But Jerry wasn't just satisfied with hoodwinking NASA. He also convinced the Navy to give him training on a T-45 flight simulator.
It should be noted here that a T-45 flight "simulator" is an actual flying jet. Seriously.
Jerry just seems to have that special mix of crazy and ballsy that lets him fool both NASA and the Navy for the thankfully brief span of... eight months.
So, to recap, both NASA and the Navy--staffed by folks highly trained in keeping secrets and checking backgrounds--were fooled into giving tours of top-secret facilities and discussing very sensitive information with a guy who, when busted, insisted Bill Clinton was his lawyer.
And How Did That Work Out For Him?
Even in a pre-9/11 world, the one group you don't want to really mess with is the U.S. government. Once caught, Whitrredge faced up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine for impersonating a federal employee.
All that and he never even got to go to space.
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