Cat's eye view from a cockpit
Newborn kittens get 'fighting' chance
Just plane adorable.
A litter of sweet-faced kittens was born inside a vintage fighter jet at a North Carolina airplane museum — and were allowed to stay snuggled inside the aircraft for weeks to keep them protected.
Bill Falls, a volunteer at the Hickory Aviation Museum near Charlotte, was making his rounds Oct. 19 when he spotted the squeaky little stowaways inside a 1950s jet.
“I saw this furry little head pop up,” Falls, 48, told The Washington Post this week. “And suddenly there was another, then another and another.”
Inside, five kittens were meowing for their mom, Phantom — a feral cat who lives on the museum grounds.
Some of the month-old felines were scurrying around near the tailpipe of the vintage Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet, not far from where an engine had been removed, he said.
“There were kittens jumping all over the place inside,” said Falls, who quickly snapped a photo. “There was a kitten in the front seat, a kitten in the back seat and kittens rolling in and out of there, climbing all over.”
Museum staffers soon decided to let Phantom raise her babies inside the jet for six weeks to protect them from the coyotefilled surrounding wilderness, he said.
“She chose the Shooting Star for a reason,” Falls said. “Who were we to argue?”
The museum said it is seeking animal lovers to adopt the cats.
“One of the cats that roams the airport near the terminal decided to have kittens in the T-33 Shooting Star,” the museum wrote on Facebook. “If anyone is looking for a kitten, please stop by.”