Paging Hungary Bill - MiG content

Bill: Got your PM. Sorry it took me so long to respond but I had to relocate and rehost some old pictures I have.

What's that I see?

I was in Georgetown, a small city in southern Delaware, for a project when I saw some interesting and rare stuff through a fence at the local regional airport. See pics in the link above. This isn't quite all of what's there, but all I could get good pics of through the fence.

I was taking these when a guy drove up, waved, and disappeared into the adjacent hangar. After poking around a few minutes more, I knocked on the personnel door and as it was unlocked, I called out a few times and went in.

There I saw the same guy, with another dude, and this:

Turns out the guy that waved at me was Larry Kelley, owner of the B-25 and some of the other aircraft hanging around. He kind of collects old MiG junk and while I don't think any of the -17s are airworthy, he could probably make one. He also horsetrades and sells engines and other parts to people who are restoring them.

I believe the -21 is operational. At any rate, I have seen one flying around another regional airport on the north end of the state, and Delaware ain't that big.

Mr. Kelley was just the nicest guy. He didn't even ask why I was trespassing in his hangar - he took me for a 30-minute tour and showed me lots of cool stuff. They were just a day away from flying Panchito after a thorough engine overhaul, and were buttoning up all the cowlings.

I didn't want to ask if I could sit in any of the aircraft, but he let me wander around as long as I wanted. It was a great experience.

[EDIT] Proofread fail. Sorry about the typo in the thread title.

[EDIT^2] Mods for FTMFW. Thanks for correcting my typo.

That's pretty cool! I've seen Panchito at the AirVenture in Oshkosh.

In reply to RossD:

A couple of times a month over the summer, I'll see him cruising home on Sunday evenings after some airshow or another. He makes it a point to use the aircraft for historical preservation outreach. They also have a small aviation museum:

Delaware Aviation Museum

I think I have mentioned the guys in my class with the MIG-21 and the MIG trainer thingie, SU-something? It was a trainer for a 1950's MIG, 2 seats.

Cool stuff!

MiG trainers all had the UTI designation.

Good god, I'd have died and gone to heaven!

That is just amazing! The MIG I tried to buy was a -15 UTI.

It all started on the Papa Air Base in Hungary. They had some old communist vehicles on static display and they had all gone to ruin through neglect (mobile radar truck thingie, an artillery piece, etc). One of them, of course, was the -15. I told my friends that where Hungarian soldiers that I'd love it if they'd let me go over there and polish it back up. They all laughed and said no one would care and that the base commander would probably sell it to me.

So I bought some scrubby stuff and was immediately shut down by the company I work for. Even if I did it in my off time, I'm still an employee and if I injured myself then they, or the Hungarian defense, could be held accountable. Whatever on that logic...

Fast forward to the day (years later) I met the Hungarian Base commander. He was eyeing my 1966 Impala (the parking spot for our monthly meetings was near his office and subsequently the MIG) and I told him I'd trade it for the MIG on a stick. He laughed. Basically he explained that all that old crap was stuff no one cared about. Anyone who worked on it was long gone and they couldn't even be bothered enough to go wash it. It was all ruined and it was too expensive to even bother having it all hauled off for scrap. He then took me to a closed hangar to go see a MIG 21 that WAS being refurbished for static display and some of my Hungarian co-workers went through great pains to explain how this aircraft is in every way, far superior to the -15. Some of them even worked on THAT aircraft and they were all pretty proud.

I persisted a bit and the offer to buy it came. (still jovial) "Fine, if you want it, we'll make a deal. You'll have to arrange for the transportation. Just let me know when."

That's about where I chickened out. How in the world would I ever go about storing it, explaining it to Mrs. Hungary, moving it, etc? I have no idea what sort of price this guy had in mind.

But it was fun. At one point in my life I was standing in front of a Russian Figher Jet with option to buy <

Holy carp! I found a photo of it!

Here's the -15 on a stick:

And here's the -21 they restored!

Oh that makes me happy.

Also, and this is the real reason I wanted to get in touch with you, there is a MIG Graveyard just of base. Could be that there's good junk there that he might need

Google maps location: 47.353961, 17.515167

Cheers!

The location of the -15 on a stick is: 47.354175, 17.479199

and the -21 is: 47.354195, 17.477818

Isn't the internet amazing!?!

Cheers guys

Also, you guys missed out if you wanted to buy a Mig-29:

https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htproc/articles/20130528.aspx

This was going on around the time I was getting ready to leave Hungary

Also, there is another MIG-15 you could probably buy in Hungary. I cant find a picture or remember the town but it was a static display outside a restaurant and it fell over in a storm...

Ok, I'm done. Sorry, I get all excited when talking old MiGs

Awesome, thanks. I'll try to pass that information on.

Ever hear about America's secret MiG squadron? They built the auxiliary base out at Tonopah test range. I met it's first commander, Col. Gale Peck. Very cool guy. The things the did to keep the 15, 17, 21, and 23 flying was remarkable. Real Indiana Jones stuff.

When I asked him about the origins of the assets, even 35-40 years later, he is still tight lipped. As he explained it, some of the assets were under the table gifts, and some were, without actually saying it...stolen. if he revealed there origins, the country might want it back, and the political repricussions would be felt, even to this day.

Another nugget: After the team renovated the air strip, it was used to test and evaluate the F-117. Each squadron had no idea what the other was doing. MiGs flying in the day, and goatsuckers flying at night.

If you want a MIG check Trade a Plane. There are always several for sale , airworthy and non airworthy. They are a performance bargain. Also, Danbury CT had a slew of them 15 years ago. I watched a guy run a 21's engine up and get the burner going, it was a loud motherscratcher

Duke wrote: Awesome, thanks. I'll try to pass that information on.

If he is interested, I know plenty of people in the area. So far none of us have found a single point of contact as to who could possibly own the planes, but we've made several visits to the jets, climbed in them, climbed around them, and no one's challenged us or yelled at us for being in their field yet.

Also, one of the -21's is missing its altimeter. Don't know HOW that could have happened

MiG 17 for sale

Just sayin.

I do miss watching a few of these flying over head all weekend when I lived I the east bay.

I'm not real good at identifying planes, but from someone better at it than I am, there were 2 MIG -21s and a few older American ones.

Sometime they'd just be out flying around, sometimes it looked like they were playing laser tag with markers or something going off on them.

Definitely strange the first time you see it.

https://new.hasznaltauto.hu/egyeb/repulo/repulo_mig_21-12519753

mig 21 for sale on the Hungarian version of autotrader!

In reply to Hungary Bill :

Ballpark US price?

googling euro to us dollar...$22.5k

In reply to RossD :

Thanks, I somehow totally missed the Euro price on there. 

That's cheap for Mach 2 with your hair on fire. 

As I understand it, Uncle Bill banned all further imports of foreign fighter aircraft.

How did a local airport have 2 MiG-29s and 2 Su-27 for sale. I think the limitations are the nessesary de-militarization of the aircraft.

RossD said:

googling euro to us dollar...$22.5k

aaaand it's gone.

sold or ad taken down?  My curiosity is piqued