Allow me to vent green….

uuugh. :rolleyes:

Trendy political projects are already vying for the demise of general aviation without warbird enthusiasts jumping on board. There is obviously no green purpose behind flying any warbird…so maybe they should all be grounded to save the human race from dying some hot horrible death? Methinks humanity is far too full of itself!

…or were you being facetious? 😀

I have an aquaintence in Florida who regularly travels to Europe for warbird related business. He ships items back to the US for himself and other MiG owners on accasion. A couple years ago he quoted me a reasonable number to have a complete & airworthy MiG-15 (with logs) disassembled, packed, and shipped to the US not long ago. In total it was about equal to the price of the average mid-sized car. That price would get it to the docks in New Orleans (five hours from my house), where I’d have to receive it and get it the rest of the way home. That said, I imagine the shipping costs to the UK would be markedly less than having the same load sent across the Atlantic.

You could always approach an air museum in your general area and contact the personnel there who have handled museum deliveries like this in the past. Ask them how much they would charge to perform some side work, managing a truck delivery from the docks to your personal storage location. That would at least allow you to piece together an initial budget to see if it would be doable. If it’s something you really want, and you can justify the cost, I’d say go for it. Once you have it, it’s all yours! 😎

Where are you located bbspolo (US or UK)?

I bought a MiG-17 here in the US for $11K last year (since sold). There are quite a few derelict MiG-15’s & -17’s available here in the US. There are also loads of them floating around in Poland if you can find a local importer to handle the disassembly/recovery. There’s a good chance that the recovery costs may outweigh to cost of the plane itself, but you’ll forever have your MiG after that. 😀

If it were me, I’d try to find one that’s complete with log books. You never know what the future may bring, and an airframe with log books means it stands a real chance of returning to the skies one day. It’s a good way to maximize your investment if that option’s available to you.

Here’s we are breaking mine down last year. It was later purchased by a man in Texas who was looking to do the same thing as you – build a fuselage display for personal enjoyment. These jets are perfect for that use, especially for the enthusiast working on a limited budget.

Unique beauty and exclusivity for me, not to mention a specific passion for the type.

If had the surplus cash, I’d certainly own a Tucano without ever considering an L29 or a Venom. There are also some factors regarding turbine vs. pure jet to be considered. Plenty of businessmen bought P-51’s in the 1960’s when there were far more practical machines to suit their purposes as a “business commuter”. If a person has a passion for a particular type, they will certainly find a way to “make the mission fit the airplane”. 😀 Especially in the realm of warbirds, it’s a given that passion will trump the pocketbook when and if at all possible.

All I want to know is, what kind of amazing connections does Mr. Pearce have to have single-handedly domintated the Russian warbird recovery/export scene? 😎 Surely there had to have been multiple parties over there making plays for this stuff.

Whatever the case, there’s certainly a fine hardback book somewhere just begging to be fattened with the facts and photos of it all IMO. Pack it full of the recovery details for each airframe, with specific and detailed service & combat histories for each, throw in the necessary profile art and jillions of photos, and you’ve got yourself an instant modern classic for the warbird shelf. 😀

Must be amazing to have all of that previously untapped history paraded right through one’s own private hangar.

Okay, so who can ID the paint number and manufacturer for the blue coat used on that fuselage? 😎

Most pilots know the “three strikes” principle. If you look into any accident, you’ll usually find that a combination of no more than three mistakes was all it took to bring about the crash. If you’re airborne and begin letting your mistakes stack up, you’re going to find yourself in trouble very quickly.

This pilot apparently allowed himself way too much leash and got pushed into a corner – flying VFR in IFR conditions at 100 feet(!) AGL over unfamiliar mountainous terrain. Still yet, it seems he was pressing on toward his destination rather than cutting his losses and putting down safely while he still could.

Once again, I’m left wondering how many veteran warbird pilots out there still push the limits like this on regular basis. Rudimentary pilot logic and principles aside, there’s a very good reason why the National Warbird Operator Conference exists, and I know this particular pilot was no stranger to it. God rest his soul, but there is no date on any itinerary worth pushing the envelope that far. It’s always a shame when the ending of a great aviator’s legacy is punctuated with a lesson of how not to fly an airplane.