Hi Dave–

Hm! Interesting topic. Can’t claim to have definitive answers but here are some candidates…

*The Science Museum in London had aircraft in its collection before World War I.

*The Smithsonian, given ill-starred experimenter Samuel Langley’s headship, also began acquiring aviation artifacts very early.

*The US Army Air Corps had a display of airframes and engines at McCook Field in the late twenties.

*Richard Shuttleworth’s aircraft collection was begun circa 1932.

*The Deutscher Luftfahrtsammlung (Berlin’s famously ill-fated air museum) was certainly well-known by the late 30s, and presumably began some time prior.

Looking forward to following the responses on this one!

Cheers

S.

Rob68–

Thanx for sharing those. The serial on this Vulcan looked familiar and sent me to a shelf full of old photo binders…yep, there she were, XL426 parked at London, Ontario, in the pouring rain at the thoroughly washed-out 1982 London International Airshow, with what was left of the crowd trying to use her starboard wing as an umbrella…One of the few times I ever got close to a “live” Vulcan. Wonderful to see the very same Vulcan actually more active in 2006 than she was on that wringing-wet day nearly a quarter century ago!

S.

Geez, I gotta get some sort of digital camera: this thread is fun to watch, but would be more fun still if I’d some way of contributing pix!

ContrailJJ–I do still have about five of those Halifaxes from the Buffalo KayBee Toy & Hobby, still with the $2 markdown tags on them! An exchange could be a possibility…

S.

There was also a Tempest II at Breckenridge, Texas, for a number of years; I’d always assumed that one was ex-India/ex-Arnold too?

The version of the WoGB acquisition I’d heard was probably apocryphal, namely that Mr A had bought a larger batch of grounded Tempest IIs in India, then had the bulk of those scrapped and/or interred, thus ensuring the rarity of the small number he kept. Anyone else recall hearing that slant? (Besides being Machiavellian and historically heinous…frankly it doesn’t make sense: what are the most sought after “collectible” Warbirds? Spits and Mustangs. Those are scarce as mass-produced aircraft go, but common enough that a support industry has been able to develop around them. Which won’t likely happen with a half-dozen Tempests. I have often wondered, if there WAS a larger Tempest batch recovered, would we now have several Tempests on the circuit–perhaps with R3350s up front–in the manner of the two dozen Furies Jurist and Tallichet recovered from Iraq a bit later??)

S.

Hi all–

Ar, this is like the album covers thread: no way of posting pix! My basement closely resembles a hobby shop (actually I’ve a better stock than a couple of the actual local shops). Favourite acquisition story would probably be the time my parents returned from a crossborder shopping trip and told me of a toy store that was selling off some Matchbox kits. At my behest we went back across to Buffalo NY the same evening; ended up with nine 1:72 Stranraers, eight 1:72 Halifax II/Vs, six 1:72 Lancs and four 1:32 Me109Es. The 1:72 stuff was priced at $2 each; the 109s were $3…them was the days.

That Zlin kit is interesting…not often you see a model airplane made to the curious, but common, 1:43 diecast-car scale…I’ve only ever seen one other such and that was a resin deMonge-Bugatti racer, the connection with cars being very clear there. (Never have had the guts to build that kit.)

Great thread!

S.

Fokker F28s/100s

Tenthije–

Not sure to what degree it may be of interest given the distances involved, but this past June I ran across two Fokker twinjets I think were 100s (else they were late series F28s) at the Aeroport Jean-Lesage at Quebec City, Quebec. One was partially stripped down and parked in a far corner of the ramp near where provincial government waterbombers park; the other was squeezed in next to a hangar and looked much more “healthy”. It wouldn’t shock me if the stripped one, at least, turned out to be available…

Also at Jean-Lesage were one intact and two disassembled Hunters, but that’s another story…

S.

Bob–

Email me off board…coincidentally I recently heard from someone who might have what TAM is looking for. (BTW, did you notice Al Stix’ post on here about ex-Emerson Electric spares available including parts for Martin mid-uppers?)

S.

Peter–

True enough re the A-7…but at least they’ve had the foresight to obtain it while it’s still recognizeable as an A-7…long as it survives, it can always be restored later on!

Cheers

S.