Ebay vs Aeroboot discussion

Defiant Columns

I live in hope of one day finding a call light box(or two).I`m a firm believer in the mantra of if you wait long enough one will turn up.This has proved to be the case with flying clothing to the point where i have virtually everything i want.The only thing is you have to be prepared to pay when that item turns up.
For example,if you had told me a few years ago i would end up with two Defiant columns i probably would`nt have believed you.

Perhaps i need to go to a few more aerojumbles!

Another Defiant column

Further to the above post,here are a couple of pictures of my other Defiant column with the Mag alloy grip.

Please excuse the lack of carpet as i haven`t finished decorating my toy room yet.

BS

Yes, the goose gets points for cuteness but my abiding non-aeronautical memory of the early ‘jumbles is of the rather attractive lady who used to wander around the marquee wearing her frilly knickers on the outside of her tight fitting pants. She gots lots of admiring attention from the males and a few scowls from the females.

The first time he saw her, my Canadian pal Gary dug me in the ribs and drawled “Geez, Hawt Sex!”. 😀

The photos must be out there somewhere!

The best Yeovilton A/J story was when a pal (I’ll not embarass him) got his fingers stuck in some swivel joint or other on a Canberra nose u/c leg he was helping load onto a truck. Nothing would free them, and the swelling just made things worse. In the end a Royal Navy ambulance arrived to cart him off to the sick bay still attached to the u/c leg. The funniest thing I’ve seen at an aerojumble….apart from the regular visitor to Shoreham with the pet goose that followed him like a dog!

Yes, apologies Tony, the Old Sarum weekend was when we visited and saw your collection!

And I remember the cold overnights at Yeolvilton too. Camping against a hedgerow in the carpark. I remember one still warm and sunny saturday evening, as we were chatting and drinking outside the tent, a very Senior looking Naval Officer came on a tour of inspection with a much junior and harrassed looking officer in tow. He was publicly bollocking him for allowing “his” car park to get into such a state. Nasty piece of work, he could have had his “words” out of our ear shot.

I seem to recall that the Yeolvilton weekends ended after that occasion and I’ve always suspected the two were connected, but who knows?

Met some of my “bessie mates” at Whitwick, hard to do that on ebay?

Yes, that’s another early aerojumble memory.

Driving back up North from I think it was Yeovilton, along the M5, late evening.

Colin Waterworth driving dad’s old Sherpa van, Iain in the passenger seat and me taking a turn in the “temporary” seat in the back (I think it was a deck chair?), surrounded by two stalls worth of aeronautical treasure including CW’s Browning .5″.

I woke up from a nap, wondering why the conversation between Iain and Colin had petered out.

When I leaned forward to see what was up, I realised both of them were fast asleep and the Sherpa van was driving itself home.

I carefully woke Colin up and suggested I should take a turn at driving!

Some hours later, the Greater Manchester Police pulled us over and gave us a quizzing – 3 blokes, dodgy van, late night etc, etc.

Our explanation satisfied them and they let us carry on. If they’d have looked in the van and seen the Browning, it might have been a different story!

I had exactly the same experience with CW….we had driven (I think in his P100) over to Alan Downings (Biggles) and Max Elliotts at Rotherham and back to NLW…..we were stopped in Manchester and the policeman really quizzed us on what we had in the back….yep more 0.5s!!!

I can remember going down a steep hill on the Sussex Downs towards Chichester with 4 friends (including Dawn Patrol) and a car full of scrap in Tobin’s fiesta and we had brake failure!

I saw 2 ghosts at Andy’s penultimate AJ at Tangers…….Yeovilton (very cold tented nights) being at University and spending grant on Hurricane seat and grips…..the year the US bombed Tripoli and Y was cancelled….v p’d off!!!
Dear old Wally Wallis.

loads of memories.

Oh, I first met you and Iain at Yeovilton AJ’s in the early to mid 80s. In 1987 I came up to Woodford for a job interview at BAe and visited you and your collection……you introduced me to dodgy northern beer lol!!!

Lots more recollections!!!! The time Harvard spade grips and columns were commonplace at Y and T AJs!!! £10 each!! Prior to that, incredibly poorly restored spade grips that were 80% plastic padding….very overpriced….wont name the vendor lol!!!

Gary, again, thanks for the reply!

I do like a drop of wine, but get confused by the French – if I drink Chilean or Australian, I know what to expect…

Back to business.

I dont think we are far apart at all really – but the market is rather bigger than you think – hence my pointing out the sort of people who buy from me on a regular basis.

Firstly, the majority of the surface indicators went to people building panels just like you. I had never seen one before I found the batch in my stock. I was as surprised as you that they went for the prices they did. If you can buy them for a fiver, let me give you a tip – resell them on ebay; you’ll do alright…

Now, unwittingly, Alan has given me some ammunition for my armoury. Looking through his extensive list shows that most aerojumbles, with three notable exceptions havent stood the test of time – in fact in many cases there have been only one or perhaps two in the given location. I could perhaps derive then, that as a business model, the aerojumble doesnt work that well for the organisers, or they would organise more…. Those that have worked are either down to some sheer bloodymindedness (I suspect in the case of Andy, and David F), or because (Brooklands and Newark), it doesnt cost the organisation anything to put them on.

Now – as to content, I quite agree that there have been some amazing buys over the years; as I say, I had a useful second income when I worked for Historic Flying, as I would go round the jumbles and buy all the bits not marked Spitfire, but were, for bu99er all. However, it really dried up around 1999/2000, and I havent seen it pick up much.

As has been said, online sales gave the marketplace a shot in the arm – suddenly, people who didnt know what they had started selling, and some really unusual stuff started to come in. Who remembers the young lady selling her grandfathers collection of parts removed from Swordfish, Albacore and Seafire? Of course, there is the Lightning cockpit that went for £7,500 only a few days ago – on a Buy It Now, as the buyer thought it was a good deal.

The point I make about value is that you should see your collection as real assets for the future. The panel that cost you five bob to put together might have a real and useful value now; could be useful when planning a daughters wedding, or buying a new boys toy! I think things like instrument panels are quite undervalued at present. £200 for a complete panel on ebay – looks like good value right now – I bet we’ll be looking at over a grand before long, even if it is art collectors (saw you coming!) who buy them!

Look at the aeromart, or the visit to a mates shed (ahem) as a ‘Wholesale’ purchase. Sell on ebay at ‘retail’ prices. At the end of the day, its worth what anyone is prepared to pay. That’s why most of my sales are via ‘Best Offer’.

Anyway, enough for tonight – its been a useful discussion, and thanks to everyone else who has chipped in too.

Bruce

you were so tired from driving up from the smoke that your eyes soon went coming home.

Yes, that’s another early aerojumble memory.

Driving back up North from I think it was Yeovilton, along the M5, late evening.

Colin Waterworth driving dad’s old Sherpa van, Iain in the passenger seat and me taking a turn in the “temporary” seat in the back (I think it was a deck chair?), surrounded by two stalls worth of aeronautical treasure including CW’s Browning .5″.

I woke up from a nap, wondering why the conversation between Iain and Colin had petered out.

When I leaned forward to see what was up, I realised both of them were fast asleep and the Sherpa van was driving itself home.

I carefully woke Colin up and suggested I should take a turn at driving!

Some hours later, the Greater Manchester Police pulled us over and gave us a quizzing – 3 blokes, dodgy van, late night etc, etc.

Our explanation satisfied them and they let us carry on. If they’d have looked in the van and seen the Browning, it might have been a different story!

MISSING WHITTICK

I miss Whitwick:( !!!

Yes, a bit off the beaten track is an understatement on this one but it was always worth going to for myself, but not for everyone, including some WW2 people who often hoped for more. What about the 20-30 or so ‘pip-squeak’ boxes that one guy had who didn’t have time to get them out or who had arrived late started showing us in his trailer as we were leaving? I bought them all for £5 each! Still got one left somewhere in the house- somewhere…

Some good times were had there regardless of the journey time and it was nice to get a beer although you had to get it early as you were so tired from driving up from the smoke that your eyes soon went coming home. Many a kip in a car park was had on the way back, but it was a nice clean hall and all facilities were available, and some extremely good kit was had there with much of it at sensible or great prices.

AEROBOOTS V E-BAY 2 – The Final Countdown (ish) Part 10.5

Right, thanks Gary for the response.

In summary, the times, they are a changin’. I enjoyed the aerojumble, and enjoyed the face to face selling aspect of it, but I have noted, as have others, that the quality of stock has gone down a lot in recent years. ebay is not a panacea, and never will be; if anything we need a further step change down the line to encourage selling of collectables in an affordable manner. The problem is that most of the sites that have tried this have so few users that it just isnt practical.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

I kept the last part of your response to remind people of your whole article and where it left off as my reply is lengthy again so didn’t want you to think I was editing it out.

ASDA have some very quaffable reds inc those from Chile, I won’t buy French as it only encourages them.. Thanks for the reply, not sure how this gets repeated into another link as I’m still newish to all this, so I’ll post it here anyway and I’ll let the ether do its magic.

I accept that you set yourself up to support the enthusiast sector and not to hinder it, I also wouldn’t place you in the same category as the company that draws ‘all the flack’ that you allude to and the quoted excerpt you found unfair was another contributor’s comment and not my own of course, but the overall quotation had some interesting points to make in general. I note the various client streams you have listed.

As I wrote in one of my articles ages ago though, people paying silly money for items (for that’s what an established aerobooter would regard it as being in many on-line offers) is a non-starter when previous avenues still remain for them to acquire their kit at more affordable prices. While the increased accessibility of collecting in general as prompted by e-Bay’s impetus has undoubtedly increased prices, many people still look to the boots even if in decline. At least for the immediate future I can only see these working, with undoubted peaks and troughs as supported by private sell-offs and other kit caches coming onto the traditional face-to-face market to bolster things.

Price variance is down to individual financial considerations just as you have to consider them yourself of course and I also appreciate that some of the other buying streams that you cater to, do expect to pay more – many people doing panels or cockpit or panel/instrumentation restorations at projects at home however don’t require flightworthy instruments or bits from them for use on other off-shoot applications, but they may of course still buy if they don’t want to wait for the next aeomart/boot/jumble to some along, or if they can’t see themselves getting it anywhere else other than on-line.

Someone who might pay the kind of online prices, for say the Vulcan trim adjustors you mention is either new to the preservation movement and unknowledgable of prices, or is not prepared or socially unable to go to, an aeroboot to buy them for the usual boot price of £10.00. Certainly you would class a person paying £220 for such an item as being (a) totally unknowing as to realistic values or about the existence of aeromarts in general, (2) An Arab or (3) A footballer. I picked two trim controls up this year at Shoreham and at the Newark aeroboot and I’ve never seen them any dearer than £10 at a non-online event.

FEST FIT-OUTS
Consider this: How many people do you think who display at Cockpit Fest, and especially those with the fascinating interior Cockpit Panels/Sim/ASR/Uniform/Helmet displays in hangar 2, have actually bought the majority of their instrumentation or kit online? The guages in the majority of my panels have either been bought substantially fitted at aeromarts over the years, or I have sourced the majority of missing guages/switches etc at aeromarts almost exclusively, or done private deals to obtain them thanks to meeting people – I have bought a few on-line Phantom instruments like a vertical climb indicator and a few small panel lights plus 2 grips, but these were targeted items that I didn’t have time to wait around for.

As Tony D concurs: “Get something cheap face to face at an aerojumble and count yourself lucky. Pay a bit more for something you really need for your project on Ebay that is rare and you will fill a gap.” Having said THAT, I am perfectly prepared to accept Pagen01’s own experiences about e-bay that “personally I have never had it so good for actually finding bits” though this is not the case for everyone as you will see below. Pagen 01 goes on to say “The downside are some of the prices” but that “it’s surprising how much stuff comes around again if it is listed too expensively first time around. The bargains are still on there.”

Conversely I was also interested to hear that despite what I have also said about using e-bay to obtain rare or awkward items, the friend who made the 3 para comment on online selling in my first write-up has told me that almost all his rare items have come from aeromarts/boots and one-to-one buying.

His own boot finds include a TSR-2 u/c indicator £5, TSR-2 Display & Attitude Ind £20, Avro 504 control column £70, Pre-War dark blue flying suit £5, brass Lucas multi-switchbox for heated clothing re Vickers Vimy for £10, Blue Steel launch box, mint £20, Vickers Virginia Tailplane Incidence Indicator £2. At the same time, where prices are too high at aeroboots then they are soon identified, and I think I know the people Firebex is referring to who were charging non-boot prices at the Fest. I didn’t see them selling to too many people.

I appreciate that you wouldn’t get the above as a specific shopping wants list as per the other stuff I’ve quoted already and would agree too that general bargain hunting dosen’t float everyone’s boat, but it has always been an undeniable attraction – for at a boot you have that pleasure of unexpectedness in that you might well find something that somebody else wants as a swop or that you can make a tidy sum on, and are then able to afford to buy something specific on e-bay or elsewhere – this happens mainly from placing yourself in a real field early in the morning, instead of looking at a colour monitor, and its a lot healthier to me as a townie.

MoD DOLDRUMS
I agree the MoD policy changes which have contributed so much to the kit losses to the aviation preservation movement, and one of the biggest scrappers of our aviation history was the disastrous M.A.S. concern, who often didn’t know (or care) what they were scrapping when it came to disposing of kit that our taxes had already paid for.

A certain amount of stock bought 10-15 years ago is being sold for higher prices on e-bay and while we will not see large stocks of Tornado or Jaguar parts coming up for disposal it will be to the mart or boot or private trade that small restorers and collectors will look to, as they try to achieve their aims on a budget during a long period of austerity for so many. Only face-to-face trading can do this for so many of us in the majority (though not all) of our restoration projects, because it is affordable besides its other advantages.

I agree the museum funding scenario you describe, though it is more than surprising what museums actually scrap too, with one private collector relating to me years ago that he spotted Duxford allegedly dumping 2 lorry loads of Mosquito spares and being refused the opportunity to let him buy it from them before it left the airfield. With finances always a problem for UK museums, you have to wonder at the thought processes at work here if true, as it would obviously have brought in financial returns to assist in funding or mutual swops. Yet another renowned dealer told me in the 90’s that they allegedly skipped Lancaster cockpit glass and refused any offers again of buying it on-site for selling on elsewhere. Is this misguided museum policy to make things rarer?

WHY NOT A BIG INVESTMENT?
1) To answer your question as to why a Vulcan panel fit-out shouldn’t be a big investment, it is because as I demonstrated on the centre panel example alone, many of the guages can be bought far more cheaply at aeromarts. And as Sopwith.7f1 comments: “it’s up to the buyer to decide if it is worth the price that is being asked, or how much he is prepared to bid for something.” This applies to aeroboot prices too as well as those on-line.

2) To answer your statement on another post that “No-one has yet told me why an instrument shouldn’t be worth the prices asked”, I would say again that its because I’ve pointed out that many of the same items can bought more cheaply at aeromarts.

A regular at Popham has been selling boxes of 4 thrust guages for Vulcan/Bucc etc at £20 for at least 8 years now and I have bought them regularly for future panels to be fitted out with. Completed projects can be valuable depending on market forces at the time a collector may decide to sell a particular project on – but getting to the finished restoration prior to selling it on, is still cheaper by searching and buying what can be found at aeromarts or through private deals, and then exploring more online options as necessary, many of which can be more expensive – though again, as Pagen01 has stated, he has had many good deals also, and we have also heard how it can be useful to dispose of perhaps more specialist items that prove unwanted at aeroboots, but which can find a buyer thanks to the exploded audience, of the e-bay offer.

I know that things may decline further as to what is coming onto the market, but the basic economic reality is that if many of the instruments are still to be found more cheaply at aeromarts then people will still look for them at the shows and will defer to a later date, if they have to bite the on-line bullet and pay more, or will just leave things as they are, in order to meet other realities such as their Council Tax obligations.

LIVING REALITIES
Without wanting to go too far off the beaten track here, besides the plethora of taxes we are crippled by in the UK, C-Tax has been a major problem for so many of us now that some people when considering moving house have to check first if they can afford to live in another area – it certainly affects my thoughts in moving out of the smoke or elsewhere – some even have to factor it in when applying for a mortgage.

The reason being of course, that it was jacked up by the disastrous Labour free spenders and immigration-experimenters at above-inflation increases, to more than double over a decade. It’s been a major burden to people being able to live more comfortable lives, and you only have to look at its implications from day one – when it first came in I was paying £225 under the old rates system – in the first year alone, it more than doubled.

Tony D has made some good points too – “Generally, I try to place stuff with collectors. However, sometimes I need to make a good return as that is what the seller wants to charge me for my trade up! A bit like the house buyer and seller in a growing market.” This supports my obvious point that collectors feel they have to keep up with dealers charges so that the unhelpful on-line escalation of price continues in too many sales.

SOURCING
To Sopwith.7fi’s question “Does it really matter where parts are bought or sold, as long as we can get hold of the parts we need ?” I would say it does matter. For without an aeroboot’s immediate advantage of many parts at affordable prices we would also not behold the unforgettable sight of Bill O’Sullivan (just) riding a bicycle in the evening whilst talking at the same time; we would not see so many other special people that we interact with as at the ‘Fest and seasonal marts in general also, and we would thus lose out on the vital social inter-action which combines with accompanying network deals and arrangements, which are the lifeblood of aeroboot culture via its one-to-one contact.

If we abandon all this to digital sales solely then we lose too much; broadening of appeal is one thing, but many projects would become unaffordable and aviation preservation will diminish, not just in our time but for the future debt-inherited generations that have been handed such a lousy financial legacy, by all the sharks and inadequates in banks and government – the frustration for me being that it was so soon after we had finally paid off our WW2 debt to Uncle Sam.

AFFORDABLE-BAY
E-bay has its undoubted advantages as we have seen also, but its not the complete solution as you say, nor should it be so I think; you can still struggle to get items on e-bay, and it has had many times when nothing of great interest is available, with lots of mass-posted filler items like t-shirts offered. Reduced offerings see the aeroboot not alone in this regard therefore, but yes, the application of a change to encourage on-line selling in an affordable manner is absolutely desirable – this is the reason I first wrote in.

COMPETITION
However, quite how this can be achieved after the failure rate of other sites you have mentioned does give cause for concern, and for a lot more thought on direction in future by such operations. I think e-bay has got to where it is by the generation of considerable and effective marketing activity (allied to an aggressive, some would say merciless, strategy) to the point where it is unfortunately almost a generic for online auctions.

Other sites do not do this well enough, or have ‘clunky’ interfaces. If they could learn from the e-bay rise to preeminence on matters like this then they would stand a better chance of success – besides refraining from many of the maddening and arrogant rules, constraints and hikes that as market leader, it has exploited through its position for many years now which continue causing such offence to so many customers.

I wouldn’t be too despondent if there are things you feel we can’t see eye to eye on as I think there is enough that we are agreed about, which has contributed towards making this an interesting discussion. We are drawing from our own experiences and all you can do is call it how you see it. This includes other forum commentators also, and raising issues like this has been a long time coming as I’ve been tied up with too much other rubbish over the years while I join as few digital things that involve a password as possible. Until recent years many of my preservation issues have been confined to the previously limited audience of our newsletter, but our website together with forum discussions like this will hopefully be of use in stimulating debate and being referred to along positive lines in the future. So just send me that Vulcan powered surfaces indicator for £5 and I’ll be on my way…

Rich & Max’s excellent feedback also agrees with others, that there is room both for E-Bay and Aeroboots, especially in those dim and frustrating winter months when we used to have to wait until the trad events started kicking in come March (though there was the Saturday boon of Hanningfields for some of us) whereas these days you can go online in search of missing bits or whatever else when you fancy. And its been good to be reminded that Forum appeals help too, and that we are lucky, as people ‘up north’ don’t get much in the way of marts as we have done over the years.

These are indeed different times but once again, times that I personally hope will see aeroboots prevailing regardless, as rightly encouraged by perceptive museums who actively support preservation and as supported by other private events, which can co-exist with the unfolding options offered by the digital age. Press on with Shoreham 2 on 1st October Andy!

Cheers

I miss Whitwick:( !!!

I cannot recall exactly the first Tangmere Aerojumble but I reckon about 1982 and it was the same year that Yeovilton kicked off. They did April, I think, and ours ran in September.

Thanks for correcting me on that Andy. I should really have typed mid-80s rather than late-80s as my recollection of the Tangmere start date but you’ve surprised me by suggesting it was as early as 1982.

Isn’t it amazing that two fairly large scale and popular events started in the same year? It makes you wonder how and why the market suddenly came together, i.e. what the catalyst was?

In my case, I’d started collecting seriously post-college and as soon as income and storage space allowed it. That would be late 1970s. I used to buy up any old wartime surplus stuff that came along because, having started off in the world of Preservation, I couldn’t bear the thought of it being scrapped as it clearly would be sooner or later. I never gave a thought about its resale value in future years, so the coming of the aerojumble and the sheer demand for the old stuff came as quite a surprise!

…Newark – August 1996. First of an unbroken line of aeroboots?…

The unbroken run continues! 😀

Blimey!

Thats quite a list.

I cannot recall exactly the first Tangmere Aerojumble but I reckon about 1982 and it was the same year that Yeovilton kicked off. They did April, I think, and ours ran in September. In the end, I’m sorry to say that we killed off Yeovilton. I recall asking Graham Mottram there what the reason was that they had stopped doing them He replied: “I’m talking to the reason, Andy!” Guilty as charged. When the new hall was constructed at Tangmere, btw, we had an empty building in the March and decided to use it for an aerojumble before the aircraft went in. Thereafter, we did twice a year – March and September.

Before Xtangomike and I parted company with the museum the museum trust stupidly pulled the plug on the aerojumble – which was a significant revenue stream for them at that time. I carried on running it elsewhere – Goodwood, Fontwell and then Shoreham. Incredibly, the trust contacted me to say would I still be paying them the profit from these non-museum events!!! Errrrr…..no. (BTW – I still have the letter from the museum saying that they didn’t like the sort of people aerojumbles attracted!!)

Later (twice I think) they disastrously tried to re-start them. As AM has pointed out, they were nothing to do with me.

I did get involved with the Old Sarum one and Old Warden. Trouble was, they all wanted me to get involved with running it but ultimately didn’t want to know when I gave them the advice they had wanted and had asked for. Same with Brooklands, who had me involved initially…but wouldn’t listen when I told them what they needed to do (but what do I know?) and then let the thing decline as they did all the wrong things. And there was me thinking they wanted the income. Obviously Brooklands don’t need revenue very badly. It could have worked and could have worked very well. Hey-ho!

Back to planning for Shoreham…..

You all know where I stand on the ebay v. aerojumble front, so I won’t say much on that subject.

Firebex, I recall attempts at hosting an aerojumble at Y.A.M. Elvington in the mid 1990s. Not very successful – few buyers, not many traders. Faded after a couple of years and that was when stuff was still relatively plentiful and cheap. I remember meeting an enthusiastic young chap, just starting up as a vendor of flying clothing. It was his very first aerojumble and he wanted advice and guidance on prices, etc. Whatever became of Dave Farnsworth?

Actually, I’m thinking of writing the Memoirs Of An Aerojumbler and am currently compiling a list of venues and, to the best of my recall, dates, etc.

For venues, I have the following, all of which were organised and advertised as formal aerojumbles, hence I’ve omitted references to stalls put up at sundry airshows and related events. Dates and frequency are sometimes a bit vague, so any corrections welcomed:

Yeovilton – The grand daddy as far as I’m concerned. Must have seen it advertised and thought it might be fun to attend (initially as a visitor). When was the first event held and were there any predecessors?

Staverton – Soon after Yeo started, held for a few years. First met Joe Aylett at this event and he had incredible stuff at bargain prices (he soon learned!).

Wroughton – The Science Museum site but assume it was “The Friends” who organised them? Late 1980s for a few years. Not as successful as Yeovilton.

Tangmere – Started late 1980s, about the time of the demise of the Yeovilton weekend event? I’m sure Andy will correct me on this. My mind tends to categorise Andy’s events into Tangmere and Shoreham but Goodwood and Fontwell happened in between of course.

Tangmere – WORST. AEROJUMBLE. EVER. Can’t now recall the date, but answered a small ad in Flypast, packed the car and headed down to a pub car park where about a dozen other mugs had assembled. I seem to recall the stall cost £12 and I took the same amount. God knows what the fuel costs were. Can’t blame Andy S, he had nothing to do with it!

North Weald – Held at The Squadron. Quite good, cheap and yet close enough to London to pull in the crowds. I have a first date of 1989 but this may have been a one-off of some sort as I fancy the regular Squadron events were some years later. Anyone correct me on this?

Croydon – 1990. Tried the New Years Day event in the Terminal Building for a couple of years. Wasn’t strictly an aerojumble, more of a Collectors Fair. Remember being impressed by all the rough sleepers in shop doorways as we passed through London. Thatcher’s Britain for all to see!

Yeovilton (again) – After the glory days of the mid 1980’s weekend marquee event, didn’t they add an aerojumble on to the airshow, circa 1990 and for a few years after? I’ve a clear memory of seeing PA474 bounced about 80′ in the air by a misjudged landing at one do?

Middle Wallop – Might have been a one-off, March 1992, same weekend as Tangmere. Can’t remember much (if anything) about it!

Popham – I have May 1994 as the first. Continuous since then (and twice yearly for a while?)

Old Sarum – July 1994. Lovely venue, good local ales, met young Tony for the first time. Was this one a one-off (not referring to TD of course)?

Rougham – April 1996, a weekend do in something resembling a cow shed as my memory has it. Think this one was a one-off?

Old Warden – July 1996. Quite a properly organised event, iirc, marquee et al, but never repeated?

Bruntingthorpe – sometime, mid 1990s. At least one, maybe two events tacked on to the Jets Open Day. Recall swapping ghost stories with Tony Dyer during the overnight stay.

Newark – August 1996. First of an unbroken line of aeroboots?

Whitwick – November 1997. First visit to the Sports Hall. Became a twice yearly event but always held back by being in the wrong part of the country. Last one, October 2009.

Hooton Park – November 1997. First event in the Belfast hangar. Bit of a well kept Northern secret. Great event at first but once Merseyside had been hoovered clean, it started to drop off. Moved to the Civic Hall, Ellesmere Port for a couple of years before dying in 2004(?)

East Midlands Aeropark – late 1990s. Ran for several years but never caught on. Shame, it was fun to do and I doubt I’d ever have got around to visiting them otherwise.

Worksop – August 1998. All I can recall of this one is that it was advertised by flyers at Newark. Young couple, keen to see it get established. Did the deed but can’t remember too much about it! Never repeated?

Swanton Morley – April 1999. Two events in one year but then it vanished. Held in the hangar and quite well attended but not particularly lucrative.

North Weald – September 1999. Co-incided with Shoreham weekend so maybe this was the era of the Squadron “dos”, or was it an Air Britain organised one-off which I can recall from the dim and distant?

Come the turn of the Century, you start to see the accelerated demise of the aerojumble, with just a few stalwarts left and you sometimes felt these were threatened (which several of them were, of course).

However, it’s great to reflect that, over a decade on, there are still viable events to look forward to and long may they continue!

Blimey, I’d forgotten about Brooklands! Was it as recently as 2007 that Andy kicked off the first one? It’s run every year since, and the organisation of this event has been debated several times before, so I’ll keep schtum on this occasion.

Aerojumbles are very thin on the ground in the North of England.It would be nice if we could find a venue to do this at ?.

Even Newark is a trek for a lot of folks.

I feel there is a place for both but I was a little surprised to find someone at Newark selling stuff for about twice the going evilbay rate let alone its proper value. But I suppose when folks are daft enough to pay that much money it will drive the prices up.

If the stuff does not sell because we think its to expensive to buy then the sellers will have to rethink and bring the prices down to a parity with a fair allowance of circa plus 15% to cover evilbay and paypal charges.The market would then be a lot fairer and more stable for all .I cannot see how some of the organisations selling very large lumps for very large amounts of money and re advertising it month after month because there are no takers can sustain the fees surely there comes a point when sense must prevail ???.

Mike E

www.whirlwindfighterproject.org

evilbay gets my vote, aerojumbles are very thin (ie non existant) in my part of the world, if I want anything, considering I particularly like jet stuff then the internet is the only way to go. And mind you I am not averse to spending money with 2 cockpit restorations on the go and a further 2 on the way.

Paul

So the general consensus seems to be that there is a place for both aerojumbles and e-bay.

Thats good!

In that case I will press on with plans for Shoreham on 1 October 2011 – now that the jury has delivered its verdict! 🙂

Re Ebay vs Aeroboot discussion.

Hi Guys

I think that we (my son Max and myself) are probably quite typical enthusiasts. We love Aviation and out aircraft related projects.

I belive that both Ebay and Aeroboot’s play a very large and equaly important part in our hobby. I have been involved in aviation profesionaly for over 30 years. But it only became a hobby when my youngest son, Max started to get involved as well.

We both love Aeroboot’s, the digging around and most of all, bumping into friends and having a good chat. But, when Max was in full time education and more so now that we both hold down full time jobs. Making the time to travel long distances, at great expence in fuel etc, often giving up valuable overtime, and not knowing if we will even find anything of use to us at the event. It takes a lot of commitment from us both.

However, E Bay fills a gap for us, especialy durring the winter months, it allows us to keep projects moving, and again, there is a lot of fun in the chalange of getting the part we want at a price we can afford. When Max was younger, E Bay in many respects kept him interested. He would have an instrument panel project on the go, and filling the odd hole every now and then, kept his interest going.

We also sell on E Bay, which allows us to put some cash towards the rent on our little workshop, which we would struggle to afford any other way.

Finaly, there is a third media we use to supply our hobby “fix”. We post wants lists on this forum, which opens up leads, which very often lead to finding parts we need. We then do a deal of forum, which may include cash, swapping parts or even carrying out work for someone in exchange. This is a mix of using the PC and face to face meetings, and we have had some of our best times together doing this. We set up the deal on line, but meet face to face, knowing the cost of the journey will be worthwhile, so we win both ways. And we always seem to come home with a lot more than we expected, and take it in turns to buy breakfast!

So, I belive there is a place for both E Bay and Aeroboot’s, and would personaly add our third option to the list as well. No one makes you buy something at an Aerojumble if you feel it’s overpriced, and the same goes for E Bay, and we have had some amazing bargains at / on both, but the contacts and friends we make are priceless.

Just my personal feelings.
Ritch.