Change of plans

[Axis Nightmare]

Somtimes the best laid plans can go awry. Sometimes change works out. I have all but given up on the FW-190A during my lifetime so I decided to use the funds that I had set aside for a couple of them to buy the two new UH-1 Hueys. I was going to place the order this week. Then I made an unexpected and coincidental find on Craigslist. Seems that for just under the price of the two models with shipping, I suddenly had the opportunity to own some pieces of a REAL Huey!

The seller was a young Army Vet who had rescued a pilot's door from a Dustoff/med-evac Huey wreck. He also cut off a piece of the nose (which is fiberglass) Included in the lot was a course indicator instrument he managed to pluck from the copter.

So do I spend the money on a pair of Chinese toys and wait for the next time authentic pieces of American Military History are for sale 10 minutes from my house? I think not!

The door handles work and the stenciling and red cross get high cool ratings.

Now I want the two models even more!!

[Studly]

Nice One Denis. All you need now is the rest of it lol, it would look kool sitting in your front yard.


Cheers
Greg

[normandy]

Very cool, thats something I'd hang in my collecting room; the "museum" as my wife calls it.
Nice find.

[YT]

Just like that Johnny Cash song one piece at a time.

[Razor17019]

WOW!!!
What a great find and right before you pulled the trigger on the model hueys.
Nice!
Razor

[flayrah]

What a great find. Think of the many different situations when that door was opened and closed - normal service, training, emergencies, good times and bad. Really a piece of history to be honored.

[pickelhaube]

cool !!!

[supersonicfifi]

89 857 parts to go ! With patience you can fly a real one well done

[greendevil41]

That's actually pretty cool. I've got a complete UH-1H tail rotor assembly in my garage and somewhere I have an 8 day clock as well as a old foot locker with all my old flight gear, helmet and survival vest w/ radio. Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes this stuff!

[Axis Nightmare]

On the way home today from the Museum, I took a short detour to the Clermont County Vietnam Veteran's Memorial where they have a Med-evac/Dustoff on display. Got to see in person where my parts fit in.






The pilot's door is indeed quite small.









This nose piece is in much better condition.

[toyktdlgh]

1:1 is always better. You can get the toys later.

[tmanthegreat]

On the subject of historic aircraft parts, I've got part of the wing from a Cold War-era B-52B Stratofortress









This was salvaged back in October 1999 on the south end of Roger's Dry Lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base. I was camping on the base with my Boy Scout troop and there were two wrecked B-52s about a mile from our campsite. Some of my friends and I hiked out there and came back with all sorts of scrap. Here are scans of some of the photos I took of the planes:







...and a couple better pics by a professional photographer I found on Google:

[Axis Nightmare]

Those last two photos are sad....but fabulous! How surreal that must have been. Great that you were able to recover a piece! Reminds me immediately of the old Soplata collection near Cleveland.