Speaking of autographed stuff ... what's your Holy Grail?

[Pat Carry]

My Les Paul autographed Les Paul Guitar. He was a really great guy! I got to hang with him for about 20 minutes backstage at Club Iridium thanks to a mutual friend.




Me on the left, Les Paul in the center, Good friend Bill on right.

Now that is awesome! A music pioneer Les was.

[Pat Carry]

All great stuff! I guess mine has to be a piece of aviation artwork called "We Were a Band of Brothers" signed by 14 of the Band of Brothers including Dick Winters. Only 101 of this particular edition were made. My second Holy Grail piece is also a piece of of avaition artwork by Gil Cohen titles "The Regensberg Mission, 17 August 1943" signed by Harry Crosby.

[CAPFlyer]

I don't have anything spectacular, but what I do have makes me happy.

Heartland Museum of Lexington, NE hat signed by Dick Rutan (all I had available at the time, but he did a speech at UND in 2000 that I attended)

A calendar from the last Air Show at Love Field (the one right after Desert Storm) where I had almost all of the pictures signed by the aircrew where were with the representative aircraft at the show (that was pretty cool to me, a kid of 10). I'll have to get those scanned at some point. I never looked, but I know I got the F-117 signed. You never know what Generals or Admirals might have signed that calendar those years ago.

A signed photograph from Joe Thibodeau of him in Crusader. One of the first private warbird owners I met, and a really classy guy. Asked a a friend and I (CAP Cadets there to see everything) to guard his plane during a membership drive for the then fledgling Mile Hi Wing where he put the P-51 out with the He-111 and Sentimental Journey. Our reward was the photographs and getting to talk to him for a while. He cemented my want to be part of the warbird movement one day. Thanks Mr. T!

[B-25 C]

Robert Gilliland First flight SR-71 22 DEC. 1964
ED Yielding SR-71 Pilot, Final Flight 6 March 1990
Planes of Fame Steve Hinton George M. Bryan Field Starkville, Mississippi 26 May 2001
Bob Collins B-24 Pilot Caroline Lindgren Co Pilot B-24
Bod Oehl nephew of Jimmy Doolittle Pilot and John Bostick Copilot on B-25 Tondelayo 2006

Last edited by B-25 C on Sun Jan 17, 2010 2:57 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[Randy Haskin]

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[Speedy]

Wow...I've always wanted one of those.

[ZeamerB17]

Every Veteran's autograph is "spectacular", not just the ones that are "infamous"! Some of my most prized possessions are ones in which I have a personal connection with, or a story to tell with it. Those are worth much more to me than the ones that are simply valuable in cost to replace.

I used a really poor choice of words when I said "spectacular". I love all my signed and unsigned stuff - well-known people or not.

Oh yeah, and since B-17s are near and dear to me, I have signed photos of some pretty good '17 pilots - Robert Rosenthal and Owen "Cowboy" Roane of the 100th BG and Jay Zeamer of the 43rd BG. Plus a book signed by pilots Charles Kirkham, Karl Thompson, Memphis Belle crew chief Joseph Giambrone, and nose artist extraordinaire Tony Starcer - all of the 91st BG.

[Owen Miller]

Hey, how about an autographed print of the FAMOUS
Vietnam era Ann-Margaret photo?? Whew!!!!!!!!

[barnbstormer]

Well, it may not be a "Holy Grail" but a good one, at least. Thought I'd post it here, rather than start a new topic. I have two similar multi-signed Bf109 photos by the Luftwaffe aces. One of them has signatures with a total of some 1500 Vs..I always liked these mutlit-signed ones, as you can frame & hang them on a wall or desk, as a small "collection," a lot easier than framing and finding room to hang a bunch of individual ones.
Have this nice multi-signed P-51 8 x 10. Seems all of them are Aces, with the exception of Bob Wehrman, who was Jim Goodson’s Wingman. It is signed by Bud Mahurin, Paul Conger, Herschel Green, Pete Peterson, Bud Anderson, Obee Obrien, Francis Gabreski, Jerry Johnson, Bob Barkey, Gus Daymond, Tom Hayes Jim Brooks, Bob Goebel, Jim Goodson, Bob Wehrman, and ONE that I cannot make out. Any ideas who this is, in the illustrated single signature, below?

[airnutz]

Clyde B. East, 13 kills with the 15th TRS, 10th PRG, F-6D Mustang?

[barnbstormer]

Thanks a bunch, Airnutz
I'd give you a pony, but we are fresh out. (had to Eat 'em during the "recession..")
I looked under all aces with names starting with G or S etc and also tried looking up references for aces in the "85th" TRS. Would NEVER have guessed that was an "E" though.
These U.S. signatures are prize winning penmanship compared to many of the Luftwaffe ace's scribbles. Those can REALLY be maddening..

[the65dartguy]

I have a copy of Thunderbolt that I bought in a large collection of books. I opened it up to start reading it the other day and found that it was signed by Robert S. Johnson himself!!! Of course I can't verify that its real because of the way I got it, but I have no reason to believe it not to be.

Pretty good book BTW, I'm about 1/2 way through it.

[airnutz]

Thanks a bunch, Airnutz
I'd give you a pony, but we are fresh out. (had to Eat 'em during the "recession..")

Mmmm, pony the new pb&J. Glad I could help..

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

I bought a copy of Fatal Voyage by Dan Kurtzman at a book sale by a neighborhood library and in side found it signed by a half a dozen vets of the USS Indianapolis and by The Pilot Adrian Marks who found them. Best of all, it had been signed by Capt Hashimoto of the I-58, the Japanese sub that sank the Indy.

Paid $1.00 for it!

[oscardeuce]

Manfred and Lothar von Richtofen, sandwiched around Oswald Boelcke