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Want a Private Jet With More Flair Than a Cessna? This BAC Strikemaster Will Do Nicely

Most private jets these days all look the same, at least to an untrained eye. But if you're a strapping young millionaire aviator with a flair for being different, you may feel obligated to check out the used military jet market instead. If you do go down that route, you'll find this 1970 BAC Strikemaster is ripe for the taking.
BAC Strikemaster 18 photos
Photo: Courtesy Aircraft Sales
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For those among you who aren't total military aviation dorks, the British Aircraft Corporation 167 Strikemaster might be one of the coolest-looking light attack/trainer airplanes ever to fly. Where more traditional trainers like the American T-33 look tame, almost routine in a way, there's a real sense this Strikemaster could do a real number on enemy ground targets.

Though it's most famous as a trainer, the Strikemaster could accommodate as many as two 7.62 mm machine guns with 550 rounds each. That's alongside two hardpoints under each wing capable of holding 1,400 kg (3,000 lbs of bombs, machine gun pods, air-to-ground rocket pods, fuel drop tanks, and napalm tanks. Though you'll find this one for sale out of Courtesy Aircraft of Rockford, Illinois, isn't legally allowed to use weapons anymore.

Powering this little jet is a single Rolls-Royce Viper Mk.535 turbojet cranking out 14 kN (3,140 lbf) of thrust. Good for top speed in the 480 to 500 mph range (772.5 to 804.6 kph). Not that most private puddle jumper pilots would ever need to fly that fast to get wherever they're going.

The sheer fact this genuine British military strike aircraft, complete with a modern suite of navigation, communications, and avionics from Apollo Aerospace, is available for us here in the United States is a treat we're not likely to see again for some time.

The price for it all, minus considerable fuel costs, is a cool $189,000. So then, does it beat a Cessna 172 at the same price point? If the only metric is the wow factor, then the answer is an emphatic yes.
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