Which non-certified aircraft would you buy if there were no restrictions on European flight and parking?

if there were no restrictions on European flight and parking

Given so much good luck AND the even better luck of sufficient budget, my wish would be for a Wilson Global Explorer

IFR certified of course. And oh yes, while you are at it, give me sufficient mental and physical health to (learn to) fly it.

None of these points seem likely, though. Sigh.

An RV10, obviously :)

I would rebuild my Turbo Commander exactly the same..

AdamFrisch wrote:

I would rebuild my Turbo Commander exactly the same..

Is it flying yet ?

what_next wrote:

Canada had the unenviable record of losing over 50 percent of its 200 single-seat CF-104s in flying accidents

This is just nonsense anyway. Canada sold about 50 to Denmark and Norway in the early 70s, and 50 to Turkey in the early 80s. So this means they lost the remaining 100 ? Not very likely. Canada had about 100 104s until they got replaced by the CF-18 in the mid 1980s.

There is one for sale, a CF-104D at US$ 1.9M here (or maybe not when reading further down)

what_next wrote:

Germany ordered aircraft that were completely wrong for their intended role can be considered to be historic fact

That may be true, but to blame others for buying the wrong aircraft, well … Besides, high accident rates are almost always caused by wrong or too little training or wrong tactics, and since the F-104 is good at one thing only, using it for other things may not be all that wise. I think both Denmark and Norway used the F-104 more as it was intended: As interceptors primarily, and secondary as fighter bombers, mainly at sea. In Norway we had the F-5 for other multi role missions since 1966, close air to air and air to ground. We had the F-5 all up to 2000, almost 20 years after we got the F-16. Denmark had the Saab F-35 Draken for fighter bombing missions.

LeSving wrote:

There is one for sale, a CF-104D at US$ 1.9M here (or maybe not when reading further down)

Note my post #20 above.

Erich Hartmann’s biography says he thought the Luftwaffe F-104s were too tricky and the wrong plane for the nascent state of the postwar Luftwaffe, and that buying them instead of something more suitable was dangerous PR move. Kelly Johnson and Lockheed sure did some amazing things, regardless.

The Gloster Meteor also had a high accident rate, some of these early cold war jets seemed to have done more self harm than provide a deterrent.

carlmeek wrote:

An RV10, obviously :)

Not obvious to me. Not that I will ever own one but for me Vans could have stopped at the 4. The rest is just…meh.

Another vote for the Europa. Its not the biggest, fastest etc, but it is a good all round aircraft.

PS. I wouldn’t buy an RV, just because everyone else would have one. :)