The Nation - News from Dec. 25, 1987

Navy engineers have identified 83 engines that may have been serviced by a mechanic who allegedly left key parts out of gearboxes under repair, Pentagon sources said. However, the mechanic was quoted by a newspaper in Jacksonville, Fla., as saying the Navy was using him as a scapegoat for sloppy quality control work in its Naval Aviation Depot there. Ten teams of Navy engineers were checking and repairing the affected J-52 engines worldwide, a Navy spokesmen said. Warren K. Woods of Jacksonville, who identified himself to the Florida Times-Union as the accused mechanic, said Navy officials were trying to divert attention from problems in the quality control program. “I know my work, and I know that I never left any parts off,” the civilian mechanic told the newspaper.