Military aircraft are available in a wide range of prices, from a piston engined Yak 3M
for $500k to a jet turbine powered MiG-29 for $10M to a B-2 bomber for only $2B --- to the
right customer that is. If you have the military budget of a first world nation to spend, the military
aircraft manufacturers of the world will gladly send salespeople to your door. For the rest of
us, there is a thriving market in used military aircraft(parts).
You will be surprised about what you can actually buy. Planes for sale not only include commercial
aircraft, but also ex-military piston powered aircraft like the North American
P-51 Mustang. Even jet
powered military aircraft like the Aero
L-39C Albatros Trainer / light attack, and even
MiG-21 Fishbeds are for sale out there.
Checklist before buying a high performance aircraft
Restoration
Maintenance
Modifications
Parts (engines)
Flying training
Restoration
Depending on the state of the aircraft you want to purchase it's possible it will need some
kind of restoration work done. There are many companies offering restoration, make sure they
are certified for restoring your type of plane.
Maintenance
After the plane is restored to operational state it will need regular interval maintenance. Again
there are many companies out there providing these services. Like restoring, make sure they
are certified to perform maintenance on your type of plane.
Modifications
After you purchased a plane it's likely want some modifications to the plane like auxiliary fuel system
(for better range) and upgraded avionics. This will cost you extra money on top of the purchase price.
Parts
Sooner or later parts of the plane will (have a chance of) malfunction and need to be replaced. For
this reason alone it's advisable to consider 'popular' planes only, as parts (and knowledge how
to install/replace them) are widely available.
Flying training
The day will come you want to fly in your own plane. The amount of experience / training you need
before flying your high performance plane greatly depends on your backgrounds and experience levels.
There are at least two basic types of trainees:
A. Former "Warbird" owners/operators; previous military pilots; and pilots with previous experience with aerobatics and/or high-performance aircraft.
B. Pilots whose experience level, personal preference, and/or our assessment dictates that a lower initial level of training would be appropriate.
Both tracks should cover the basics of flying the aircraft safely: ground operations; manoeuvring flight; flight characteristics exercises; basic G-awareness exercises; unusual attitude recoveries; steep turns, stalls, slow flight, traffic patterns; simulated flame-out landings; rejected takeoffs and landings; and emergency/abnormal procedures.
