Deep Intel on the Smugglers Who Keep Iran's F-14s Flying

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dabigboy

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I'm involved in the slightly odd hobby of collecting and restoring old aircraft cockpits. My big project was civilian (Sabreliner) but most of my cockpit-collecting buddies are into the military stuff. Getting hold of parts and documentation is a perennial challenge, and some aircraft are more rare than others. I've seen some classic old stuff, and some exotic cockpits....T-38, F-104, F-4, F-86, A-7, A-8, F-5, A-10, two-seat Mig-21, T-37, T-33, F-111, F-16, F-15, F-18, even the front of a B-1 bomber, but the F-14 is, of course, the ultimate unobtainable dream machine. I didn't know about the two scrapped airframes in Temple TX, I wonder what became of them.

Related to all this, I think, is the government's decision to no longer sell surplus aircraft/components from Davis Monthan. Quite a few of the military jet cockpits floating around in the collector community came from that facility. Sadly, this can't happen anymore.

Ironically, foreign military aircraft are sometimes easier to acquire because they aren't subject to all the heavy-handed policies of US military hardware. My buddy has the entire business end of a two-seat Mig-21 trainer, basically complete except for ejection seats (he does have seats in it, just not the correct ones).

Matt
 

RickN

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I'm involved in the slightly odd hobby of collecting and restoring old aircraft cockpits. My big project was civilian (Sabreliner) but most of my cockpit-collecting buddies are into the military stuff. Getting hold of parts and documentation is a perennial challenge, and some aircraft are more rare than others. I've seen some classic old stuff, and some exotic cockpits....T-38, F-104, F-4, F-86, A-7, A-8, F-5, A-10, two-seat Mig-21, T-37, T-33, F-111, F-16, F-15, F-18, even the front of a B-1 bomber, but the F-14 is, of course, the ultimate unobtainable dream machine. I didn't know about the two scrapped airframes in Temple TX, I wonder what became of them.

Related to all this, I think, is the government's decision to no longer sell surplus aircraft/components from Davis Monthan. Quite a few of the military jet cockpits floating around in the collector community came from that facility. Sadly, this can't happen anymore.

Ironically, foreign military aircraft are sometimes easier to acquire because they aren't subject to all the heavy-handed policies of US military hardware. My buddy has the entire business end of a two-seat Mig-21 trainer, basically complete except for ejection seats (he does have seats in it, just not the correct ones).

Matt
Yes the foreign military jets are easier to get. You can even buy an SU-27 if you have the cash.
 

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