Well what is
What you stated is the popular version of the story.
The story in my
opinion might go something like this:
A certain individual helped to arrange to sell the aircraft to a private collector. The CAF sold the aircraft to the collector, but during negotiations, the collector found language in the agreement that said the aircraft must be restored by a specific company. That language was removed, the deal finalized, and the airplane exchanged hands in exchange for some
stuff. The aircraft restoration was started by a shop other than the one specified in the original agreement. The individual found out, and supposedly called a certain General to "get back" at the collector for not using the company to do the restoration. This General happened to be looking for specific aircraft for Wright Pat as well as the Smithsonian. He needed a way to wrangle the aircraft back into Air Force hands. A very powerful investigation arm was called in to see about getting the aircraft back. When said arm gets involved, people get very nervous as to the pull they have in other areas beyond the investigation. An agreement was "found" that said that should the CAF ever decide to dispose of, or otherwise decide to transfer the aircraft from their possession, the Air Force has first right to the aircraft. That the CAF had a title to the aircraft through the FAA, but it did not change the agreement between the CAF and the Air Force. Thus, the aircraft was found not to be able to be sold to the collector. The rest is simple to surmise as the aircraft is now in USAF custody.
There are a lot of other details, but that is the sanitized version, and keep in mind, it is only my
opinion.
