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Has Mobile Lost Tanker Project?
By Debbie Williams Reporter
Published: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 4:52 pm
Last Updated: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 4:55 pm
Last Updated: Thu, April 10, 2008 - 4:55 pm
Debbie Williams
An Air Force ship sitting just off the coast sent two men to retrieve what the Gulf of Mexico pushed on shore with a little help from some tourists. "We ran out here 100 yards offshore swam it in," says Nick Patterson vacationing from Atlanta.
At 20 feet long and bright orange, the Air Force drone is "the" tourist attraction on the beach.
With around 200 people looking on, the challenge was to get it back in the water and on board the recovery vessel which sounds a lot easier than it actually is and required help from some of the same people who helped bring it on shore. "I'd say it's about 15 hundred pounds. It's very heavy," says Patterson.
"They looked like they needed a hand so I jumped in with some other guys helped em push it out," says Tim O'Day from Kentucky.
After a struggle the Air Force finally got the drone through the surf and back on the boat but their work was not over. A second drone washed ashore about 300 yards away.
Both military drones were shot down south of Panama City, Florida last month.
The seas were too rough for recovery so the military was satisfied to let them wash ashore.
Folks on beach say the timing couldn't have been better. "Instead of shells, find a missile. So It's nice, it's neat, interesting, definitely," says Chandler Ray who says he won't soon forget this vacation.
The Air Force usually retrieves the drone 40 to 70 miles off the coast within an hour of them being shot down.
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