I put this in MPSIMS because it is total fantasy but with factual answers, feel free to hijack with your own crazy lottery winning purchase
The Messerschmitt ME-262 Schwalbe/swallow
Come on, to be able to own the first operational jet fighter. How cool is that. Swooping in on the B-24s at the Fourth of July fest (here in Houston the Commerative AF flies over all day) or just being the coolest guy with the baddest plane at the airfield.
I have wanted to own/fly one of these things since I was a kid. So how much would it really cost me?
Airframe. Most of these are in museums, some are cash strapped so maybe, also some guys in Washington were making replicas a few years ago. How much?
Engines. The Jumo was not really top notch so I want some Ge 85’s or even the E 400 series with the turbofan. $$$$$$?
Avionics. Did I spell that right? Took a peek at the cockpit pic on wiki and it looks like I am going to need a few things added, ok a lot of stuff and in English. My German is lacking. $$$$?
License. My total flying experience is about 5 minutes at the controls of a 49’ Stinson in level flight so from there I have to get to multi engine jet cert and probably more. That will take time and $$$$$. How much?
Storage and Maintenance. Where do you find someone to work on 70yo German jet fighter? I suspect that Hans the BMW guy ain’t gonna cut it. $$$?
Just another silly thing to add to the “What to do with my first billion” list.
But can you imagine the crowd reaction to a close pass at some B-24s low over the airfield? Don’t announce anything, just have the bombers pass slowly at about 1000’, and trigger a smoke canister when the Swallow comes hammering in from astern, all cannon blazing. Have the “hit” Liberator break formation and head out of sight while the rest fire back at the vile Nazi who attacked the air show. Would that make the news or what?
That is kinda the idea, plus I could make my annual SXSW trip in style and “attack” the Southwest jets landing at Bergstrom though I suspect the FAA might frown on that.
What ElvisL1ves said. I worked at Edwards AFB, and I just loved seeing them. I’ve heard they fly great, and are relatively inexpensive to operate and maintain. (Of course, we’re talking jets here. Nothing is ‘inexpensive’.)
Although security restrictions prevent formal disclosure of the type of plane flown by Roger Ramjet, it is common knowledge that he flew a T-38 Talon. It doesn’t get more cool than that.
Meh. May as well go for an actual fighter instead of a trainer. T-38s only have enough gas for about an hour’s flight time unless you’re in relatively boring cross-country flight mode. No weapons, no aerial refueling. Barely capable of going supersonic. Limited to about 7G.
I sorta bent one once. Well, my pilot did…I was in the backseat filming a bomb drop, and he pulled 7.2G trying to wrap around so I could get a better shot. We hadn’t planned that, I was expecting about 4G. Camera weighed 16 pounds. I wasn’t braced, and dropped the camera. It was all I could do to force the damn thing forward of the stick, or we’d have died.
Would you settle for a MiG-15? That’s actually quite do-able. I flew the one they have here, and it was great.
As for actually getting rated in one, it would be a bit of a slog if you don’t yet have a pilot’s license, but still do-able. I’m a pro pilot and they told me I could probably get the type rating in 7-12 hours. That’s a bit steep for me, but maybe one day.
