Piece of Navy Jet Washes Up in Ireland
By Associated Press


NORFOLK, Va. - A tail section from a U.S. Navy fighter jet that crashed 3
1/2 years ago off Key West, Fla., has turned up 4,900 miles away on a beach
in Ireland.

A retired commercial airline captain, identified by the Irish Examiner
newspaper as Charlie Coughlan, discovered the tail piece Friday. The Navy
confirmed Tuesday that markings on the section, including squadron insignia
and a serial number, pointed to the downed F-14 Tomcat.

Currents from the Gulf of Mexico near the tip of Florida might have floated
the nearly 10-foot-long triangular piece of vertical stabilizer, one of two
on the plane, to the beach in West Cork on Ireland's southern shore.

The F-14, based in Virginia, crashed near Key West in the Gulf of Mexico on
Oct. 3, 2002, during a training mission. Both crew members ejected safely.