CNN —The sleek, dark-gray lines of a F-16 Fighting Falcon jet, flanked by two other veterans of the Cold War skies, a French Dassault Mirage IV and a F-104 Starfighter, is not what you would usually expect to come across when walking into the courtyard of a 700-year-old French château. The majority of them were acquired as scrap,” says Christophe Pont, Michel’s son and current owner and manager of the château. Courtesy Miquel RosIn the mid-1980s, Pont, who was ex-military, made inquiries with the French Air Force about the possibility of getting one of their decommissioned Mirage III fighter jets to exhibit at the château. The request was granted and six months later what would become the kernel of the world’s largest private fighter aircraft collection was on its way to Savigny-lès-Beaune. Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, Rue Général Leclerc, 21420 Savigny-lès-Beaune, France; +33 3 80 21 55 03

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