By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ron Runyan adjusts a cable behind the second pilot seat in a Czech made L-39 Z jet trainer undergoing restoration at Warren County Airport. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

LEBANON - A flashback to the Cold War will soon crisscross Warren County skies after two jets used by the Soviet military are restored by a Greater Cincinnati pilot, with help from a veteran of the East German air force.

"They represent the Soviet Union and are remnants of the Cold War and that era," said Ron Runyan, a podiatrist and resident of North Avondale in Cincinnati. "This is more than just bolting up two airplanes. This is history."

The Albatross, which was first flown in 1968, was the training jet used by many communist countries throughout the world as America dueled with the Soviet Union for global influence. The Soviet Union's jet fighters were MiGs.

The two Albatross jets, which sport the military markings and distinctive red star of the Soviet armed forces, will soon be re-constructed, sans hundreds of pounds of military electronics, and Runyan plans to take his first jet-powered flight in one early next month.

IF YOU GO

Two partially assembled Soviet military jets will be on public display at no charge during a 9:30 a.m. seminar Saturday at the Warren County Airport in Lebanon, 2460 Greentree Road. Seminar speaker Bernd Rehn, a 19-year veteran of the East German Air Force, was the chief engineer for the L-39 Albatross training jets for 13 years and is overseeing the reconstruction of the jets for Cincinnati-based Aeromaxx. For information, call 932-7966.

Runyan is director of Aeromaxx, which specializes in vintage and military aircraft. He plans to buzz the skies over Warren County in the jets, which can reach a top speed of 450 mph and an altitude of 29,000 feet.

"This is my passion," said the 57-year-old pilot. He declined to say how much he paid for the planes.

Former East German Air Force squadron engineer Jens Triebel has come to Lebanon from Bautzen, Germany, to help hurl Runyan into the clouds.

Triebel is confident Runyan will quickly master the internationally popular jet, which was flown in countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Bulgaria, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Romania, Syria and Vietnam.

"It's a funny airplane in that it is a jet, but it flies so easily," he said during a break in assembling the planes.

The jets can be viewed by the public during a free seminar Saturday at the airport.

But Runyan is eager to fly and expects a small crowd in June when he takes off. "It'll be the most fun you can have in the daylight - with your clothes on and people watching."

Email mclark@enquirer.com