The Strikemaster was a British fighter first flown in 1967. It traces its roots back to the Percival Provost, a propeller-based trainer used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Provost evolved into the Jet Provost which was the foundation of the Strikemaster. The Strikemaster was basically a Jet Provost with a Rolls-Royce Viper turbojet engine, a stronger airframe, hardpoints for armaments, and updated instruments.
In addition to use by the RAF, the Strikemaster was a training aircraft used by air forces in New Zealand, Kenya, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, and more. Despite their wide-ranging usage, only 146 were produced. When not being used for training, a Strikemaster could be loaded up with your choice of machine guns, bombs, and tactical instruments.
The Strikemaster was in service as recently as 2009 but is now retired. Today, all remaining Strikemasters are in civilian hands and some of those hands could be yours, for $97,500. This particular aircraft was built in 1970 and operated by the New Zealand Air Force. It has spent several years flying in air shows in the United States, according to its listing, and was recently on contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
[ Featured Image by Arpingstone via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0 ]
