Don’t know if this is any help from my ancient copy of Air Britain Impressments Log
BF 109E AE479
Captured in France and shipped to the UK in early 1940.Originally delivered to A&AEE Boscombe Down and ferried to RAE as 1304 on 14 May 1940 where it flew on general handling trials. Serial AE479 was allotted June 1940 and first flew in these marks on 27 Aug 1940 for cooling tests.
From Sept 20 to November 20 1940 it was with AFDU at Northolt and frequently flew circuits escorted by a Hurricane!
On 5 January 1941 the aircraft crash landed at RAE and on 24 July 1941 was returned to AFDU at their new Duxford base.
1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight was formed at Duxford in November 1941 and AE479 was transferred to the flight on 11 December 1941.
Sent to 47 MU on 28 January 1942 for shipment to USA aboard SS Drammersford via SW India Dock, London. Destination was the quartermaster Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio so I assume this one met its end in the USA.

This aircraft was certainly involved in a landing accident but neither the dates or locations tie up but it could be a case of memories playing tricks.

There is something of a problem with valuing replicas, the old adage “it’s worth what someone is prepared to pay for it” springs to mind, and so a high profile auction is probably the way to go; however the right thing to do, is to offer it back to those who built it, for the money it owes them.

I entirely agree that the fair and proper thing to do was offer it back to those who built it first and also agree that it is difficult to value and at the end of the day is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.
My reasoning was that those who attend to bid at a high profile auction are usually more than able to afford to buy the real thing (airworthy or static) so I am sceptical that they will bid huge amounts for a replica.
Many of the high end collectors in the car and aviation worlds seem to buy with a view to getting a profit on their initial outlay when they decide to move on their collection in the future. The value of a “real” airframe is quite likely to increase but a static replica is likely to have less investment potential and will therefore be a lot less attractive so it is unlikely to attract big bids.
Time will tell whether this was the correct approach from the point of view of realising the most money from the sale but whatever the outcome I feel that the treatment of the replica builders can at best be described as shoddy and the senior members of RBL management should be hanging their heads in shame.

A big thankyou to Maurice Hammond for bringing his two P-51’s along.
Two of the finest Mustangs I have seen, finally getting to see ‘Marinell’ really made my day:cool:

A huge thank you to Maurice and to everyone else who used airframe and engine hours to turn out for the event.
I thought it was a nice touch opening the gun bays on the Mustangs. I had never appreciated just how complicated it was to route the ammunition to each gun and to see it all laid out complete with bullets made it much easier to understand how it all worked.
It was good to see and hear the Catalina being run as well – that really was an unexpected bonus.

Not a very promising start to the day with rain most of the journey and the first set of camera batteries were flat. First walk round all the pictures were burnt out and I couldn’t remember how to reset the camera but I got there in the end and the day got better. A very enjoyable event other than the gent? with a big camera lens who I let work in front of me (as I knew I would get in his way) as the Mustangs taxied in who repaid my thought and kindness by putting his thumb up to the pilot right into my picture – Thanks a bunch.
I have posted an album of photos showing the stars of the day and a few of the other visitors together with some of the Wealds residents.
A few are shown below:-

I apologise if someone has already posted this question but I have been back through the thread and checked the website and can’t find an answer.
Is there a seperate admission price for those who don’t want / need a signing voucher or is the only way to get in to pay the £20 for a voucher please?

Timely ejaculation is always important 😀

Particularly if it coincides with the loud screaming climax so beloved by enthusiast of 1960’s grand prix cars!

I honestly think that the idea of building an aluminium replica or looking at acquiring a project is more practical and most likely no more expensive.
When I got my car I didn’t know much about its construction only that I had originally clapped eyes on the one I now own in about 1975 and best part of 25 years later it was sitting in my garage looking very derelict.
When I discovered that I had bought a fibreglass monocoque I was very pleased that I wasn’t going to have rust problems etc of a steel car but fibreglass does have it owns problems and challenges which are easily equal to those that a steel monocoque can throw at you.
In theory you can do a lot of the work without having to spend ages learning specialised techniques (like welding) but in practice it isn’t quite that easy particularly if you need to get a good long lasting surface finish.

Merkle – You did say that, apart from the problems of keeping a complete airframe, the other main factor is that you don’t have enough money to buy the static aircraft. I wondered if you had worked out the cost of materials to produce a mould and then producing complete parts from that mould as I would have thought the matting and resin is going to add up to a fair bit particularly as you are likely to have one or two failures along the way. You also need a warm workshop to get fibreglass resins to react properly and the heating bill will be a significant part of the budget.
I have been messing around with an old kit car for a few years and fibreglass is smelly, extremely messy and sanding produces mounds of dust which gets in everywhere. My other half is less than enthusiastic when I walk indoors and trail the red dust from the old gelcoat around the house!
I have found that trying to work in a garage that also has to house my tools and a motorbike is very difficult as everything seems to get covered with resin and / or dust no matter how careful you are so ideally you are going to need a workshop which is solely to house your project at least until such time as you have a set of finished mouldings and have got through the worst of the resin and dust stages.
It may just work out that the costs for your friends spare static project will be similar or less than the cost of making a replica cockpit in fibreglass assuming that you can find the space to keep a whole airframe at a viable cost.
If you are looking to take the finished cockpit to events you are going to have to watch the weight to make sure that you can move it for a reasonable cost but equally you are going to need something reasonably substantial to avoid problems with the fibreglass crazing.
Please don’t get me wrong I am not saying your idea is impossible – I am just trying to offer alternative outlooks and having done a bit of fibreglass work I know just how messy it can be.