the US Air Force
Two former board members of the Flight and History museum of Reykjanes peninsula are highly critical of plans by the Flight Academy Keilir to place the fighter jet outside its headquarters. They claim they had already told the director of Keilir, the educational institution that runs the area that was once the US Navy base, that the jet could not be kept outdoors.
Hjálmar Árnason, the director of Keilir, told local newspaper Fréttablaðið, that the National Museum of the US Air Force had already signed off placing the fighter jet outside on the condition that it be inspected first. He claims the jet was already deteriorating in the hangar where it has been kept.
The jet should be as a symbol of history and of the work that goes on at and around the airport, Hjálmar said.
