Holiday Wish List: 65 MiGs, Please

For those in need of holiday gift ideas, a surplus MiG fighter could be just the thing. Albania has decided to sell off its aging fleet of 65 Soviet-era jets and resupply with modern helicopters. You can choose a MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19 or MiG-2, in various states of repair — or disrepair — some of them in flight condition. Military use is banned, but if you want to turn yours into a weekend toy, or a bar or lawn decoration, no problem. “If anyone wants to buy them, they are welcome,” Gen. Pellumb Qazimi told Reuters. No prices were made public, but inquiries are invited. Meanwhile, a California woman is buying a defunct 747 fuselage and turning it into a house. The wings will form the roof, the nose will point skyward, and the bulge will become a loft. Other chunks will go into six more buildings, including a barn, guest house, and yoga studio. The parts will be carried by helicopter to a 55-acre site on a mountainside near Santa Monica. The project will be environmentally friendly, too. “It’s 100 percent post-consumer waste,” future homeowner Francie Rehwald told The Wall Street Journal. “Isn’t that the coolest?”