A last-ditch attempt to save a historic US jet fighter is being made by the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York.

Three of the supersonic jets are waiting at RAF Leeming to be scrapped, but the museum is battling to rescue one for posterity as an example of the aircraft that once played a vital role in Britain's air defences.

The Phantom jet fighters will be destroyed by the scrap man's axe within the next few days if the museum fails in its two-year bid to save one.

Attempts to save the fighter have been hampered because a defence treaty with the US forbids the RAF from passing on US equipment to private museums.

The museum insists that as it is a charity it is not private, and has enlisted some powerful allies in its efforts to acquire one of the jets, including Air Chief Commodore Sir Michael Knight.

Selby MP John Grogan has also taken up the case, contacting both the British and American defence ministers and also the US ambassador.

Any disposal decision now rests with the US Air Force.

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