Impounded Skyraider

[ArmyMP]

Caught on the news about a Skyraider being confiscated by ICE for being "smuggled" into the country! Hope this link works as I am not very good at this yet.

Saw it Fox. Amazing he got the plane for ONLY 100K!!

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/06/...r_seizure.html

[Victor Archer]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

Caught on the news about a Skyraider being confiscated by ICE for being "smuggled" into the country! Hope this link works as I am not very good at this yet.

Saw it Fox. Amazing he got the plane for ONLY 100K!!
[/URL]

The article is dated: June 03, 2009...
Any one know the outcome?

[tedstriker]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

If you study the details of the picture in the article, it looks as if those ICE agents have cut one of the propellor blades off about a couple of feet from the hub.

[Race5]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

The article is dated: June 03, 2009...
Any one know the outcome?

Navy claimed ownership. It's headed to the Naval Museum in Pensacola for static display.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

Navy claimed ownership....

As Mel Brooks once said;

"It's good to be the King".

[tim]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

As Mel Brooks once said;

"It's good to be the King".

Leaving us as 'le garçon de pisse'

[Tigercat24]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

I went to engineering school with this guy's daughter...great people, unfortunate story, as he fully intended to fly it at air shows and for pleasure.

[Harley909]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

The Prop is not cut. This story isn't over yet...hopefully.

jim

[Desertdawg]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

The Prop is not cut. This story isn't over yet...hopefully.

jim

I hope the story isn't over yet, or maybe theres more information than we are getting. But, if he has been a good American, in good standing, paid his taxes, voted, and has no past criminal issues, I find it hard to believe that ICE would do something like this and then have a government entity claim it?

[AirDOGGe]

More Skyraider information

I did a little detective work on this case, and this is what I discovered. This might clear up some unanswered and un-ASKED questions, including who as ultimately responsible for this fiasco, and the (most likely) final fate of Claude Hendrickson's Skyraider:




JANUARY 28, 2011

Shelby County man told to surrender old Navy war plane to U.S. government

Anita Debro -- The Birmingham News


The U.S. attorney's office in Birmingham is seeking forfeiture of a vintage military aircraft purchased by a Shelby County man.

U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said Thursday that her office has filed a civil complaint seeking forfeiture of a former Navy aircraft, its wing cannons and other aircraft parts. The complaint alleges the airplane and those parts were brought into the country illegally.

In May 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seized the plane, a Douglas AD-4N Skyraider, from Claude Hendrickson, owner of Dixie Equipment. Since the seizure, the airplane has been stored in a hangar at Bessemer Municipal Airport.

Hendrickson, an avid vintage airplane collector, purchased the plane from a private collector in France.






April 25, 2011


Humble import firm sued after agents storm aircraft hangar

by Glenna Herald

A company specializing in the restoration of ex-military aircraft for air shows is suing after, it says, naval aviator Captain Claude Hendrickson Jr.’s son was placed under criminal investigation after U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents, armed with machine guns, stormed an aircraft hangar to seize a demilitarized Douglas AD-4N Skyraider airplane.

Dixie Equipment LLC and Claude Hendrickson filed a lawsuit on April 21 in the Harris County District Court against Geodis Wilson USA, with an office in Humble, citing breach of contract, violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and breach of fiduciary duties.

The plaintiffs say they hired Geodis Wilson to import, from France, a $545,000 Vietnam-era AD-4N Skyraider airplane to celebrate the career of Captain Claude Hendrickson Jr. According to the brief, Geodis knew that the U.S. State Department denied its request to bring the Skyraider into the States, but failed to inform the plaintiffs of the denial.

The plaintiffs claim that they were surprised when U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents seized the aircraft and accused Dixie of “clandestinely importing” the plane. This series of events led to the criminal investigation of Captain Claude Hendrickson Jr.’s son, allege the plaintiffs.

Dixie Equipment LLC and Claude Hendrickson are seeking all damages to which they are entitled, attorney’s fees and court costs. They are being represented in the case by Austin attorney Lino Mendiola.

Harris County District Court Case No. 2011-24537.





January 6, 2012

Illegally smuggled military jet ordered forfeited to US government

AD-4N Skyraider aircraft to end up at National Naval Aviation Museum in Florida


BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

A federal judge in Alabama has issued a forfeiture order for a Douglas AD-4N Skyraider aircraft after an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) determined that it had been smuggled into the United States illegally.

On Dec. 21, Judge William M. Acker, Jr., U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama, ordered that the aircraft, log books, four 20mm M3 aircraft cannons and assorted aircraft parts be forfeited to the government as property brought into the United States in violation of U.S. law.

"The Skyraider aircraft, its cannons and parts are all subject to import licensing requirements as ‘defense articles' under the Arms Export Control Act. Federal law prohibits the importation of defense articles without a license or permit," said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New Orleans. "ICE aggressively investigates these cases in order to deter this type of illegal activity and protect those who abide by our nation's laws." Parmer oversees responsibility for the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana.

Regulations and restrictions on the importation of defense articles exist in order to secure and protect the United States. Forfeiture is an appropriate remedy where a military aircraft is flown into the country without the proper authorization or license, under false pretenses and where an attempt was made to separately smuggle its cannons and assorted aircraft parts into the country.


The aircraft, owned by Claude Hendrickson, president of Dixie Equipment in Woodstock, Ala., was flown into the country in August 2008 without the required authorization from the U.S. Department of State. The pilot, who was hired by Hendrickson to fly the plane from France into the United States, provided false information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of Buffalo, N.Y., to gain admittance into the country.

The 20mm cannons arrived at the Port of Savannah, Ga., on Oct. 8, 2008, inside two 40-foot shipping containers being imported by Dixie Equipment. CBP officers discovered the cannons concealed in a wooden box, hidden under aircraft parts in the nose of one of the containers, although the cannons were not listed on the entry form, bill of lading, invoice or any other documentation submitted by Dixie Equipment.


CBP officers seized the cannons and aircraft parts on Oct. 15, 2008. The ICE HSI investigation following that seizure revealed the Skyraider aircraft had entered the United States illegally. ICE HSI agents seized the plane pursuant to a court order on April 24, 2009, at the Bessemer Airport, where it had been delivered to Hendrickson in August 2008.

Neither the State Department nor the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had granted a permit, license or other written authorization for the importation of the Skyraider, the cannons or the aircraft parts at the time they entered the United States.


ICE HSI is now in the process of working to transfer the Skyraider aircraft, cannons, and assorted aircraft parts, including three Wright engines, to the U.S. Department of the Navy, National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, for the purpose of preserving the aircraft's value as a significant and lasting part of our nation's Naval aviation history.


The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ingram, Northern District of Alabama.

[Desertdawg]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

AirDog

Good detective work. What a legal mess they created, I can see where the concern came from with attempting to bring in working 20mm cannons like they did.

Interesting that the AD6 was flown here from France? Must have used the Greenland route.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

I think what disturbs me the most is this part:

"after U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents, armed with machine guns, stormed an aircraft hangar to seize a demilitarized Douglas AD-4N Skyraider airplane."


What a bunch of cowboys. It's not like Mr. Hendrickson was some known drug kingpin or something like that. They could have simply walked in and flashed their IDs and then confiscated the aircraft. Talk about over-reacting!




I have a T-shirt I wear often that bears a message that says it all:

"I love my country, but I fear our government".

[Frank C.]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

Everyone is equal under the law. I am sure ATF was not happy about two 20mm working canons. The agents came armed with machine guns because of the fact that someone had smuggled in two, working 20 mm canons. I am sure they were being cautious. Fear the government? No, fear people who smuggle 20mm working canons. Who would need two 20 mm canons? Think terrorists. Like homegrown militias, KKK, etc... Have a problem with Homeland Security doing their jobs?

Frank C.

[Ken from PG]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

The KKK needs 20mm cannons for their Skyraider?

[FuryFan]

Re: Impounded Skyraider

Looks to me like the Feds were dealing with not one, but two groups of people who were willfully and deliberately breaking the law. Pretty hard to argue your (their) way out of this mess.

Kevin