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The Royal Canadian Air Force has quietly turned to an unusual source for spare parts to keep its venerable search-and-rescue airplanes flying: a museum.

The Ottawa Citizen has learned that, in July 2012, air force technicians raided an old Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules airplane that is on display at the National Air Force Museum of Canada because they needed navigational equipment for a similar aircraft still in use. The revelation highlights the difficulties military personnel have increasingly faced in keeping Canada’s ancient search-and-rescue planes flying after more than a decade of government promises to buy replacements — with no end in sight.

The air force museum is on Canadian Forces Base Trenton and boasts a large collection of military aircraft that have been retired and subsequently placed on display.

For the complete story by Lee Berthiaume of the Ottawa Citizen, click here.

Photo by the National Air Force Museum of Canada

Updated: September 15, 2014 — 2:04 PM
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