The MiG-17 had the tightest turning radius of any fighter jet
of the period. It had three cannons on its nose, a near-smokeless Klimov VK-1
engine and, according to Reesman, unparalleled visibility. “It was so effective
against us that it actually changed the way we built fighters in the United
States,” he says. “The next generation of U.S. fighters—the F-15, F-16 and
F-18—all encompassed a lot of the characteristics of the MiG-17.”
Although
Soviet production of the jet ended in 1958 with more than 6,000 manufactured,
the USSR licensed production to nations such as Poland and China well into the
1960s. By the end of the Cold War, seven countries had built nearly 10,000
MiG-17s. Though it was eventually replaced by more sophisticated aircraft, this
fighter continued to see service in various nations well into the 1980s. Today
the MiG-17 is considered an antique. Only North Korea still uses it as a
frontline attack fighter.
 | | BILL REESMAN, who has bought and refurbished two MiG-17s, flies his
single-seater at air shows throughout the country. Sponsors help defray the cost
of the hobby. |
Red Flight Special
After the collapse of communism in the late 1980s,
members of the former Warsaw Pact suffered a period of crippling financial
turmoil, a situation that led to a veritable fire sale of military equipment. In
countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Russia itself, anyone with
hard currency could buy just about anything. Though a few Chinese and Bulgarian
MiGs ended up in the United States during this time, most came from Poland via a
Polish aircraft broker named Chester Dubaj. “We started importing these planes
in 1992,” says Dubaj, who lives in Phoenix. “From a fleet of 250 aircraft we
bought 50, and imported 36 of them to the United States.” Even though the planes
had been disassembled and demanded a considerable investment to restore them to
working order, collectors quickly snapped them up.
Around this time, Reesman
paid $150,000 for a restored Chinese MiG-17, but shortly after delivery, it blew
up; he left it burning on a runway. Undeterred, he turned to Dubaj, who, Reesman
says, was making a killing on the resale of his newly imported MiGs in the
United States. “He sold them at quite a markup from what he purchased them for.” Reesman paid Dubaj $35,000 for the single-seater that he flies today in
air shows.
 | | RANDY BALL, president of Fighterjets, flies his MiG-17 at air shows. The number
of airworthy MiG-17s is dwindling. |
According to Alby Redick, president of Aviation Classics, a firm
in Reno, Nev., that brokers and restores classic aircraft, the mid-1990s also
saw other American collectors go to Europe in search of surplus military
aircraft. Many of them came home with only empty pockets. “They paid deposits to
unscrupulous people and never got their airplanes. There are black hats in this
business,” he warns, “though most of us play by the rules.”
For those who
bought their planes from Dubaj or other legitimate brokers, the airplanes
arrived in crates, looking more like scrap metal than ferocious fighter
aircraft. “Back then, these planes didn’t cost much more than a car,” Ball says.
“The problem was that a lot of guys who wrote checks didn’t understand that they
would have to invest six figures into the planes before they would actually
fly.”
Restoring a disassembled military aircraft, particularly one for which
manuals, parts and mechanical expertise are not readily available, is no small
task. Both Reesman and Ball hired teams of mechanics to reassemble the aircraft
and, to the extent possible, restore them to their original condition. “It was
in decent shape when I bought it, but it had been in storage in Europe with the
wings and the tail off,” Ball says. “We worked on it for over a year.” Reesman’s
team of 10 mechanics worked around the clock to restore his acquisition in
roughly two months, at a relatively low cost of $50,000.
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