• Two Cold War veteran F-100F Super Sabre fighters are up for auction online.
  • The fighters, built during the Eisenhower Administration, are reportedly flyable.
  • The F-100F was used in Vietnam, could carry nuclear weapons, and take off using rockets.

A few of the most versatile fighter jets from the Cold War are up for auction and ready to fly—with some exceptions. Two F-100F Super Sabre fighter jets are being auctioned with current bids right around the cost of a decent used car. A veteran of the Vietnam War, the Super Sabre also carried nuclear bombs and could forgo long rolling jet-powered takeoffs in favor of a quick boost into the air on rockets.

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The F-100 Super Sabres are part of a listing from the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California. The planes, tail numbers N417FS and N418FS, are later model-F series jets that were originally built for the U.S. Air Force and then transferred to the Royal Danish Air Force. The planes were flown to the U.K. in 1983, when they apparently passed into private ownership.

formation flight of the famous thunderbird squadron of the us air force on the 24th of june in 1965 the flight with the f 100 super sabre aircrafts is jokingly called flying tatzelworm, which signifies a mythical creature  usage worldwide photo by dpapicture alliance via getty images
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The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flew the F-100 from 1956 to 1969.

In July 1989, F418FS had a runway mishap when the aircraft failed to slow down on landing and the plane skidded into the ditch. The pilot, a veteran with approximately 10,000 flight hours (5,460 in the F-100), was not injured. In the 2000s, the jets were registered to Big Sky Warbirds in Montana. The planes’ last known gig was with Tracor Flight Systems, where they flew as radar targets.

The F-100, also known as the “Hun” (short for “Hundred”), was the F-16 of its time. It was the first U.S. fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight and the first of the “Century Series” of Air Force fighter jets that included the famous F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-104 Starfighter, and F-105 Thunderchief fighters.

A relatively low-cost single-seat, single-engine fighter, the Hun was originally designed as a fighter, but gradually took on air-to-ground strike missions, air-to-air refueling, and other roles. The Hun also provided close air support for ground troops during the Vietnam War. Later versions were capable of toss-bombing the B7, the U.S. military’s first tactical nuclear aircraft bomb.

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The F-100’s most dramatic trick involved taking off without an airfield. One of the most vexing problems facing the Air Force during the Cold War was getting planes off the ground during wartime, when the Soviet Union was anticipated to target NATO runways. In response, the Zero-Length Launch program sought to do away with runways altogether by installing a Rocketdyne XM-34 solid rocket booster under a F-100. In just 5 seconds, the XM-34 could boost the F-100 to an altitude of 400 feet and speed of 275 miles an hour. (How the F-100 landed on a damaged runway was never explained.)

The two jets, according to auction hosting site Proxibid, are “flyable,” though N417FS has some damage to the tail and front landing gear. N418FS is in better shape, with only a hard-to-open canopy. Both planes are two-seaters, so you can take your spouse up for a spin after telling them you bought a jet fighter at an auction.

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Kyle Mizokami

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. He lives in San Francisco.