Two priceless vintage aircraft are up for sale and their asking price is correspondingly lofty. A rare CF-104 Starfighter in flying condition is being offered by a nonprofit for $4.25 million, and one of a handful of flying Nakajima A6M-2 Zero fighters is on the block for $5 million. The Zero, offered by Platinum Fighter Sales, was pulled from the jungle of the Solomon Islands in 1965. It was built in 1941 and shot down on Feb. 4, 1943. The rebuild took decades and involved 60,000 man hours including the manufacture of 14,000 parts. Everything is faithfully restored except the engine, which was swapped for a more reliable and serviceable Pratt & Whitney 1830 radial. It has 362.6 flight hours on it.
The Starfighter was built under license by Canadair and the type was used as a nuclear attack aircraft in Europe. This airplane was assigned to the RCAF test squadron before being sold to the Norwegian air force and retired in 1982. It was eventually bought by the company that became Starfighters Aerospace, which flies three Starfighters mostly in advanced flight testing contracts for government and private operators. The company has been phasing out its Canadian 104s in favor of newer Italian-built models, and this one was donated to a Florida-based charity that is selling it.
