You have this great idea. It's going to rock the world. Nobody believes you can pull it off.You don't care. You're a tech pioneer, the Orville Wright of the 21st Century. One problem -- your dream costs big bucks to bring it to reality but no problem, your rich uncle has deep pockets. So you build your dream and then test it. It fails. Not once, not a dozen times but dozens and dozens and dozens of times. The bills are mounting but who cares, your rich uncle is right there with you, helping you beat back the naysayers. He doesn't care what men and women with years of education and experience are saying. They say the the laws of physics can't be changed, no matter how much you want them to. But your uncle scoffs at the critics, saying they just don't know how to DREAM BIG.
They don't care, at least not like your uncle does, about protecting our men and women in uniform.



That's the story behind the DP-2, an experimental plane that is supposed to take off like a helicopter and fly like a jet. Except it's never taken off, not even after 21 years of trying. What is even weirder, the customer for the airplane -- the military -- has maintained for years the idea is "technically flawed" and the whole idea should be scrapped. The dreamer/creator is Anthony Dupont. No, not the chemical Duponts. This Dupont is a 72-year-old engineer who apparently does have some money of his own, a La Jolla home and a La Jolla-based business. Nice little place I'm told.
As for his uncle, that would be Rep. Duncan Hunter, aka Uncle Sam, presidential candidate and apparently, physics expert. And you know where Uncle Duncan gets his deep pockets from, where the cash just flows and flows. It's only monopoly money. Would you believe $63 million dollars dumped into what one insider told me is a poorly run "rinky dink" operation. Don't believe me? Drive out to the "test" site for the DP-2, it's at Gillespie Field in El Cajon. It's sitting out in the open, on a test frame. "It's been a joke for years," says a local. But I'm afraid the joke is on us.
Here is an interesting tidbit sure to come out as this story heats up. Hunter, who for years was "THE MAN" on the House Armed Services Committee, NEVER had Dupont testify or justify the project before the committee. Doesn't that strike you as odd? Every dime of the $63 million was back-doored by earmarks. And did I mention that the congressman got a $36,000 contribution from the La Jolla inventor. The contribution has nothing to do with the DP-2 program, says Candidate Hunter.
He just wants to help our military, the guys and gals on the ground. Of course, the military didn't want his help and has told him so since 1986. What the heck, $63 million is just chump change when you're spending billions in Iraq.

We broke this story in San Diego with the help of Brian Ross' Investigative Unit at ABC News. I want to thank Brian and his senior investigatve producer Rhonda Schwartz for helping us develop the story. I have received some interesting e-mails and calls about this developing story and 10News will be telling you more in the near future.
You can see some of the testimony of the experts from the congressional hearing by going to our I-Team story and clicking on the documents I have had posted for your review. It's right below this line.

Hunter's Folly? See for yourself.

jwblog@10news.com