What's your best piece off a warbird

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:52 pm

Reading the poll thread with everyone saying I've got a piece of this or hunk off of that got me thinking?
What's the best item off or piece of a warbird you have?
I have a couple pieces of the wreckage of F4U-1A #9 "Lonesome Polecat"
flown by ace Lt Butch Davenport of VF-17 and wrecked by Ens. "Beads" Popp on Bouganville after a mission over Rabaul.
I also have the entire left vertical stab off our B-25J hanging in my garage painted in 42nd BG 13th AF markings.
Next..................................

dj51d · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:00 pm

I can't come anywhere near that, but I do have a small piece of the original skin from Glacier Girl that they sell as part of their fundraising program.

Amado Aguiluz F. · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:22 pm

Wow.
I have several medium size fragments off a Salvadoran Cavalier F-51D Mustang, which was shot down over Honduran territory on July 17, 1969. Now that I think about it, I regret not keeping the large fragment seen on page 26 of the July/August 2005 edition of Air Enthusiast magazine. Which by the way, could anyone identify the section of the aircraft it belonged to?

Cheers,

Amado

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:43 pm

Kee-Bird's melted flap indicator on my bookcase with my B-29 books.

Dan

CorsairFreak · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:56 pm

I just have some pieces from a wrecked Me-109 and a Do-17.

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:09 pm

p-47 windscreen w/ bullet proof glass, numerous german & japanese ww 2 instruments, & 1 italian instrument, b-29 remote gun sighting station, japenese gun camera (looks like a ww1 lewis machine gun) it's on an old wix thread re: latin american warbirds. also have 40 other ww 2 u.s. / raf instruments, machine gun cooling jacket, b-24 pilot's seat, recovered from india via tallichett, ww 2 raf gun camera from wreck, b-17 dorsal turret sight, skyraider gun sight. japanese aircraft shrapnel recovered by my dad i've got tons more, but these are among my favorite goodies.

mike furline · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2004 3:45 pm **Posts:** 2645

Some of my favorites are a piece of fuselage(star-bar marking) from an F4U and several Luftwaffe gunsights, Revi 3c, ReviC12/D, Revi 16A, Revi 16B.

Looking for Luftwaffe flight gear, hats , uniforms etc.

ThinkingManNeil · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:44 pm

I've got the remains of a wooden prop off of an BACTP Cessna Crane that my dad salvaged following the Crane's wheels up landing when he was in the RCAF. He turned it into a clock.

N.

Paul Patist · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:23 pm

That would be the cockpit data plate (factory #) of 44-13735, one of 357th FG John B. England's P-51 D's ! This particular a/c lost a wing during a dogfight on Feb 2 1944. Maj. Lawrence P. Giarrizzo was killed.

Paul

CWBuff · **Joined:** Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:14 am **Posts:** 854

Two seat kits... one from an F-14 and the other from an unidentified jet. There's also a portable O2 system used on Army helos. Most of my 'bits and pieces' collection consists of modern stuff (aviation and space) and is mostly O2 regulators and associated life support equipment.

Although not a piece of a plane, my coolest bit, and certainly my favorite, is a full pressure suit. Haven't done much research yet to find out exactly what type it is, but it's somewhat similar to those worn by U-2 and/or SR-71 crews.

If my Dad's Uncle's barn hadn't burned a couple of decades ago, I'd probably now be the owner of two Allisons. Was not to be though...

Fade to Black...

MX304 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:58 pm

I have about 3/4 of a static display Merlin. Hopefully I will find the rest of what I need for it soon. I also have a P-51 flap, B-25 main wheel, and a chunk of engine mount for the Red Baron P-51 racer. I really want to find a complete static display Griffon as well.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:59 pm

Quote:

That would be the cockpit data plate (factory #) of 44-13735, one of 357th FG John B. England's P-51 D's ! This particular a/c lost a wing during a dogfight on Feb 2 1944. Maj. Lawrence P. Giarrizzo was killed.

Gotcha Paul.
To early for a 'D'. 44-13735 went down over Burkerstroda, Germany on 11-2-44. Nice item but with a tragic overtone to it.

Ollie · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:21 pm

We have lots of misceallanous parts from Hurricanes laying around.

DC-4 wheel.

And so on...

Dave Homewood · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:04 pm

I have a wooden box, with a hinged lid. It is painted an interior green colour and has military codes painted on it, and some notation that points to it having held some electrical equipment. (It is not in front of me so I cannot be more specific at this time).

It does not sound stunning, however inside it has the serial of the plane it came from. NZ4006 - a Catalina that crashed on the 21st of May 1943 after leaving Lauthala Bay, Fiji with 13 people aboard. It was never heard of again. So I do not know how this little box which would normally have been in the plane survived when no trace was ever found of the plane itself!

My best mate has some wreckage from a F-4 Phantom shot down in the first Gulf War. It washed up on the beach in Bahrain when he lived there.

Another friend has a clock her late husband made from the propellor blade he pinched from the wreckage of a B17 that crashed in Auckland in 1943. Texas Tornado was it's name from memory. How he managed to swipe the blade is a mystery when it was so well guarded, but I believe id was made into several clock mounts, including his one that his widow now has.

Elwyn · **Posted:** Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:23 pm

I've got a little smudge of grease off the landing gear strut from the first Mustang I ever saw up close. Sometime back in the early 70's.

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