International Aircraft Recovery, L.L.C. v. Unidentified, Wrecked & Abandoned Aircraft

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

The United States appeals a district court order upholding the right of International Aircraft Recovery (“IAR”) to salvage, over the objection of the federal government, a Navy torpedo bomber that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. We hold that the United States, as owner of the plane, can prohibit IAR’s salvage efforts; accordingly, we reverse.

I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This lawsuit involves a Navy “Devastator” TBD-1 torpedo bomber that crashed off the Florida coast during a training flight in 1943. Built in 1938, the plane flew “neutrality…