My thought was it was cut short to make it easier to display, or maybe because it had been bent from a crash, but the owner just never got around to finishing the project. I know of on-scene investigator's who made it a priority to extract the hook for their own personal display, some of which were considerably bent. It's identical to my hook, just much shorter, and it's missing the rubber bumper, but where it was attached is visible. I stripped mine of old paint, welded mounting brackets, & re-painted it. It's 6' 7" in length. After X amount of arrested engagements, the hooks are deemed no-longer air worthy and are sent to Pensacola, most of which were used to make decorative "fence" around the drive up to the museum, or farmed out to O clubs, etc., to be mounted above the bar. Mine was acquired out behind the hangar one night when the maintenance chief asked me if I was interested in a timed-out tail hook. I couldn't get there fast enough.
