Ebay spade grip/control column

Hope the buyer of the stick is not thinking of using the Raleigh Chopper bits he bought in the Spitfire re-build!

Yes, I get the phone messages advising me that “as you know, someone in your household entered our prize draw a few weeks ago…”

As I live alone and don’t enter draws, I never listen to the rest of the message but presumably I have to give out personal details in order to receive the prize! Oh yeah…

Back to spade grips, you sometimes find the stainless steel BSA type sans column and mounted on wood as a desk ornament. You can usually pick them up at a cheaper price – me and my chum paid £225 for one two years ago.

It’s still an expensive hobby, though!

The eBay bargain of last week must have been a miniature “Spitfire” spade grip and column on a key ring. I’ve never seen one before and it looked more like a Hurricane column actually, but at around a fiver, I wish I’d bid on it. The ultimate accessory for the control column collector!

It’s a lovely piece and worth the winning bid in my opinion.

If I’d seen it, I would have bid on it. But you cannot spend all day, every day searching through eBay.

I was interested in it for a while but the price got a bit too rich for me. If only I’d taken a chance because today I’ve just received a couple of e-mails telling me that not only have I won the Euro-lottery draw (not bad considering I’ve never heard of it!) but I’ve also been offered the chance to help someone out in Nigeria & Gold Coast & ivory Coast in recovering millions of unclaimed dollars (oops, I’ve let the secret out now!). Typical! One minute no cash, then several million come along all at once. I think a PM to Mark12 must be in order now as I’ll need several Spits to spend my cash on obviously.

All I need to do now is send the guy all my personal and bank account details and the money will be mine. I can’t believe how lucky I am, and just before Christmas too!

( 😀 😀 😉 😉 😀 😀 )

That narrows it down a bit.

…for the Spitfire enthusiasts amongst us, I’m still in the dark!

But I’m now on my third mug of coffee and have to agree that Hawker may not be the answer, as they tended to have the jointed columns as per the Hurricane and even later types. An Audax column is sitting a few feet away as I type this! 😮

I’m surprised by the Gladiator suggestion though. I always thought Gladiators had the standard wartime type Dunlop grip, incorporating the brake lever and a pneumatic gun button. Or did early Gladiators have Palmer brakes and cable operated Brownings? I would not have thought so.

Oh jeez, look at the time, I really must start my xmas shopping. Back later!

Having spoken with ‘Mr Hawker Bi-plane’, he tells me that the stick is not Hawker but of course the top grip is universal (an AGS part?).

Possibly from a Gladiator.

A very nice item and the top bidder has a ‘call sign’ that is a recovered Russian Spitfire! That narrows it down a bit. 🙂 😉

Mark

Hawker may be close! I can’t identify the type off hand but it has a generic Hawker look to it.

It’s a lovely piece and worth the winning bid in my opinion.

If I’d seen it, I would have bid on it. But you cannot spend all day, every day searching through eBay.

One of the faults of eBay, in my opinion, is that aeronautica tends to end up spread across many different categories (and descriptions), making it hard to cover everything.

A nice Christmas treat for SM639, whoever he is!

Looks like one Ive got, and one or two others on this forum as well.They were discussed maybe a year ago.
Its either from a Hawker product (Hind,Fury etc) or Westland-I believe they used the same spade grip “off the shelf”.
Check out a photo of the Hawker Hind cockpit for a closer look. I saw one on a website recently (was it HAC-cant remember)
Der