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May 4--Officials of the Aerospace Museum of California are close to breaking ground on their $7 million, state-of-the-art facility at McClellan Park.
But even before construction begins on the 37,500-square-foot building, a high-profile aircraft has been added to the more than 30 military planes displayed at the museum site, south of Freedom Park Drive and 32nd Street.
An F-14 Tomcat - the Navy fighter jet featured in the 1986 movie "Top Gun" starring Tom Cruise - flew into McClellan in April.
The F-14s, which are aircraft carrier-based planes, are being phased out of the nation's defense arsenal. The plane at McClellan had its engines and other military hardware removed soon after being placed in a hangar at the former Air Force base. The F-14 will become part of the permanent museum collection.
The museum's groundbreaking is expected in June, but no date has been set.
"A lot of this is depending on the weather, right now," said Roxanne Yonn, spokeswoman for the museum foundation.
Before the museum site can be graded, the museum's aircraft collection must be moved to a nearby location, Yonn said. The move is expected in mid-May.
That can't be done until the grassy area where the planes are dries out, she said.
Once the planes are moved and some other steps are taken, work can begin on the museum, she said. "You will see a lot of activity this summer," Yonn said. Museum officials hope to see the building completed by the end of the year, with exhibits set up in the facility early in 2007.
One of the final procedural steps needed for construction to proceed was taken by the county Board of Supervisors on April 11.
The board approved a resolution declaring that if the Air Force should seek "additional funding" for the museum site, the board would not ask for money from the North Highlands Recreation and Park District.
The 6.5-acre museum site was part of the 27-acre Freedom Park that the Air Force gave to the park district after vacating McClellan in July 2001.
Park district officials sold the 6.5 acres for about $470,000 to the foundation that is building the museum.
Then, county and federal officials decided on another approach. They asked the park district to relinquish its ownership and allow the 6.5 acres to be given to the county, which, in turn, would sell the site to the museum foundation.
While the property's months-long change of ownership was taking place, Air Force officials indicated there might be more fees added to the transaction, but no such fees have been proposed.
Park district officials wanted assurance from the county that they wouldn't face additional fees. The Board of Supervisors gave that assurance with the April 11 action.
Kay Dahill, administrator for the park district, said April 14 that she would write to the National Park Service asking for a 6.5-acre reduction in the district's Freedom Park land.
Then the Air Force will rewrite its agreement with the park district, and a new agreement for the 6.5 acres will be written between the Air Force and the county.
Museum officials will make payments to reimburse the county for more than $470,000 for the cost of the land.
Lt. Cmdr. Tom Wagener, 35, who said he has been flying Tomcats for the Navy since 1995, piloted the F-14 into McClellan on its final flight.
"It's a fun airplane to fly," Wagener said in a telephone interview. "It's a pilot's machine." His plane was based on the USS Roosevelt at a naval air station in Virginia, and he flew missions in the Iraq theater from Sept. 1, 2005, until March 10, Wagener said.
F-14s were first used by the Navy in 1972 in the Vietnam War, and there were about 250 of the planes in service at peak usage, Wagener said. All of the Tomcats will have been phased out by October. They are being replaced by F-18s, he said.
Several of the remaining F-14s are going to air museums like the one at McClellan, and others are going to a base in Arizona where out-of-service aircraft are preserved in case there is ever a need to recondition them for service.
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