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The Ultimate Homebrewed Cockpit
by Gene Buckle

Oh mi gawd! Is that what I think it is?

*looks up*

Damn. Isn't that pretty? What you're looking at is a complete and total accident. You heard me, a fluke. You see, if my compatriot Rob and I had not gone down to the Olympic Flight Museum to take pictures of their collection, that poor F-15 would be sitting in the rain right this minute. Alone, cold and afraid, mistreated like some long forgotten rag doll dropped by an uncaring child.

This whole adventure started when I noticed a framed newspaper clipping announcing the museum's procurement of a T-28 to be used for a static display. Well the hangar their collection is housed in is so clean you can eat off the floor, but there was no restoration project to be seen. I wandered outside to see if I could find it and sure enough it was sitting outside on a flatbed trailer.

I walked around the end of the trailer and spotted this fuselage section sitting in the _ugliest_ yellow steel frame I'd ever seen. I thought, "hey, this is kinda cool". I gave the cockpit the once over and noticed the fresh air vent in the lower center of the instrument panel. It reminded me of the vent I saw in the F-15A that Rob and I did the photo study of at McChord AFB in Tacoma, WA. Of course, being the thick-skulled ubergeek that I am, it never clicked. I called Rob over to render an opinion as to what it could be. He thought maybe an A4, but wasn't sure.

We went back to the museum office and asked the curator what it was. She didn't know, but started digging around in a well loved filing cabinet. She whips out this sheet of paper and proudly announces, "It says here it's an F-15." Well had Rob or myself been the denture wearing type, they would've been merrily chopping away in little circles on the floor. We looked at each other simultaneously and you could almost hear Bill and Ted yelling "Excellent!". We start pounding this woman with more questions than you can stuff ammo out the business end of an M61A1. She gets this cornered animal look on her face and offers to take my name and number to give to the current owner. Two days later, I'm the proud owner of 17 feet worth of F-15A.

I'm Still in shock.

 

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