A medical doctor who has had a strong liking for fighter planes since his teenage years, bought a retired fighter plane from a scrap-yard three years ago, making him the first Taiwanese civilian to own a fighter.
The plane was, however, vandalized beyond repair after the doctor had bought it, on the night before he was to take delivery of it. Sources now allege Taiwan's air force was responsible for the destruction.
Doctor Yu Chung-chih (
But not many people know anything about Yu or the fact that there is a fighter plane in private hands.
Yu, who is in his early 50s, kept a low profile over the past three years and never told people he possesses of a fighter plane -- for reasons he doesn't want to talk about.
Yu's fighter plane is a retired F-86 jet, which had been the air force's main airborne fighting machine in the 1950s and the 1960s. Yu bought the plane in 1999 from a scrap-metal company in Taipei County's Wuku township, which acquired the aircraft from the Tamkang University.
The Tamkang University had owned the F-86 since the late 1970s when all the air force's F-86s were retired.
The air force donated the jet to the university so that students with the aviation department could analyze the construction of a real jet fighter.
The university then sold the plane in 1998 to a scrap-metal company after deciding that it was no longer useful.
Doctor Yu then asked if he could buy the F-86, which would have been dismantled and sold as scrap metal if he did not intervene.
Yu bought the plane for NT$280,000, which included fees for transporting the plane to the place where he would keep it.
In a recent interview with the Taipei Times, Yu said: "It has been my dream to own a fighter jet since my teenage years."
But when Yu took delivery of the plane he saw that it had been vandalized beyond repair.
Yu says he knew who was responsible for the damage, but he refused to reveal this information.
Information given to the Taipei Times alleges that the air force was the culprit.
Sources allege that one night before the delivery of the plane to Yu, the air force sent personnel to the scrap metal company in Wuku.
The air force team, which apparently included technicians, used welding torches to cut the wings and tail from the plane, as well as other parts vital to the plane's functioning. They also used hammers to break the cockpit window.
As a result, the plane, which still looked like a fighter plane before being delivered to Yu, looked more like a dismembered whale when it was delivered to the doctor.
Despite the bad condition of his collection piece, Yu still spent another NT$200,000 to build a shelter for the aircraft on a plot his family owns in Taipei County's Hsichih township.
Asked about his plans for the future, Yu said: "I don't plan to restore the aircraft. I prefer to leave it as it is."
RSS