Wanted-Wrecks & Relics Books

Your theory is sound is principle, Meddle, but in practice the opposite was the case. For example, the first edition (1961) comprised only ten A4 pages of text and three of photos. Even the second edition (1963) (at least, the 1979 reprint) comprised only sixteen A3 pages of text with four of photos (including the back cover). However it had grown to 85 pages by the fourth edition (1974) and by the ninth edition (1984) the page count had increased to 221. I suspect that this was, in the main, due to an increased interest in ‘wrecks’ and a far greater number of ‘relics’ being preserved by the mid eighties. I also suspect that back in 1963, there were far more aeronautical ‘wrecks and relics’ in existence than get a mention in the first edition (which deliberately excluded all Spitfires on the ground that these had previously been covered in a Society publication). Probably it did no more than scratch the surface and, perhaps, engender interest in searching out, reporting and recording qualifying entrants. But as the years went by, more people sought out the extant ‘wrecks and relics’ and communicated their data to the publisher of the book (initially this was the Merseyside Aviation Society), causing the content to increase exponentially, edition by edition.

Google Books sometimes lets you preview a book, but thee is no such luck for any of the Wrecks and Relics releases.

Daft laddie question, but aren’t these books going to get smaller with each release? It appears that even in the ’90s you could find substantially more airframes rotting away than you can now. No doubt tougher waste handling laws (WEEE directive et al) limits what you can leave to rot. The exceptions, Predannack and Long Marsden spring to mind, are well documented.

Do you mean accessible (to read) on a website or for sale on a website? If it’s the former, then I suspect that the answer is no. If it’s the latter, whilst I don’t know, I suspect that the answer will be no (at least for the very early issues) and if the answer is yes, that you’ll have to dig deep in your pockets to pay the prices asked!

Can anyone tell me if the 1st to 9th edition are on any websites ??

I have got a pdf copy of Wrecks & Relics 1961 (Number 1).

It came on a CD with edition 21.

The current one is still on sale here and they may also have some older editions in their second-hand book sales!

RAF Museum at Hendon had a couple of older editions on the shelf when I was there at the end of September for a couple of quid each.

Guzzinell

Ive pm you back

I have used Amazon for finding secondhand books. Also Abebooks and Oxfam. Assuming you are in the UK, it is also surprising what one sometimes finds in charity shops, Oxfam and British Heart Foundation tend to be best in my experience.

www.abebooks

i’ve got 9/10/11/12/13/14/16/18 which i want to get rid of…. will pm you 🙂

The early ones are hard to find. The first couple had a very limited print run. Try some of the specialist second hand aviation bookshops for those. Otherwise, the later ones turn up on eBay quite regularly. When I first owned them, I used to ditch the last one as the new one came out. I’ve since replaced most of them!

I’ve bought most of mine through Amazon usually they have a good selection at reasonable prices. eBay is also worth a look.