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| Passion Investments: Aviation |
From Russia With Love
Douglas McWhirter
07/01/2005
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In the skies above Southern California, Bill Reesman points the nose of a
50-year-old, Chinese-built MiG-17 down toward the snowcapped peaks of the San
Bernardino Mountains. The restored, fire engine-red war bird, one of a breed of
Soviet-designed military aircraft that once terrorized American pilots over
Indochina, screams into a 6G loop powered by its earsplitting turbojet. Reesman
pulls back on the stick and the MiG catapults skyward.
 | | A MIG-17 owned by Randy Ball. |
“It’s a fantastic
plane!” he beams to the slightly ashen passenger in the cockpit seat behind him.
“In its day, this was one of the best fighters in the world.”
Indeed, for
Reesman and a handful of other enthusiasts, the MiG-17’s remarkable place in
aviation history makes it a highly desirable collector aircraft. The deadly
reputation the jet and its pilots forged in dogfights against the American F-100
Super Sabre and the F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam War prompted the Navy to
establish its fabled Top Gun program to better prepare pilots for combat.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, roughly 30 MiG-17s have found
comfortable retirement in air shows, museums and in the hangars of private
collectors around the United States. A few are in mint flying condition, while
others are suited only for display. Like the cannons at Shiloh and Gettysburg,
these planes are now primitive military artifacts that serve as reminders of
power struggles that are fading in the world’s memory.
VALUE JUDGMENT
Once the frontline attack fighter for more than 30 nations, the Soviet-designed
MiG-17 jet is, for many collectors, a prized possession. In the vintage military
aircraft market, this fierce veteran of the Vietnam War does not command prices
comparable to more popular WWII-era planes, but its role in aviation history—and
its scarcity—lend it a promising investment potential. |
For those who trade in
the vintage military aircraft market, the value of a MiG-17 is more sentimental
than monetary. Acquisition, restoration and maintenance costs often far outweigh
resale values. “It’s a negative investment,” admits Reesman, who owns one Polish
single-seat MiG-17 and a half interest in a rare Chinese-built double seater.
However, that will no doubt change over time. “The MiG-17 will never go down in
value,” observes Randy Ball, the president of Dallas-based Fighterjets, a
company that specializes in vintage aircraft shows and restorations. Ball, like
Reesman, owns a fully restored MiG-17 that he flies in air shows around the
country. “Nobody makes these airplanes anymore; the countries that wanted to get
rid of them have basically done that. They are now a scarce commodity.”
The
Soviet Union’s Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau built the MiG-17 fighter as a
replacement for the rather primitive MiG-15 of the Korean War era. With its
distinctive snub nose, swept wings and heavy armament, the MiG-17 went into
production in 1951, and within a few years became the workhorse of nearly 30 air
forces worldwide. “It was a very simple aircraft, which made it easy for less
advanced countries to support in primitive conditions,” says Terry Aitken,
senior curator of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
According to Reesman, who as a young USAF fighter pilot in
Vietnam often flew against the MiG-17, this airplane leveled the playing field
between the North Vietnamese and American air forces. “In Korea, we flew the
F-86 against the MiG-15. We shot down 10 MiGs for every one fighter we lost,” he
says. “In Vietnam, we flew against the MiG-17, and the kill ratio dropped
dramatically. For every one plane we got of theirs, they got three-quarters of
one of ours.”
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