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24th February 2011
09:39am GMT
An Irish couple in Australia are asking locals and the gardaí to keep a look out for their stolen 60ft Antonov 2 biplane.
The Antonov 2 biplane was recently stolen from Les and Deirdre Carter’s land at Ards in the Mealagh Valley near Bantry. The pair, who are now living in North Queensland, were contacted by a friend back home who told them of the disappearance.
You might be wondering what an Irish couple are doing with a 60ft Soviet plane. Well, according to the Examiner, the couple received the plane as a present from a friend back in 2006.
The plane had been stored in Cork Airport but after some time they decided to remove its wings and move the rest of the plane to Bantry. The plane was eventually going to be made into a holiday home as Les had already put windows into the fuselage and was refurbishing the interior.
Speaking from her home last night Mrs Carter said that whoever moved the plane must have really wanted it as it would not have been an easy task to shift the cumbersome machine.
"When we moved it from Cork Airport to Bantry we had to engage low loaders and a lot of workmen, all at considerable expense," she explained.
"Whoever took it had to have done a lot of organising. It is a very big structure.
"I can’t imagine why anybody would want to take it and we’re hoping that people will assist us with its return," said Deirdre.
When asked, the gardaí confirmed that they knew about the incident and they are investigating it further. A very helpful spokesman for the gardaí added, “Whoever did this would probably have had to have used a big crane and a big truck to take it away.”
[Image via Peter Dewit - Flicker Commons]
