Aircraft "Amber Alert" - Stolen Wings in Mesa, AZ

[Ryan Keough]

Aircraft "Amber Alert" PHX - 14 July 2008

Mesa Police Department, Mesa, Arizona, is seeking information on the following theft of a dual axle low-profile trailer containing approximately 2,500 pounds of vintage Lockheed fixed-wing aircraft parts reported stolen earlier today.

Items reported missing are 1940s and 1950s vintage Lockeed aircraft wings - most notably a complete 36' aircraft wing section from a T-33 trainer and starboard wing of a PV-2 Harpoon as removed from a locked and fenced storage compound located one block east of Mesa's Falcon Field municipal airport. These vintage aircraft wing components were strapped to an open 28' trailer and stored in the 5600 block of East McDowell Road, just across the street from the airfield. The trailer was last noted at the site, 5601 East Hermosa Vista Drive, Wednesday, 09 July 2008. Items as stored on the trailer were visible from the ground and air and not covered on the vehicle.

Aircraft wing is painted silver, and has a national "star and bars" insignia consistant with USAF aircraft on one wing. This wing obscures yet another Lockheed aircraft wing cradled underneath the upper wing section. Both components held on this open trailer with cargo straps.

All items are considered property in care of Wingspan Aviation Heritage Foundation, a not-for-profit organization museum located in Mesa, Arizona. A $1,000 reward for the safe return of the items is offered. All area scrap buyers have been notified with negative results and it is now suspected that the motive for the crime may have been the theft of the commercial grade trailer and not necessarily the aviation related components stored upon it.

Anyone with information regarding the missing aircraft items is asked to contact Mesa Police Department at (480) 644-2211 with reference to the following case numbers:

DR #20081960305
DR #20081960354
DR #20081960332

Anonymous information pursuant to this matter may be left in care of Sgt. Theresa Clark, Phoenix Police Department, (602) 495-7815 or MetalTheftUnit@Phoenix.gov

[Nathan]

wtf is wrong with people?!

[P51Mstg]

Nice trailer. Got one like it in my hangar (mine is black though and I've had it about 10 years). Chances are you are going to find the wings dumped somewhere on a back road, since they wanted the trailer (the wings would be HARD (except here) to sell as scrap). The problem is that if you don't find them on the surface, they may well end up burried..... In our area when things disappear, they usually never get recovered since they may well end up in a strip mine where the high wall (think 100' of rock) is about to get dropped on them. They could scrape a quick hole with a backhoe in a few minutes and cover them up. Need to get out on the 4 wheelers or in a Cub and start looking.

Had a friend who had his Peterbuilt tractor stolen some years back. The truck was top of the line custom, a real show piece. However hooked to the back was a trailer with his pulling tractor in it and spares and a machineshop on wheels. Fortunately they wanted the truck, they took it several miles and dropped the trailer (uninsured on the pulling tractor and trailer I may add) and the tractor was found days later stripped clean. He got the tractor, spares and the trailer back though...... The insurance company bought a new truck.

I really wish you guys the best on this one.

Mark H

[Matt Gunsch]

Robert and Ryan are doing a great job of getting the word out. It is on here:
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont ... e41d49e8b&

and I saw Robert on CH3 news here in Phx,
Ch3 must have had some special cameras because they were able to film Robert without having to use a mirror, ala Madusa,

[engguy]

Anyone with stuff on a trailer needs to secure it real well, that is the whole unit. I have a gooseneck trailor that I remove the whole hitch assembly from it, and also the landing gear crank. And its on blocks, to save the suspension from the weight that is on the trailer.

On another note, I'm sure that Arizona is like all the other states with cameras everywhere on the freeways and city intersections, and then there is real time satellite photos on disk someplace, if you had some good connections in the NSA, you could probably pin point to the inch where it went and is sitting right now.

[Lynn Allen]

They are stealing trailers left & right here in Ellis county just for the metal

Lynn

[Robbie Roberts]

And you guys wonder why I support a draft and a decent shooting war for urban renewal purposes...

I'd still get the word out to any and l scrap yards within 300 miles- as well as check them out personally. That much aluminum has got to be worth something as scrap.

And if you find the thieves, take them into the desert and give them a cranial insertion of a few ounces of lead. Be sure to leave a bottle of ketchup with 'em- make them taste better to the coyotes.

Robbie

[kenlyco]

GET THEM ROBBIE!!

[Ryan Keough]

Hi folks,

The video Matt was talking about can be viewed online - see it at: http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stor ... 4b18e.html

We are really fighting an uphill battle down here in PHX with metal thieves in the area... it's worse than ever... copper, aluminum... you name it.

This is really the worst thing that could happen to one of the nicest guys out there. Robert is a true gentleman and pours his heart (and wallet) out saving these pieces of history. You'll recall that he already went through quite the debacle with the R5D cockpit section that went missing last year from Chandler Memorial (and luckily was found in the hands of a guy who later became a friend... after finding out he was similarly "taken for a ride"). Now with this, I am really feeling bad for my friend... really a "one step forward and two steps back" situation and he's the last guy that needs it.

I will do all I can to help get the word out... thanks for the support folks and let's all hope for a good resolution to this.

[Bluedharma]

Ryan,
Thanks for the permission for repost.
Now on this forum as well.
http://www.airport-data.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1831#1831

[kenlyco]

Down here in South FL. they are stealing copper? vases from grave yards ,they must of hit a dozen of them in the last year worth big dollars they have to set up surveillance camera's to try and catch them.

[Fouga23]

It's all over the world. I had a wing stolen 4 years ago. Probably also for the scrap value.
http://www.fougamagister.be/stolen/
Hope you get your stuff back!

[engguy]

It looks like all scrap dealers will have to be regulated. And anyone selling scrap to them, should have their ID and photo taken.
Here you have to wait about 2 weeks to get paid for aluminum scrap.
Theft of anything to be used as scrap should carry a minimum of 20 years, after full restoration of what ever it is they stole.

[sdennison]

I run a bronze foundry and machine shop here in Waukesha. I have one "lad" in jail for taking 3.5 tons of material from us in a month! My newly installed 8 camera DVR caught him 2 days after he had been fired. I now have spent $100K on fencing, gates, 24/7 security guards, and an upgrade to a 16 camera system. The cost of doing business now days!

I had one worker arrested during the day shift, hand cuffed in front of everybody and hauled to jail for stealing copper charge material. It is un-friggin-believable now!

The dealers are as bad as they know exactly what they are buying and how legit the "client" is. The Detective got us 1/2 our material back but if you do the math, teh dealer got the other half and broke even on the transaction with the criminal. We had another foundry here get hit for 700 lbs of cobalt, $33,000 by an insider.

I'm saying, guns, dogs, land mines, tasers, attack spiders, heck I don't care. They are not getting any more of my stuff!

Hope they can trace the wings.

[ZRX61]

Someone hit the local railroad maint yard here & stole all the welding cables from the trucks..

The only good thing about this kind of theft is that sometimes they attempt to steal cable that has 33Kv going thru it.. That usually cures them, permanently