
TU-95MS – Soviet Bomber - varmais
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ebaymotors/TU-95MS-Soviet-Bomber-/121288805711
======
Luc
It took me only a few seconds to find on Google Maps:
[https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=46.921164,32.083704&spn=0.00...](https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=46.921164,32.083704&spn=0.007328,0.009259)

Looks like it has a few siblings, so what you're getting is not as exclusive
as you might think...

That explains the pictures on the eBay auction appearing to be from different
fuselages - they actually are (the two rightmost ones on Google Maps).

EDIT: Hmmm, maybe not. Perhaps it's the same plane in different locations, I
can't be sure.

~~~
thearn4
I found the source of the photo:
[http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27416195](http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27416195)

Not convinced that the auction is legit.

By the way, the American version (military aviation graveyard) of this is
pretty fun to look around at too:

[https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1572109,-110.8374108,4128m/d...](https://www.google.com/maps/@32.1572109,-110.8374108,4128m/data=!3m1!1e3)

~~~
Avitas
It is even more fun to head over there and get a tour through the graveyard.
Actual pilots of some of those birds give the tours and they know many of
these planes very well.

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etjossem
I love the restrictions in Shipping and Handling:

"Ships worldwide. Excludes: Africa, Central America and Caribbean, Oceania,
Southeast Asia, South America, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives,
Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen, Bermuda,
Mexico, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of,
Cyprus, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hungary, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro,
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia."

~~~
Flammy
I scanned the list to see if North Korea was on there... its not. Great deal
for aspiring dictators and human rights violators!

~~~
happyscrappy
Like the previous owners.

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peeters
An ad for a Soviet Bomber, with the description in Comic Sans, followed by a
verbatim dump of the TU-95MS Wikipedia page.

But the seller has an excellent rating, so it's probably legit.

~~~
logicallee
welcome to bitcoin.

~~~
logicallee
I think my comment is extremely fair. If this is in someone's possession,
there's no reason a photo on a Tor site can't sell it.

------
United857
"The airplane is not ready to fly. It is necessary to make a technical service
and prolongation of the data limit."

Guessing something got lost in translation. In any case. as aircraft
maintenance isn't my area, any idea how viable/costly it is to get airworthy?
Could you even get spare parts anymore?

~~~
TylerE
Spare parts are probably attainable (there's a reason retired aircraft are
mothballed rather than scrapped), and the major companies that the built the
engines, etc, are still around.

Out of 500 or built ~60 are still in service. Getting parts as a _civilian_
operator might be touchy though. It's probably being sold more as a museum
piece.

In terms of doing a restoration Russian stuff is usually pretty viable since
mechnically they're fairly straightfoward and rugged, and not much in the way
of computers or microelectronics of any kind. Even with all that said, it
would probably be a $10M+ (quite possibly +++) to get it airworthy again, and
even if you did it would be very expensive. Fuel burn on those things is about
2000 gph, and Jet-A is currently ~$6/gal, so you're looking at $12k/hr just in
fuel expenses. Maintenance will probably at least double that hourly figure.

~~~
ballard
I can vouch for this. A friend has a mig that's going to a museum, and they're
gonna restore it to museum cond.

FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely
robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must.

~~~
exDM69
> FYI never tell or show anyone you own a jet in storage or it will be likely
> robbed of flight / nav gear. High security storage is a must.

Is there a story behind this? If it is interesting, can we hear it?

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fiatmoney
"Our partner in the Ukraine have acquired an aircraft..."

Seems legit.

~~~
jedmeyers
Yep, especially "THE Ukraine" part.

~~~
ljoshua
That actually used to be the proper way to refer to the country in English,
but has since fallen out of common parlance.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine#cite_note-merriam-
webst...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine#cite_note-merriam-webster-20)

~~~
aroch
At some point, it was decided that 'The Ukraine' referred to the Soviet state
and 'Ukraine' to the free country.

~~~
new_test
So, probably switching back to "The Ukraine" soon then ;)

~~~
octagonal
No.

~~~
Khaine
Joke

\--------

You

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nateberkopec
The best part of this listing is that they accept "Cash in person".

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jackhammons
"Our partner in the Ukraine have acquired an aircraft of type the TU-95"

Hopefully the auction ends before it's repossessed by its "original owners"
who are closing in fast....

~~~
trhway
there is a reason why US and the others were rushing for Ukraine to give up
its nuclear weapons 20 years ago :) See Lord of War too.

Interesting how recent developments continue to show the difference between
how countries are treated when they have nuclear weapons vs. when they don't
have, like North Korea vs. Iraq. Looking at Ukraine i wonder what Iran think
:)

~~~
twoodfin
To be fair, there are many reasons why North Korea was left alone while Iraq
was considered "safer" to invade. Seoul being with range of massive amounts of
North Korean artillery is one. The concern of both China and South Korea about
the potential for floods of refugees is another.

~~~
tormeh
The most important thing is that China supports NK for ideological reasons.
Sure, China would prefer a communist regime that isn't quite as well suited to
parody, but it'll take whatever communist regime it gets for propaganda and
ideological reasons.

~~~
magni-
China doesn't care about ideology. It cares about having a buffer state
instead of US troops on its borders.

------
staunch
For anyone else who was curious: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra-
rotating_propellers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra-rotating_propellers)

------
the_af
\- Seller writes "u" and "dissamble" in "We can therefore dissamble the Plane
so u can get one or all of the turbines exclusively"

\- Price tag of US $3,000,000.

Well, I'm convinced. Here is my credit card!

~~~
jdbevan
Sorry, cash in person only.

~~~
the_af
But I'd need a T-72 to transport all that cash!

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masklinn
Did people raid the Poltava Museum of Long-Range Aviation? According to
wikipedia it has the only Tu-95 in Ukraine (as well as a Tu-160, in case you
want a supersonic strategic bomber)

~~~
trhway
on the former USSR territories it is called "privatization". Sooner or later
it happens to anything there...

------
izzydata
Item specifics Condition: Used

Seemed funny to me.

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imadethis
I too often buy military surplus hardware from ebay sites in Comic Sans.

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bovermyer
If I bought this, I would totally convert it into a bar.

~~~
Evgeniuz
You can't beat museum opened inside a nuclear silo. And that one is 2-3 hours
from where I live :)

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erobbins
a good rule of thumb for warbirds is that however much it costs you to buy it
is about how much it will cost you per year afterwards to keep it flying.

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allochthon
I have a vague sense of playing Eve Online when I see a Soviet bomber for 3M
on EBay.

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3327
That is a fine piece of hardware. what would restoration cost? How do you even
restore it ? spare parts, technicians on the Tu-95MS are probably not in ample
supply.

~~~
ChrisBland
One main issue with owning aircraft like this is not the cost to get it ready
to fly from its current state but maintaining it to fly. In the air-force you
normally have large mechanic teams that are dedicated to the aircraft. As soon
as it lands its taken to the hanger and the teams get to work on it. These are
not your normal cessnas where you land, tie down, then come back a week later
and throw gas in and go. As soon as these planes land, there is stuff that is
broken or needs fixed/tuned each time. You will end up employing an entire
team to keep this air worthy. This is the same issue you find with older migs
for sale and why they are so cheap.

------
fredgrott
More info:

MS stands for Maritime Strike

[http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Bear.html](http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-
Bear.html)

------
nickmccann
"The plane was manufactured in 1987 and has been flown 454 hours and 24
Minutes of the estimated 5000 hours it is capable off."

Anyone know why there is a 5000 hour limit?

~~~
ars
The aluminum skin and wings fatigue.

It's more a certain number of takeoff and landings rather than flight time.
After that the metal is too weak and unsafe.

Each time the cabin pressure changes the skin moves. Each time it takes off or
lands the wings flex. They probably flex during flight as well.

First link I found:
[http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/04/aircraft_fati...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/04/aircraft_fatigue)

~~~
coin
That still doesn't explain the low total time limit. 5000 hours is low
compared to the typical 50000+ hours that modern jets are rated for.

~~~
dragonwriter
Modern jets aren't prop-driven Soviet strategic bombers. They are typically
built for comfortable, cost-effective, long-term operation, not to be a
credible threat to deter (or carry out) a life-or-death war with an
economically far more advanced adversary.

------
sswaner
454 hours of flight time seems low for a military plane built in the 80's.
That is not very many flights from the Soviet Union to off the U.S. coastline.

~~~
Perdition
Many Soviet vehicles and aircraft weren't of great build quality so they
tended to have training vehicles that would be used by many crews until they
fell apart, and vehicles reserved for combat.

This aircraft was built in '87, by which time the Soviet economy was in
serious trouble and training was at reduced levels. The Bear always projected
a scarier image than was reality.

~~~
sitkack
The US manufactured that image for its own purposes.

~~~
dragonwriter
The Soviet Union manufactured that image for
deterrence/intimidation/diverting-of-US-energy purposes.

The US military-industrial complex amplified it for pocket-lining purposes.

~~~
ballard
Separating movie portrayals and actual mindset...

Wouldn't the MIC over-emphasize Russian reliability whereas the rank-and-file
tend to underestimate it?

Further, wouldn't RU do more or less the same, substituting design bureaus?

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jmnicolas
If it's legit, I wonder if it is a kind of retaliation for the invasion of
Crimea or if the country is just broke and need cash.

------
protomyth
"Our partner in the Ukraine have acquired an aircraft of type the TU- 95MS"

Uhm.....

To be fair, it is a pretty fast prop plane if restored.

------
varjag
"Payments: Cash in person"

------
djyaz1200
How convenient that one can just post the spoils of war on ebay now.

~~~
listic
I know, right? The kind of things they sell on eBay nowadays. Say, some woman
sold her virginity [http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/after-woman-
sell...](http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/after-woman-sells-
virginity-for-780000-here-are-the-results-of-our-prostitution-
survey-8226025.html) I thought that would be illegal.

------
return0
Anyone wanna go halfsies?

------
alexvr
Would Russia sell me a Tu-160 for the right price?

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aren55555
Wonder how it would be "shipped"

~~~
Zikes
Maybe a few of these:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Beluga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Beluga)

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fredgrott
obvious question, is there a picture of the tail with the plane number?

Than sometimes you can pull up the air flight history

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CmonDev
That's a good purchase, Satoshi.

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jksmith
I dig the details regarding shipping.

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espinchi
Very appropriate typeface selection

------
gesman
Does preloaded cargo included?

~~~
arethuza
What were you expecting, one of these?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba)

~~~
Evgeniuz
Ukraine does not have any nuclear weapons now.

~~~
ballard
Definitely not, Russian moves confirm it.

Any idea if the partial reunification will happen?

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markmassie
Comic Sans is a nice touch.

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jokoon
weird that it doesn't say they're open for a bitcoin price.

~~~
ballard
Yeah, they only take plutonium and heroin. Might be sketchy.

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elwell
put it on Pawn Stars

~~~
quahaug

      ...yeah, sure, let me just call my buddy who used to be a mechanic for Tupolev.

