# (Old) Meticulously Monday the MMP!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-meticulously-monday-the-mmp/1006243>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Tags:** mmp\
**Created:** [August 26, 2024, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-meticulously-monday-the-mmp/1006243 "2024-08-26T10:26:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 22

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-meticulously-monday-the-mmp/1006243/22 "2024-08-26T16:35:52Z")

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> [@(Old) A Good Read in the MMP](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-a-good-read-in-the-mmp/1005898/304):
>
> > [@(Old) A Good Read in the MMP](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-a-good-read-in-the-mmp/1005898/304):
> >
> > The flat spot was my dad’s disassembled BD-5.
> > 
> > Dad didn’t want to start over, so he contacted another builder in Long Beach who said he could buil a BD-5 pretty much to the point dad had his for $10,200. That’s what the insurance company paid, and dad bought a used, flying ‘four-seat BD-5’… a six-year-old 1970 Cessna 172K Skyhawk.
> 
> OOF. But a 172 is more practical, if slightly less James Bond-ish.

Heh. This was pre-James Bond’s BD-5J.

Dad had a friend who said he had access to a small turbojet engine (from some sort of drone, I think). The friend made an offer: I’ll give you the jet engine, if you give me half-ownership of the airplane. Dad contacted Jim Bede and asked him if it was possible to put a jet engine in the BD-5. Bede told him absolutely not. Can’t be done. And then about a year later, Bede came out with the BD-5J.

Dad ordered his kit when it was still being advertised with a V-tail. His kit did come with the updated conventional tail.

And yes, dad made out with the Skyhawk. With thousands of BD-5 kits unfinished because Bede couldn’t deliver the parts or engines, dad was able to fly his ‘four-seat BD-5’… and making money off of it by leasing it to Barnes Aviation. I got my license in that plane. When the Great Hiatus hit, he sold it for almost half-again what he’d paid for it. (Nowadays it would cost five or more times what he paid to buy it, or another 1970 172K, back.)

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