Warbird Information Exchange

I don't know about most of you, but I have always enjoyed going to yard sales and some flea markets, in search of the "deal of the century"...and I have found a fair number of them in my time...

While at Oshkosh, I was directed to what was in name an aircraft flea market...If I had needed a pair of sunglasses or a t-shirt, or jewelry, that would have been the place for me...There was one tent that did have some fairly good bargains on some aircraft parts...I believe that it was in conjunction with the EAA, or a few of their chapters....

There was a time where I thought that I was going to hold something of this affair with about a hundred tons of aircraft parts, but alas, the crack-heads burned it all....what a shame...we all lost out on that one...particularly the old man who had collected it, and was planning on using the proceeds to retire. Such is life.

Was wondering if anybody else had ever thought that something like this would be a good place to turn some surplus parts into cash, or trade, or like me, look for that one item I just gotta have....Pooner, you don't have to comment....I know you'd be first in line! LOL!

Comments anybody??

garage sale, 8 years ago.... warbird goodies galore so i was told, & missed out on the bootie so i went bottom feeding & dug out a ww1 era early sperry turn & bank indicator with a brass case!! bought for 2 bucks!! the diamond in the rough!! sold later for 175 bucks. i could have gotten more for it, but i was at an antique show.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I stopped at a yard sale in L.A...(Lower Alabama) years ago, and bought a small wood case that had about 12 of the taper bolts used for the wing mount on the B-17....$3.00....

Run-out red tagged Beech 18 prop....$5.00...

M.S. carb for O-200...$2.00

I picked up a British Bomber Bomb aimer from a garage sale $25.
The guy said it came out of a Wellington but Im thinking more like an Avro Anson.
Still have it. Just need the compass for it which I can get from a local antique store but he wants $375 for it.
I also got from another antique sale two boxes of what I think are brand new Allison spark plugs. I was hoping they were Merlin ones.

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Group,

I bought a PT-19 frame and was starting to collect peices to build an airplane. Someone had a complete PT-19 stored in a hanger behind me at the local airport.

One day while at the airport the hanger was open, so I asked about the PT-19. The current owner (son had inhearted the airplane along with a restored stearman, when his father died). He said he was going to wash it, and put it up on Ebay. I asked what he wanted and he replied make an offer.

So off I went to take a good look at the airplane. The first thing I saw as I approached was a second center section (mine needed one and the cheapest one I have found was $10K). There were almost enough parts for two PT-19/PT-26 aircraft (PT-26 canopies, dashes, ect).

I offered the owner $5K, with $2K down and $500 a month. He said the hanger (no hangers avail at the airport) cost $200 a month. So I said I would pay the $200 a month for the hanger also. I also said he could keep the plane until I paid it off. The owner agreed and I started paying off my new aircraft.

for photos of the aircraft see: http://web.mac.com/ibnfe2/Rick/Projects ... PT-19.html

Once I had paid off the aircraft, we made a date for the seller to come clear out his personel property form the hanger, so I could take over. So on the aranged date, we met at the hanger. The seller was there early and began cleaning 20+ years worth of accumulation from the hanger (tools, engines, ect). I noticed that every few minutes he was heading for the airport dumpster. So I told him to take what he wanted, and when I got time I would throw out anything I did not want.

The seller agreed, then asked if I wanted all of the nuts, bolts and associated hardware that was left from his mother's business (Selling hardware kits). So looking like it would be an impostion on me, and said that I would take care of it for him.

Now to give you an idea of how much hardware I got, it took me three days to make a listing of all the hardware (and I did not count the nuts and bolts, just listed the part numbers). as an example, when I looked at the AN3-3, there was a box of 500-1000. and every box of hardware was like that.

I have made hardware kits (with 20-30 of ea size) for most of my friends and still have hardware to spare. Most tenants at the airport now come to my hanger for hardware needed for thier aircraft.

I also found tools that I still do not know what they are used for. I found two near mint original Korean war Jet helmets with squadron markings and pilot names on them.

So for the readers digest version, I bought a hardware collection (for pennies on the dollar) and got a free warbird (and spare parts) thrown into the deal.

Laterrrrrr
Avn-Tech

Wow!

Can you post photos of the helmets please?

-Derek

Viking73,

Sorry, But I do not knoe how to post photos on this site. Please email me for the photos.

Do you collect Flight Gear?

Are you on Yahoo, Flyingclothing Group?

LAterrrr
Avn-Tech
fish@aviation-tech.com[/img]

Fish, if you want, just zap the photos to me and I can post them for you.

(Also check your e-mail for a message I sent earlier today)

Gary

I was at garage sale and overheard a story of a lady who an old airplane, a P-51 sitting in her garage. I found out her husband had all kind of warplanes and flew them. The guy who relaid the story to me had bought a 1920's motorcycle from her and did see a plane there. I am currently tracking down where she lives.

Two other planes I am looking for is a P-47 that crashed in the bush and has never been recovered. Know the general area it is adn have to approach the owner of the property as he know the locate of it. Also a lady I know of is helping me to find a woman who's husband had a Piper Cub sitting in a garage as he was going to restore it but he passed away before he could rebuild it.

I will keep all posted on what I find. I really trust that there are three planes and I just have to track them down. What they are I don't know as this time other than the P-47, that is real.

I have found alot of great stuff over the years of going to flea markets, garage sales, auctions and antique stores. I have found that I have had some of my best luck going to various shows that seem off the wall...stamp shows, card shows, paper shows, etc. My ultimate best buy was at a stamp show. Met an old guy who when asked if he had anything aviation related said that he had a bunch of envelopes signed by pilots from the 1930's but did not bring them with him. Gave him my name and number and told him to call me when he got home. He did and sent me XEROX copies of the envelopes. He wanted $5-$8 ea. for the originals. I began looking at them (about 25 in all) and quickly called and said I would take all of them. These were cachet envelopes with the National Air Race logo on each one. Each had 5-10 autographs on them. To give you an idea, here are a few of the people: Jimmie Doolittle, Roscoe Turner, Doug Davis, Eldon Cessna, Harold Neuman, Johnny Livingston, Phoebe Omlie, Florence Klingensmith, Al Williams, Jimmy and May Haizlip, Louis Greve, Vincent Bendix, Walter Carr, Casey Jones, Pancho Barnes, Ernst Udet, Frank Hawks, Bettie Lund, Francis Marsalis and Roger Don Rae, just to name a few. The biggest surprise was when these arrived, the envelopes had newspaper clippings and actual photos stuffed inside, and some of these were signed as well, including one of.....Amelia Earhart! This happened about 20 years ago. Unfortunately, 90% of these were taken from my hangar during my divorce back in 2003.

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President National Waco Club
Curator for the Waco Historical Society Air Museum
Writer for VINTAGE AIRPLANE, SKYWAYS, BARNSTORMERS.COM EFLYER

Holy cow, what a collection wacoykc! When you say 90% were taken, do you mean by your ex- or stolen by someone??

One that got away...

I posted in Off-Topic awhile back about an elderly woman who sold her one-owner '40 Buick Special to a friend of mine in 2003. When we visited her she was showing us all kinds of old car stuff she had in the garage as well as a box with "B-17 parts" written on it. She said it was some of her late husband's stuff - he was a B-17 pilot during the war. What was in the box? Wish I knew - my friend didn't keep in touch with her, and I just now looked her up on familysearch.org to find out she passed away in 2007. My friend won't be very happy either - she was going to sell him her '50 Buick fastback that was at her ranch in Nevada.

Her husband's name was Hal Wallet - any B-17 experts recognize the name?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

a member of my chapter of the society of air racing historians had the good luck to buy 1930's home movie footage from the cleveland air races at a garage sale...... never developed!! he shot craps, had them processed & they turned out to be in fairly good shape!! he brought the new / old unpublished footage to an air race meeting. i vividly recall footage of ernst udet. so i'm guessing 1938 was the year.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Yard/garage sales:
Burbank & Santa Monica areas, good lord, the stuff that turns up!
Unfortunately I'm an hour away but if I'm in either of those areas on a weekend the ATM gets a work over

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.