Warbird Information Exchange

Does anyone have a signed copy of "Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles Lindbergh? Or "We"?
Those are my Holy Grails, also something signed by Wilbur and Orville; Gentile and Godfrey; Dick Bong ... etc.

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Dave

Anything signed by Lindbergh (authenticated) goes for a lot of money and is tough to come by. There are a lot of fakes out there...be careful.

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Agreed. Only way I'll be able to afford that will be if I find it in a thrift store or the like. You never know ...

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Dave

I have several including both Wright brothers, many Lindbergh's, many Earhart's, and several Bong and O'Hare's.

If we are going strictly by price to define "Holy Grail", I have two Manfred von Richthofen signatures. The Red Baron's signature is the most expensive of all aviation signatures, with current estimates of value between $ 9000 and $ 10,000 for his signature.

I also have a postal First Day Cover signed by all of the Mercury 7 astronauts, as well as a First Day Cover signed by all of the Apollo 11 astronauts. These are just a few examples of the more than 300 notable aviation autographs that I have.

My Holy Grail would be much less exotic and historic. I'd love to own one of the pistons from Strega's 2009 Gold Race winning Merlin, signed by Tiger Destefani and Steve Hinton Junior...

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Neal Nurmi

---Wingman Photo---

a signed copy of Scott Crossfields autobio 'Always Another Dawn' signed just before Dec. 2003 and mailed back to me by Xmas that year. I've had the book since since 1963 and have read and re-read it several times since, very inspirational and interesting individual, plus he had a beyond intense dislike for old Chuckie Boy and his bloviating style. That was reflected in CY's quotes when Scott was killed and CY poop-pooed his contributions to aviation.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

That was an ongoing battle not jsut between Corssfield and yeager but between NACA test pilots and the USAF test pilots. When Scott Crossfield shut the engine down on his F-100 trying to hotdog it to quiet, smooth stop, he forgot that he only had a few applications of the brakes before he would have no power at all. This resulted in him hitting the hangar with the F-100. Someone hung a sign there that said, "Yeager broke the sound barrier, Crossfield broke the hangar door."
As for my collection I have a signed picture of a Corsair signed by Boyington that my friend got in person, and later gave to me, Personalized pictures from:
Ellen Lawson(Ted Lawson Doolittle raider's wife)
John Glenn
Fred Haise(Apollo 13)
Marge Bong
Jimmy Doolittle
Doolittle raiders Cole and Thatcher
Gene Kranz thanks to WIX
Alex Vraciu (spelling)
R.T. Smith
Robert Scott
Burt Rutan
Dick Rutan
John McCain
Crew of the Memphis Belle (6 of the survivors at the time)
Tibbets
and more

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I thought I would add an interesting item that came my way from a WWII veteran friend who sent me a laser-copy of a $100 US note with some recognizable signatures on it. I would have to do a lot of digging through my files for a precise date but assume it is dated mid-1960s. Attached is a description of the circumstances that led to the signed note (I whited-out the company name for privacy reasons). Any thoughts on the value of this note? ...at least $100 I would think!


The term "Short Snorter" was used during WWII for the common hobby of collecting various currencies from around the world, most signed, then taped together and rolled-up. Description of how the $100 note came to be.

Got mine....an 1173-1 grip signed by Joe Foss
and an 1173-3 by Dave McCampbell.

I have a copyof Bud Anderson's Biography that he Autographed, Bud has always been an inspiration to me so it is very special to me.

#1 A hat with the Evergreen Shrike Commander on it with Bob Hoover's felt -tip pen signature

#2 My divorce papers that have two significant signatures on it....1) the coolest judge in the world, that granted my pardon 2) my ex- wife This one IS framed!!!!!!!!!

Bud Anderson and Guenther Rall signed biographies...from TOM show a few years back. Yeager was there as well...NO desire whatsoever to get his

(as an aside...Gary...I am soooooooo jealous....coolest judge in the world? That would be the best!)

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

From my 30+ year hobby of collecting air race memorabilia....my personal holy grails, signed photos from:

Jimmy Doolittle (Gee Bee)
John Crocker (Sumthin' Else)
Mac McClain (Red Baron)
Bill Speer (Pegasus)
Ralph Twombly (Miss America)
Neil Anderson (Dreadnought)
Rick Brickert (Pond Racer, Dreadnought)
Dale Clarke (Nuthin Special)
Steve Wittman (Bonzo)
Cook Cleland (F2G and FG-1D Lucky Gallon)
Dick Becker (F2G)
Steve Beville (Galloping Ghost)
Tex Johnston (Cobra II)
Lefty Gardner (White Lightnin, Thunderbird, Tipsy Miss)
Charlie Beck (Candyman)
Gary Levitz (Double Trouble, Miss Ashley, Miss Ashley II, Precious Metal)

And I'm sure there are more. A couple personal letters from Dave Zeuschel and Frank Sanders. I'm sure there are more, since this is just off the top of my head without looking through the collection. Some I knew, some I met a few times, others I never knew more than writing them and asking them to sign a photo for me.

Not that any/many (save perhaps the Doolittle photo) are worth much other than personal value. But any 'new' signatures from these people are certainly impossible to come by these days.

I DO have a really cool pic of Chuck Yeager flying Mickey Rupp's Old Crow and Bud Anderson flying Connie Edwards' Glamorous Glennis III, that both Yeager and Anderson signed. I used to cherish it a lot more than I do now since I have lost respect for one of the pilots every time he has opened his mouth over the last 25 years, however.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Ok, MY Holy Grail is a copy of "The Art of William S. Phillips: The Glory of Flight" signed (personalized) by Phillips and:

Donald Strait (title page)
C. Dewitt Burdick (title page)
Edwin Baker (title page)
K.O. Dessert (title page)

Then ...

Crew members from "The Red Gremlin" (Paul Tibbet's B-17) page 50
Paul Tibbets, Dutch Van Kirk, Tom Ferebee (page 65)
Chuck Yeager and Bud Anderson (page 71)
Bill Bower and Davy Jones (page 77)
Don Lopez (page 92)
Robert Morgan (page 143)

I'm still pretty upset that I missed my one chance (March 1998) to get Tex Hill's signature on p.57, and have been looking for an opportunity to get Red McDaniel's (p.21) and Stephen Coonts' (either p.12 or p.85)

Second to The Glory of Flight is probably my copy of Glines' "The Doolittle Raid" signed by Glines and the Raiders who were at the 2005 Reunion in Groton/New London/Mystic CT.

Third is my copy of Alan Bean's "Apollo: An Eyewitness Account ..." signed (personalized) by Bean, Conrad and Gordon.

Have a lot of stuff signed for me by Yeager (then again, who doesn't?) and Bud Anderson's signed autobiography. Non-aviation stuff as well, including "The Downing Street Years" by Baroness Thatcher, an invite to the 1992 Richmond Presidential Debate post-event rally signed by President GHW Bush (somehow I managed to end up on stage behind the President's podium and in the middle of a bunch of high-school cheerleaders - had him sign the invite as he was shaking hands)

Second-neatest signing situation was having eight copies of "Return of the Enola Gay" signed by Tibbets, Van Kirk and Jeppson, AT the Enola Gay at Udvar-Hazy. General Tibbets was clearly not doing well, but Van Kirk and Jeppson were cracking all sorts of jokes ... first about whether I was going to sell the books on eBAY (the guy in back of me had *12* books and they'd probably overheard HIM bragging about how much money he was going to make) and, when I told them I was giving them all away as gifts to close friends they told me NOT to screw up by giving the book signed to my girlfriend to my wife (since I was having them all signed to people with unmistakably GUY names, not sure how they made that particular deduction). THEN Mickey Rooney showed up. Seriously. Just a coincidence, I think, of Rooney being in town that weekend and wanting to see the museum.

Several Don Meredith signed photo's in my office.....

Lynn