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dave McCampbell's F6F on Ebay????

Sat May 14, 2005 8:51 pm

opinions............
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=585&item=6531805012&rd=1

Sat May 14, 2005 9:41 pm

I think it is fake look at the back and the stringer! If he cut it out it the stringer would have been flush with the skin'!

Sat May 14, 2005 10:31 pm

fake as can be. this is the whole problem with ebay now a days. full of fly by night con artists etc, & increasingly full of garage sale class stuff, fakes etc. like some swab jockey cut that off the aces plane 60 + years ago, before it was scrapped, with the historical foresight that it would be worth a fortune in the future :bs: :finga: ebayer lister...... don't insult my intelligence. :butthead: regards, tom

Sun May 15, 2005 1:17 am

It looks alright to me, and I don't see anything wrong with the stringer.

Sun May 15, 2005 7:55 am

when i'm shelling out that kind of $$$$ there should be a provinence, or a documented certificate of authenticity offered with an investment grade antique that has a historical significance . plus did you see the size of the letters in the listing???? "talk about read the small print"!!! an arist on the west coast makes those out of sheet metal w/ rivets & does nose art victory kill markings of 25 or more of ww 2 famous planes & aces planes. sells em at airshows, & advertises them in most aviation magazines. i think his name is velasco, goes by velasco enterprises & he does a great job. most sell in 4 to 5 hundred range. best, tom

Sun May 15, 2005 10:08 am

tom d. friedman wrote:when i'm shelling out that kind of $$$$ there should be a provinence, or a documented certificate of authenticity offered with an investment grade antique that has a historical significance.


To be fair, if this guy's story was true -- that he watched his dad physically cut the piece out, and it's been in storage for a long time -- where exactly along the line would there be a certificate of authenticity?

Sun May 15, 2005 11:20 am

When you are asking that kind of money for something, the truth is irrelevant. You have to be able to prove it or it's worthless. That simple.

If his story is true (and thats a pretty big if) it has only sentimental value and he should just hang it on his own wall or sell it at a yard sale for ten bucks because without proof thats all it's worth.

My two cents.

Sun May 15, 2005 11:31 am

I wonder if a Hellcat expert would marry up the composition of the metal, where the rivets are, where the markings are, etc, to give it some measure of authenticity.

f6

Sun May 15, 2005 11:48 am

What gets me about this kind off stuff is that it's never the lowest ranking guy you never heard of. It's the A #1 top dog. That automatically sets off alarms. I believe Minsi I was either lost in combat or pushed over the side. Someone needs to ask NHC (Rob??) for thye history card.

Sun May 15, 2005 3:22 pm

Here's a different line of thought: Did Dave McCampbell do any stateside bond touring? In other words, did a stateside "Minsi" exist (similar to Maj. Bong's stateside "Marge" and Gentile's "Shangri-La")?

I agree with the previous posters: Without more substantial provenance, it's $10 worth of sheet metal, rivets, and paint (Ok, another $20 for the labor).

Mon May 16, 2005 8:51 pm

5/ 16 / 05 still no bids....... the suspense is building....... who will the all day sucker be???

Minsi

Mon May 16, 2005 8:58 pm

McCampbell told me personally that there was a
War Bond Tour Minsi III that he flew around in the
states. He said it was the source of the then con-
troversy about whether "Minsi III" was in yellow or
white. I asked him a couple of times to get me the
BuNo from his logbook. He always promised to do
it but I guess he just forgot.

Blue skies,
Owen

a few points to ponder...

Tue May 17, 2005 3:15 am

...first, let's assume the basic story of the incident is possible; an old Hellcat could have been put on display on the boardwalk after the war and then brought back to Lakehurst and burned in a demonstration. This plane could have been painted up like Minsi for the display, certainly, but that doesn't mean it had any connection with the original pilot.

Second, the kill markings look like silkscreened water transfer decals to me; would several years of exposure have faded them more? Were decals available for applying kill marks during the war, or were they always stenciled?

Finally, as far as value, a similar thing happened to me: I found an old Rolodex in a Goodwill store that was full of phone numbers and addresses of over 200 actors and other celebrities that dated back to the 1960s. I took it to a movie memorabilia auction house in Hollywood whose representative said basically the same thing we've heard on this thread: it was a neat thing to have, but a collector wouldn't pay for it without provenance...

kill flags

Tue May 17, 2005 8:31 am

Chris,
Yes they used decals.
A friend here flew in VBF-83. In his logbook for VJ-Day he pasted one on the proper page. I borrowed and used it to have the kill flags made for our B-25 and Crash Williams's TBM.

Tue May 17, 2005 9:26 am

it's fake, a repro wall hanger as i stated. if it sells i'm gonna find a 1930's era douche bag & list it on ebay as being once owned by amelia earhart, starting bid..... 10 grand
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