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Civil owned jet aircraft.


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What are the rules,

lets say, for instance, I won the euro millions a couple of weeks on the trot so no money worries what sort of ex-military aircraft could I buy? / What would I have to do to it to get it into civil hands?

I know the Phantoms are not allowed to be sold airworthy to any NGO and that afterburner jets are frowned upon but could I buy a Tornado GR4 and have the techy war stuff removed and the afterburner de-activated? Of course I would paint it in an old RAF Germany green/grey camo scheme.

Also, what you buy if you could?

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As I understand it anything with reheat is a no go as far as the CAA is concerned.Something to do with engineering complexity is the oft repeated mantra.

The Harrier,although not reheated,falls into the same bracket.The Shackleton...

I'd love to see a Javelin fly.Just once,or maybe twice.

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The CAA in the UK are very restrictive on this type of thing basically anything with an afterburner is a no no.

A private company nearly got a Bucc flying again but to use with a military contract. never quite happened though, the CAA put to many barriers up. I know the Vulcan people had to jump through a lot of hoops.

The FAA in the US are more accommodating. The collins foundation now has an F-4 flying. There are some civilian F-104;s and at least one F-100.

There are though jets like the Sea Vixen, Hunter, F-86, Meteor flying.

Julien

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I have seen several civilian aircraft at airshows here in the US including L-39, Mig-15, Mig-15 UTI, Mig-17, Jet Provost, Fj-1 Fury, T-33.

There are also several Civilian operators that use planes for dissimilar training with the military. ATSI has a bunch of A-4 Skyhawks and ATAC has Skyhawks, F-21s and even a couple of Hawker Hunters.

While none of these are Mach capable there have been some F-104s out there including the Red Baron which I kit in the stash to do someday.

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This chap has both an L-39 and a Sea Harrier (and a smaller fortune than he started with do doubt!!).

Does a Bede BD5J count? I think one was nearly sold to the US military. Whilst it is undoubtedly very "cool" it seems to have quite a reputation as a widow-maker so is not high on my lottery wish list.

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I'd love to see an F-8 Crusader......................it could tangle with Radleigh's Mig 21 at airshows :D

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I know the Phantoms are not allowed to be sold airworthy to any NGO and that afterburner jets are frowned upon but could I buy a Tornado GR4 and have the techy war stuff removed and the afterburner de-activated?

If you de-activated the after burner it may have problems getting off the ground...

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Starfighters Aerospace operate the single and 2 seater F-104, you can even have a go if you want "Pricing starts at $30,000 US for a single flight training program. Add a second flight for $23,000 more."

The collins foundation have an F-4C/D, T-33, TA-4J, F-100D. It actually took them an act of congress to get the an an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill to make this happen, so they must have pwerful friends!

Cant see the CAA ever allowing Afterburner jets in the UK.

Julien

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It's not the Mach that's the problem, the 'Vixen can and occasionally does Mach 1.3 according to a conversation I had with the driver, albeit out at sea.

The Shack is out of airframe life. IIRC BAe washed their hands of it due to the hours flown, which was way above the lifespan. The CAA would have to sanction a FULL rebuild. BAe no longer consider it a safe to operate airframe and withdrew their tech support and certification. It only flew for so long as the RAF took responsibility for maintenance. Never understand why the FAA let it fly in that condition Stateside.

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If you de-activated the after burner it may have problems getting off the ground...

Ahh, did not realise burner was necessary, just used to get it up quicker or for shorter runways. Oh well, guess I'll buy something with a bigger wing with my millions! LOL

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Not really into jets too much

Wouldn't say no to my own Victor though with my winnings!

I concuur! :-)

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There are several Venom's in private hands I think. There was a company called Source aviation at Bournemouth airport that had Venom's for sale at about 30 grand each, but that was about 10 years ago now.

Cheers,

Stuart

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All comes down to the complexity level of the aircraft and weather or not the support to maintain it to the right level is there. A buccaneer falls into the complex category because of the boundary layer control system on the wing and tail, so it needs a higher level of support than the Sea Vixen. Not many companies outside of the RAF that can provide this.

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So, how about a hawk?

Could one theoretically buy a second hand (or even new) Demilitarised Hawk and fly it? has anyone tried?

I would imagine that one could probably buy a Hawk new from BAe as a private individual, they are a training aircraft after all.

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BAe will never sell a military jet to a private individual. Even if the Hawk is only a trainer, it's an aircraft currently in service with the RAF and the RAF would never allow this to happen. Not to mention all the legal issues with the sale of what is after all a military aircraft. The same occurs pretty much everywhere in the world.

In several countries, the air forces are not very keen to let their aircrafts end up in private hands even after retirement. As a result, many of the former military jets flying today came into the country where they are based from abroad.

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Are there any Macchi MB-326 trainers on civil registers anywhere?

With aircraft like the Hunter, Jet Provost and Gnat on civil registers, it does surprise me to not see MB-326s out there as warbirds too.

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