Abandoned US Military F-14 and F-4 Found in a Field. Anyone Know How They Got There?

FighterSweep Staff 11 Comments Military Aviation, Navy, News, Photos, Video

There must be a good story about these abandoned aircraft. Who out there in Fighter Sweep land knows?

The men in the video don’t say where the planes are, but the accents imply the location is somewhere in the South. The planes have apparently been there for years—some have trees growing out of them.

It shouldn’t surprise you to know that the Navy F-14s shouldn’t be there. F-14s were retired from Navy service in 2006, and rather than give them away to foreign countries as excess defense articles or put them into storage, the Department of Defense simply cut them up and disposed of them.

The F-4 is an old U.S. Marine Corps F-4N Phantom II. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft are assigned Navy Bureau Numbers when they enter service, and according to one YouTube commenter, the F-4 is BuNo 152267. If true that makes it this plane, which served as a “gate guardian” at Dallas Naval Air Station, Texas. – Popular Mechanics

According to the Popular Mechanics article the F-4 in the video above is in fact USN BuNo 152267. Photo by Tom Tessier. F-4 was on display at Dallas Naval Air Station, TX

Featured image by YouTube Video Screen Capture

Grant Von Leue

Found their location in the YouTube comments. 1002 S 20th St, Temple, TX 76501. Plainly visible from satellite view on google maps
- Bill Karmik
  
  Grant, it is 1002 N 20th St.
THOR

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c550f8df71491da69d20a71f8facf846c68ce434cbbd407024c2ada5b96a2ad.png Grant…you are just a little off….if you look up 815 N 14th St, Temple, TX it will take you to the scrap yard….the aircraft are just east of that scrap yard….and clearly visible as you indicate.
- patrickdepuydt
  
  So were they just scrapped and moved out of the way?
  - Matt Simmons
    
    Probably damaged airframes sold for scrap and tossed aside in that field in the 80s. Not a very compelling story, but likely what happened.
  - AD
    
    Here is my guess of what happened.
    
    Dallas Naval Air Station was shut down in September of 1998, according to Google. The above article mentions that the F-4 was a gate guardian there. I am guessing the F-14s were there, as well, perhaps in a museum inside the base (lots of bases have small museums). When the Navy left, they did not take the jets, probably due to an oversight, and once the base reverted to private control the old jets were just more junk. Someone came along and probably offered to take them off the land owners’ hands as scrap. The owners agreed and I would not be surprised if the new “owner” tried to get the jets scrapped. But I would also guess that a reputable scrap yard would have raised some concerns with someone coming in with old military hardware to sell as scrap — after all, these jets still belong to the US Navy and the US taxpayers. Rebuffed in their desire to turn the jets into cash, and realizing the government could technically come after them for taking government property without permission, the owner dumped them in their current location, where they have been since at least 2004, based on Google satellite imagery.
    
    Temple is quite a ways away from Dallas Naval Air Station, so these jets were not just pushed to the side and left there. And that’s my guess.
Kelly Pedron

Reminds me of the old Soplata collection out in Ohio . . .
HawkRawk

The Tomcat was on board USS Stennis. Researching squadrons based on her during the F-14s days it is either from VF-14 Tophatters or VF-41 Black Aces.
Pacemaker4

someone planning to build a rocket car?
Bill Karmik

I contacted the US Naval Museum in Pensacola FL on 16 May 17 about these two old warriors. I am waiting for them to contact me.
Steve

Former F-14 technician here – the Tomcat in the video has the letters, “NNIS” visible on the starboard wing area near the glove vane. Probably an F-14 aboard the USS JOHN C STENNIS. That would be one way to track it down. Possibly a VF-31 squadron aircraft.