Denver’s Wings Over the Rockies Museum has welcomed an iconic slice of aviation history with the arrival of the McDonnell-Douglas AV-8B Harrier II+ as the newest —and perhaps most unique—addition to its growing permanent collection.

The now-retired “jump jet,” as the aircraft is known among those in aviation circles, arrived first at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora in mid-June and was demilitarized, and its wing assembly removed so it could be trucked to the museum.

“The aircraft does a couple of different things for us,” explained Stewart Bailey, Wings Over the Rockies museum curator. “It provides us with an airplane that is really unique in aviation history, and it adds balance to our collection – so we're not just all Air Force stuff.”

The U.S. Marine Corp. began phasing out the

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