Globe Air auction 1985
Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:16 pm
I found these 35mm shots while getting ready to scan some of my old slides and negs. I took these at the Globe Air auction in 1985. I assume that this was the last time two B-17s were sold at the same event? I wish I could find the rest of the shots but I suspect that I loaned them out many years ago. I'm wondering if WIXer Larry Kraus ever flew either of these two B-17s? I'll bet he did.
In this photo, I'm probably trying to figure out how to come up with the money to put in a bid.
My father and I realizing that just covering the control surfaces on a B-17's tail would be like covering an entire Stearman. I think this one sold for about $250K. My father and I thought is would sell below $200K but we were wrong.
This security guard was watching me very closely. I guess he thought I looked like the kind of guy who wanted these as drug running planes.
In this photo, I'm probably trying to figure out how to come up with the money to put in a bid.
My father and I realizing that just covering the control surfaces on a B-17's tail would be like covering an entire Stearman. I think this one sold for about $250K. My father and I thought is would sell below $200K but we were wrong.
This security guard was watching me very closely. I guess he thought I looked like the kind of guy who wanted these as drug running planes.
Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:25 pm
Albert, that security guard is with TSA now!
Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:36 pm
Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:30 pm
there were 4 B-17s for sale, 3 at the auction and 1 on the side.
For a number of years, Falcon Field had 5 B-17s based there at the same time.
Sentimental Journey was all ready touring as a Warbird, and the others in time would be as well, or in museums.
in time they would become
Fuddy Duddy,
909
Yankee Lady
Boeing Bee
For a number of years, Falcon Field had 5 B-17s based there at the same time.
Sentimental Journey was all ready touring as a Warbird, and the others in time would be as well, or in museums.
in time they would become
Fuddy Duddy,
909
Yankee Lady
Boeing Bee
1985 auction - I could have been a contender!!!!
Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:27 pm
Superb shot, Albert! Evokes many a silly memory...
Second to the very last airplane in first shot shows our PV-2 N7454C - she sticks out like a sore thumb with the big old blue nose. I had no interest in her back in 1985.
The PVs were the real "steal" at the auction - while the B-17s demanded "high dollar" in 1985 money of plus or minus a quarer mil, the PVs went from $6,500 on down.
I have only a fuzzy memory of the prices of some of the other aircraft and the bits and pieces. Probably a good thing. But this stands out in my mind... I remember seeing the cockpit section of a damaged B-17 in the pile of bones, and thought this would make a fun project for the garage and decided that I was to attend auction and buy it.
Freshly out of college, just recently married, and working in a brand new job at an entry level position, my entire disposable fortune at that time to spend on such a crazy pipe dream was a little over a thousand dollars of hard-earned savings (mind you I had not told the new bride this was my intended purchase, either). I decided that this would be my great "roll of the dice" to save a B-17 cockpit section that I was sure was going to be purchased by some scrapper and hauled away and smashed to oblivion.
I was quite disappointed to have been continually outbid by a fellow from Florida that day - a bloke named Kermit Weeks - and wondered aloud to those around me what in the world anyone would want with a B-17 cockpit, and how much it was going to cost him to transport out of there? I suspected he was a scrap dealer, and I was not happy...
This was my first aero auction and I was dejected and made a half-hearted vow never to attend another one to avoid such bitter disappointment. At 21 years of age, I made silly promises that were obviously ignored in later years.
Ah, fun memories. Too bad I did not focus more attention on the PV stuff there at the time as maybe that would have saved me decades of heart-ache and cost buying stuff back from the original buyers in my own backyard. Who knows?
Fast forward to 2009... each time I get the opportunity to see that old B-17 cockpit (which is in stored in California along with many of Kermit's other goodies), I thump her on the side and remember what it was like to be "rich" - which at the time was only a few hundred dollars or so more than Mr. Weeks. According to the winning bid, anyway!
Second to the very last airplane in first shot shows our PV-2 N7454C - she sticks out like a sore thumb with the big old blue nose. I had no interest in her back in 1985.
The PVs were the real "steal" at the auction - while the B-17s demanded "high dollar" in 1985 money of plus or minus a quarer mil, the PVs went from $6,500 on down.
I have only a fuzzy memory of the prices of some of the other aircraft and the bits and pieces. Probably a good thing. But this stands out in my mind... I remember seeing the cockpit section of a damaged B-17 in the pile of bones, and thought this would make a fun project for the garage and decided that I was to attend auction and buy it.
Freshly out of college, just recently married, and working in a brand new job at an entry level position, my entire disposable fortune at that time to spend on such a crazy pipe dream was a little over a thousand dollars of hard-earned savings (mind you I had not told the new bride this was my intended purchase, either). I decided that this would be my great "roll of the dice" to save a B-17 cockpit section that I was sure was going to be purchased by some scrapper and hauled away and smashed to oblivion.
I was quite disappointed to have been continually outbid by a fellow from Florida that day - a bloke named Kermit Weeks - and wondered aloud to those around me what in the world anyone would want with a B-17 cockpit, and how much it was going to cost him to transport out of there? I suspected he was a scrap dealer, and I was not happy...
This was my first aero auction and I was dejected and made a half-hearted vow never to attend another one to avoid such bitter disappointment. At 21 years of age, I made silly promises that were obviously ignored in later years.
Ah, fun memories. Too bad I did not focus more attention on the PV stuff there at the time as maybe that would have saved me decades of heart-ache and cost buying stuff back from the original buyers in my own backyard. Who knows?
Fast forward to 2009... each time I get the opportunity to see that old B-17 cockpit (which is in stored in California along with many of Kermit's other goodies), I thump her on the side and remember what it was like to be "rich" - which at the time was only a few hundred dollars or so more than Mr. Weeks. According to the winning bid, anyway!
Last edited by Pooner on Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:42 pm
Pooner,
You have never learned the Kermit weeks auction method ? It is very simple, at the start of the auction, raise your bidding card, when all gets quiet, lower card.
Kermit had a whole lot more "few more dollars" than you did.......
You have never learned the Kermit weeks auction method ? It is very simple, at the start of the auction, raise your bidding card, when all gets quiet, lower card.
Kermit had a whole lot more "few more dollars" than you did.......
Time passages...
Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:50 pm
And he still does. But for want of a few hundred dollars there back in 1985, baby, I was, to quote the late, great Mr. B. "a contenduh!" 
Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:53 pm
mustangdriver wrote:
Oh, That one is the BEST! (James Best...)
Robbie