That late P-38 column is a nicely preserved piece of equipment. It will be interesting to see if it draws bids and if so, where the reserve is.

Just wondering though Tony, what evidence there is that it hasn’t flown? Granted, if it has, then someone took a lot of effort to remove it intact…right down to unscrewing the cable fittings. The wear marks on the pulleys in one of the photos at least suggest the cables were under tension at some point.

“On the ‘objects of desire’ front, how about this imaginatively priced B-1 stick”

Really neat item but….I have to wonder how that grip made it into private hands. It’s a virtual guarantee the USAF did not release it with a batch of used or surplus parts.

Behind the HU-16 Albatross is the wheel from a Grumman G-21 Goose. The Albatross has an interesting cap. Behind the BAE-146 is a Nihon YS-11 wheel. Latter was a 1960s vintage Japanese twin-turboprop similar to the CV-580 in configuration.

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Did a quick Google search on TU160 cockpit images and found the photo below. Hmmmm…looks like Putin to me. A man of many talents…or someone did some interesting photo shopping?

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“Love the tail fin, what is it from ?”

The vertical fin and rudder are from the TEMCO Swift I learned to fly in and that I performed my first solo in back in 1972. The rear spar of the vertical fin was cracked so my dad took the rudder/fin off the plane around 1980. Replacements were installed and he flew the plane for another 18 years before selling it. After my dad died in 2007 I was in Pennsylvania clearing out a storage shed and found that fin/rudder in the rafters. Decided to retain them as a keepsake. My dad always loved the lines of the Spitfire (who doesn’t) and decided to paint his Swift in the scheme of a Spit in the late 1960s. That’s why it has camo paint and the RAF fin flash. It’s the same paint applied by my dad over 45 years ago. By the way, there are several nice Swifts flying in the UK.

On the sad side, in late 2011 I found out my dad’s old Swift had been ditched it in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The pilot had run the aux tank dry and had a brain freeze (or something) and didn’t realize the mains still had fuel. He and his mother both survived the ditching but had to swim a mile or more to shore, in October, in rough water. His mom couldn’t make it and died of exposure. The pilot survived the ordeal–barely, …can’t imagine how he handled his culpability in his mother’s death. Very sad story and the end of a good airplane.

Some of you might enjoy this little grouping of caps. Still need to pick up an EC-135 cap…

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I have to agree with you Rob. A bid of $2100+ right out of the box for a wheel that is not the advertised product seems unusual to me. However, if this is indeed a B-50 wheel (or oddball late production B-29 wheel) it’s a far less common item than a B-17 wheel. Of course rarity may, but doesn’t necessarily translate to, desirability and/or high valuation.

As a side note, my records indicate the highest price paid for a B-17 wheel was $3,700 in 2013, for a nice wheel with no cap! Another B-17 wheel (with cap) with a provenance of combat history, sold for $3,550 in 2007. Conversely, the lowest price paid for a B17 wheel on ebay is $500. On Ebay, it’s all in the day. I’ve never seen a B-50 wheel (or this particular model) on Ebay.

Last three digits on the Connie wheel are likely 999