Joe Vaughn RIP

[valdez25]

Joe Vaughn passed at age 43 on 07NOV07. I met him about a year ago. Sure wish I'd known him longer. What an interesting guy he was.

[JohnH]

Ok, who was Joe Vaughn?

[mgeorge51]

Is this the same Joe who was interested in German aircraft and engines and moved to Missouri from Florida in the last couple of years.
Thanks

[EDowning]

Mike George wrote:

Is this the same Joe who was interested in German aircraft and engines and moved to Missouri from Florida in the last couple of years.
Thanks

Same guy, Mike. He was the guy you interacted with about the ME109.

[DaveM2]

Quite well 'known' on both sides of the pond, unfortunately not in a flattering way.

Dave

[BrianVallero]

Joe Vaughn is a good man and a best friend

[bdk]

Is this one of those threads where I really don't want to know what everyone is talking about?

[gordonpagecolorado]

Does anyone know what 109(s) he had? Any idea what will happen to his collection?

[astixjr]

I only met Joe recently but I had been hearing his name in the St. Louis area for a year or two. I think many people here in St. Louis who are involved with the warbird and vintage a/c hobby thought he might be, for lack of a better word, full of BS. Then one day, he showed up at the local CAF with a very nice Bf-109G-6 (I think -6) He started hanging around Creve Coeur Airport late this Summer and my father and I were really starting to enjoy his company. I brought down a pile of photos from my travels in the former Soviet Union and he was able to ID lots of people that I used to do business with over there. There were things he knew that he could not have known unless he was actually there looking for WWII a/c. Still, Joe was an enigma wrapped in a mystery or something like that. I have a feeling he was really strange and quirky so he would have fit right in with the rest of the non-conforming misfits at Creve Coeur. As far as being being "known in an unflattering way" on both sides of the pond as regards aircraft in the former SU, you and I both know Dave that there is no greater concentration of liars, thieves, thugs, and stinkers on the planet than the group that "hangs" in the former SU. Sorry for that "unflattering" appraisal but as a charter member of that club, I can speak with some experience. Remember, in the WWII aircraft business in Russia, the first liar does'nt stand a chance.

[DaveM2]

Al

Too true. The 109 is the ex MBB Buchon conversion and is owned by a guy called Steve L. Papers were recently produced to prove it to the Vaughn family. He was involved in Russia certainly, and not only in aircraft, a Pz IV confiscated at the UK docks proof of that. Anyway no need to elaborate further on a public forum.

Dave

Last edited by DaveM2 on Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[astixjr]

Dave,
So are you saying that the 109 at the CAF in St. Charles, MO did not belong to Joe? I know he said he had another one and I think it was in the UK, maybe an island in the Channel? One of the things I found strange about Joe is that he gave out his lawyer's phone number as a contact number. I never got his home number, just the number for his attorney. Maybe he was more of an enigma than I thought.

[DaveM2]

Dave,
So are you saying that the 109 at the CAF in St. Charles, MO did not belong to Joe? I know he said he had another one and I think it was in the UK, maybe an island in the Channel? One of the things I found strange about Joe is that he gave out his lawyer's phone number as a contact number. I never got his home number, just the number for his attorney. Maybe he was more of an enigma than I thought.

Al

That is correct, it was never owned by him, it was being 'looked after' by Joe for Steve, who is in his 70s. That is a long story in itself.
He said he had many things, including a dozen new crated DB engines ( no photos of course, the same for the 'other' 109 I suspect).........I could go on

Dave