The Smuggler's Plane... Registration

[hppav]

I did got bored today and noticed there was a tail number - N786G - on the airplane.

I did a search and all that came up with a plane registered in 1999.



A glider

So I went and did some further digging and discovered there was a Grumman G159 Gulfstream I that was previously registered with that tail number before being acquired by the US Navy in 1978 and modified into a TC-4C. It also spent some time flying under the United States Marines

http://g159hrm.com/registrations.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kemon01/7259583100/
http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Na ... 64f69fbe29

United States Army - The United States Army Corps of Engineers operated a single Gulfstream I (with a civilian colour scheme and registration) between 1961 and 1981. The US Army also later received at least 1 Gulfstream I confiscated from drug dealers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_Gulfstream_I

Of course this doesn't prove that this plane was the drug dealer plane, but the year does seem to correspond with the information on Wikipedia.

Here's what this model looks like in civilian configuration, which is what it was like before it was converted to a TC-4C:


If this isn't intentional... then that's one heck of a coincidence.

Then if that wasn't enough, take a look at this part of the Wiki page:

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Beechcraft King Air

The Beechcraft King Air is the type of plane used in JP3!
http://www.jplegacy.org/jpencyclopedia/?p=1514

[awesome24712]

Coincidence, or a disturbingly high attention to detail, indeed.

[machf]

The latter, most likely... they took a real-world airplane and modeled it into the game.

[3insanity]

Thanks for the research, very interesting!

[Draconisaurus]

Nice job! I swear, no one's better at researching than Sir Samuel of England.