I think the on going maintenance and operating costs would be beyond most of us.

I love classic light aircraft - like Piper Cubs or Austers.

Speaking of REAL De Havillands (rather than their Canadian cousins) I'd like a Puss Moth or a Hornet Moth.

Replicas - pah!

(Not the F-5 of course)

Well, if we're playing the "I'm not paying the fuel bills" game with vintage kit, then some nice big thirsty radials are in order. I don't have a twin rating, so I'll just stick to single-engined types.

The Stinson Reliant and the Broussard spring to mind - both of which are to be seen from time to time in my neck of the woods - the God-awful racket they make on departure is often mistakenly put down to the tips of the prop becoming transonic, but is actually the sound of £50 notes being converted directly into exhaust gasses at similar speeds.

Obviously, any self-respecting profligate dead-dinosaur consumer's hangar wouldn't be complete without an AN2, for the simple joy of knowing that every hour you're burning 200 litres of avgas, whilst travelling less than 100nm. Bliss.

There used to be a couple at Waltham - great landmarks, you could see them from miles away. I always liked the size of the tie-down stakes they used - lumps of metal roughly on a par with the anchors from the Lusitania.

Bizzare control setup for the flaps, I seem to recall. Was watching a mate fly some circuits in one to regain his currency - at one point when climbing out it appears to stop dead in mid air, and then start gently rising almost vertically - turns out he'd managed to select full flap down instead of raising them.

If you saw one heading for the pumps at the same time as you best advice was to get there first, because a) all that running round on the roof to get it refuelled took forever and b) there might not be any avgas left when it finally moved off.

Quite a bit under budget at $90k...

Edit: Just realised the link didn't work properly: check out Barnstormers.com T-28A Trojan

But the winner for me (and only $30k over budget) is....

Edit: Ditto. Barnstormers.com A-26 Invader

Just to toss in something 'alternative'.....

How about a classic from Miles? A Messenger or a Gemini. Not sure how practical they'd be today.

Another aircraft I recall seeing in the early 70's was a Falco. Stunning design with a ply skin AIRC.
Not sure if there are any left though.

I'll take this... when I was in Air Cadets, my Dad (who was also an VRT officer) managed to get a go in one on the early morning weather flight from Linton-on-Ouse...Unfortunately, there never seemed to be any slots when I could go! He described it as easier to fly than the Cessna 152 I was learning in.. the git..



Anyway, it's in budget at €115k and completely serviceable with a spare engine...

Here

For me, it would have to be a WW2 era, US trainer.

http://www.trade-a-plane.com/detail/aircraft/Singl...

Amazing sound, aerobatic and just totally wonderful in every way.

That's a Strikemaster, so a bit more hairy than the jets they had at Linton (even the JP5As)



He lied.

Sorry.