Now that the official spokesman for the U.S. Federal Government has informed the nation that a combat aircraft or nuclear weapon is required to “take on the government”, do you find yourself in the market for your very own missile packed, jet-propelled personal air transport? Well, we have some incredible options for you patriotic Americans that you can realistically buy!
Not sure you have the blessing of the Biden-Harris regime? Don’t Worry! Ol’ Joe said it himself!
“Those who say the blood of Patriots, you know, and all the stuff about how we’re gonna have to move against the government.” “If you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”
BIDEN: "Those who say the blood of Patriots, you know, and all the stuff about how we’re gonna have to move against the government.”
"If you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons."pic.twitter.com/WVHUffpphP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 23, 2021
In the interests of it being Independence Day soon, we’ll stick with your domestic options and leave out the imports this time.
Patriotically ‘MADE IN USA’ Military Aircraft
First! The F-104 “StarFighter” By Lockheed Martin
One of the most recognizable aircraft of the 20th century and a symbol of America’s Cold-War dominance of the skies the F-104 “Starfighter” was first rolled out in the 1950s and still in active service over five decades later. The 104 was long known to be unforgiving on the stick and according to MilitaryMachine was “particularly deadly to operate and was plagued with controversy during its operational lifetime.” But that just adds to the allure of the aircraft that was among the first designed for sub-orbital flight enabling the pilot to all but touch the stars.
According to YeahMotor, you can be the proud owner of an F-104 “Starfighter” for just $28,000! At least sans-engine… But hey if you’ve ever dropped a new engine into a 1991 Honda Civic it can’t be that much harder…
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
The F-4 Phantom II is simply put: one of the most storied aircraft in US Military history and still sees limited service today by foreign operators today such as Greece, Turkey, South Korea and Iran. Notably, the versatile Interceptor, fighter-bomber was even flown by the legendary US Navy demonstration wing The Blue Angels from 1969-1974. The F-4 in its many variants saw service from the Vietnam War all the way up to the war against the Islamic State terrorist group. With 5,195 built from its debut in 1958 up to 1981 there are quite a few still in service. The Pricetag for the Phantom II is a bit high at $3.95 million, but as you can imagine you’re competing with actual countries who still want to snap these up. With a top speed of Mach 2.2 and capable of delivering 18,000 lbs. of ordinance, the F-4 can still help many emerging nations be regional players and can add considerable capabilities to a private citizen’s arsenal.
The Northrup F-5 “Freedom”
Widely known for its mass-production throughout the 1960s and wide use of its’ close cousin the T-38 as a flight training platform by multiple militaries and NASA, the F-5 or F-A “Freedom” is renowned for high effectiveness in air to ground combat, engineering simplicity and low cost of ownership, making it a must-have for any patriot’s collection for protection and defense of the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign or domestic. The F-5 is one of the fastest combat aircraft currently active, owing to its lightweight design clocking in at about 1,000 mph, and can be added to your collection for a paltry $750,000 according to YeahMotor, or you can grab the slightly more advanced Tiger and Tigershark models from the F-5 family for about $2.1 million. These are going fast though folks as they are still in very active use throughout the world.
Lockheed T-33 “Shooting Star”
Lockheed’s T-33 “Shooting Star” was based on the P-80, the first jet fighter developed for the US Military. The initial production run for the USAF was only 1,700 trainers but they proved so scalable and readily deployable to international military customers that over 7,000 were produced! So it’s pretty certain that a sufficiently determined collector can get their hands on a genuine T-Bird and many have! with YeahMotor estimating about 50 in private hands still flying. The aircraft took to the skies in 1948 and was still in active military use by the Bolivian Airforce as recently as 2017. One of these beauties (Just look at the paint job!) can be yours for anywhere from $1 million to $3 million.
In Summary: Happy Aircraft Buying!
Any one of these vintage American-made, gorgeous, and powerful combat aircraft can REALLY be purchased by a civilian with the means to do so. While there are many articles that point out some one-off situations when a civilian contractor purchases a squadron of F-18 Superhornets or an F-16 contacted for use as “adversary training” with the military that’s not what we’re going for today. We want to talk about what an American citizen with sufficient personal wealth could ACTUALLY buy and fly, privately within reason.
