P-38 control wheel sold

[AeroTRrat]

As a collector of warbird bits I was really excited to see a real P-38 control wheel/yoke for sale on ebay.

I only watched it... as I knew the price would go well past my means, and boy did it!
$3999.00!

Sort of another holy grail for me but the battle for it was fun to watch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0152167296


I hope that link works even though The bidding has ended.


Dave

[Jack Cook]

Geez,
What's a section of skin off a ace's Corsair worth???

[Chris Brame]

He also has something for you B-24 fans:

http://cgi.ebay.com/c1943-FORD-MOTOR-Co ... dZViewItem

[Lynn Allen]

Geez,
What's a section of skin off a ace's Corsair worth???

Or a bent piece of the gear door that mounts on the gear??

Lynn

[Richard W.]

Did these originally have caps on them that said "Lockheed" or "P-38" on them ?

If so, I wonder how much more it would have gone for at auction.

[AeroTRrat]

Rich,

I have seen photos of P-38 cockpits that show a nice Lockheed cap on the wheel, sort of like the B-17 Boeing caps. Silver on black bakelite.

Have never seen one for sale or auction.

I guess when you are building a 3 or 4 million dollar P-38, $4 grand for the wheel is no big deal. I bet the caps are made "one-off" for restoration.

Probably cost hundreds. Like the $25 cup of lemonade... you only gotta sell one.

Dave

[Old SAR pilot]

Original control wheel caps bring a REAL premium! When Ol' 927 was being transformed from Diamond Lil, Gary located a couple of replacements, but they were in the (and correct me if I'm wrong, here, Gary) $300-$350 price range. We kept the originals!

[retroaviation]

Yup. And we could still use two more for FIFI. The old ones were severely damaged when someone tried to pry them off for souvineirs.

Gary

[plane research]

There is another P-38 control wheel out there for sale.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330684167229?ss ... 1586.l2649

[The Inspector]

Didn't they use left over P-38 control wheels on U-2's?