In case anyone is interested, a very inexpensive Grumman Albatross wheel is available on US Ebay here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grumman-SA-16-Albatross-Control-Wheel-/292202608308?hash=item4408a1f6b4:g:~oAAAOSwEIhZgmmk

It has a BIN price of $40! Looks to be just the wheel casting. No cap or switches.

Just wondering if anyone on this forum ended up as the buyer of that B47 wheel that sold on Ebay a week ago. As I recall, it went for about $1200us–an excellent buy in my view.

One of the rarer control wheels, a B-47, for sale on US Ebay.
Item number: 322600180086
The opening price is realistic.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/original-Boeing-B-47-Stratojet-control-wheel-yoke-strategic-bomber-aircraft-/322600180086?hash=item4b1c781976:g:rDoAAOSw3QpZbq-J&vxp=mtr

“So happy to have this finally arrive”

Very nice F-102 grip Tony! They’re becoming increasingly hard to find. Did it come from a US source?

I’m still on the lookout for the F-106 to complement my 102.

Thanks for sharing the photos of the wheels/grips in your collection ProudKerman. The Vengence and Wirraway grips certainly aren’t seen too often.

LOL….I know what you mean Tony. One of the problems when I restored my first P-38 wheel was in controlling the drill as I made the spacer holes bigger with consecutive drill bits. I didn’t have a drill press and the flutes on the larger bits wanted badly to dig into and chew up the rubber.

I know your Lanc is an even bigger challenge! If you’re serious, let me know if you need any detail photos. I took bunch of them when I restored my Lancaster wheel.

“The question will be how to tell the difference between original and good quality replica, …”

Hi Martyn:

Rocketeer is right on the mark that not everyone will be able to tell the difference. Like anything else in the hobby/enthusiast world, the more time an individual expends in the hobby the more familiar you become with what is out there. This thread/forum, which goes back several years, is a great source to browse through for good information about the details of many different wheels and grips. Online sites specializing in cockpit shots of aircraft is another great source. And of course….books.

“I also have a wheel off the C97, which is unusual as it is not metal, but some other material. I was given it in person from one of the scrapyards in the US about 15 years ago, but I was always a bit wary of it, until I had a look in the cockpit of the C97 at Bruntingthorpe and its exactly the same material.”

Hi Martyn:

Your comment about your C-97 wheel in interesting. I’m curious to find out if there might be another type of C/KC-97 wheel manufactured for Boeing. When able, please post photos of your wheel, especially a hub close-up and close-up of the text on back of the center spoke. I’ve looked through photos of many of these wheels over the last dozen or so years and I own examples of the B-17/B-29, C/KC-97 and B-50 wheels. All of the original wheels I’ve encountered are composed of aluminum alloy castings that have hard rubber coatings. The alloy casting provided rigidity for the wheel under high load circumstances. I do think the composition of the rubber coating material evolved over the period these wheels were produced from about 1942 into the mid-1950s. I’m aware of reproductions of these wheels in three forms–solid rubber, rubber coated casting and painted casting. The reproductions I’ve seen are fairly easy to detect.