# My personal mini ww2 aircraft relic museum



## s1chris (Sep 9, 2013)

Hello all, 

I have started this thread to detail my personal collection of ww2 plane relics. 
I have been collecting relics from known aircraft for over two a years now but modelling, researching and framing takes an age as I do this all myself. Anyway I will update as frequently as possible. 

Relic 1 - 

Avro Lancaster ED937 AJ-Z 617 Squadron RAF 

Brief history - AJ-Z took part in the famous dams raid and was piloted by Squadron Leader Herny Maudsley.
The aircraft manger to release its iconic "bouncing bomb" but it failed to impact the wall and exploded causing potential damage to the plane. Once the bomb had been released Maudsley turned for home only to be brought down my flak with all crew lost. 

Framed relics- 






Additional relics - 





The model - 





Relic 2 - 

B-17F 41-24485 DF*A "Memphis Belle" USAAF 8th AF, 91st BG 324th BS. 

Really needs no introduction. Technically the first B-17 and Crew to complete the compulsory tour of 25 missions. The particular relics i have are a piece of the original tyre/tire and a small square of fuselage that was aquired during a past restoration.

The relics - 





The model-





Relic 3 - 

P-47D 42-8496 "Galloping Catastrope" 

Collided mid air with B-24 Liberator 42-50359 "TARFU". 13th March 1945.

The Relics - 





The Model- 






Relic 4 - 

Grumman Martlet IV - RAF

The plane - 





Report - 





The model - 






The relic -







Relic 5 -

Junkers JU-88A w/nr0115 4U+GH.
Shot down while on recon mission over north east England on 30/03/1941. 

The relics -
Including hydraulic pipe and section of life raft.






Relic 6 - 

Hawker Hurricane MK1 L2122 UP-L.

This Hurricane was shot down on 15th September 1940 after a battle with and confirmed kill of a He-111. Pilot Officer Robert Jones managed to bail out and only sustained minor injuries. 

The relics - 





Relic 7 - 

Messerschmitt BF109-G w/nr13605. Yellow 12.

This 109 was flown by Oberleutnant Heinrich Ehrler. This 109 was bought down by flak. The aircraft has since been recovered and is undergoing restoration. 

The relic - 





The plane - 





Relic 8 - 

Hp Halifax LK901.

Halifax of 1667 HCU crashed on 8th November 1944. Some nice clear part numbers stamped onto the relics.

The relics - 

















Relic 9 -

Mosquito MM150 - crashed returning from a raid on Berlin. 






All of my relics from MM150 - 






MM150 in flight -






Uniform Items - 

RAF and USAAF side/garrison caps - 






USAAF 8th AF Technical Speiclaist Tunic - 






USAAF - Summer Flying suit. 
This particular suit was modified and used in the modern film "Memphis Belle" and used to depict an airman with shrapnel wounds to the lower legs. 

















USAAF heated flying boot insert - 

Well they do exactly what it says on the tin.
Worn inside the boot, electrically heated. 











Aircraft related items - 

Small belt section of .50cal tracer and AP rounds recovered from Station 146 Seething -





"Gibson Girl" M-357-A rescue kite. Recovered from a Lancaster -





Luftwaffe refuelling slip -

Not used or completed but a fair example of the document that detailed how much fuel and when etc it was out into the aircraft. 





Big thanks to the provider of many of my photographs - http://www.aircrewremembrancesociety.co.uk/


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## Capt. Vick (Sep 9, 2013)

Nice builds! What scale?


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## vikingBerserker (Sep 9, 2013)

Great collection so far


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## s1chris (Sep 9, 2013)

Thanks, there is plenty more to follow. I currently have around 25 other planes boxed up and awaiting display. Plenty of Luftwaffe, RAF, USAAF, Soviet and some other nations as well. Just missing any IJA/N and Italian as they are so hard to find and validate. 

Ill post them up in current condition and then just re edit the post as items are framed and modelled. 

All multi engine aircraft are/will be 1/72nd and singles are 1/48. That way all relics and models are on the exact same size base and makes displaying in the shelving unit nice and uniform. As well as the relic and model I make a box the same size and within that I keep and relevant photos, extra relics, books and information for each aircraft. 
Relic room kindly donated to me by my Grandmother until I can build a purpose built out building at my house next year. 

Like so - 





Pulling my finger out and getting displayed as only really gathered momentum over the last four months so ill just keep ploughing my way through it all. 

Thanks for the comments.

Cheers Chris


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## Airframes (Sep 9, 2013)

Great stuff Chris. and looking forward to further additions to the thread. 
Would you be interested in exhibiting some of your collection at all?
There's an event at the end of this month which might be a good start - send me a PM if you want the details.


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## s1chris (Sep 10, 2013)

Hi Terry, thanks for the kind comment and offer. I had put off making the thread for a while knowing its going to take me so long to get plenty of content into it. Still you have to start somewhere. I'd love to exibit, but not until I have all that I currently own framed up etc. Some of the most interesting are still to be framed and I'm missing a couple a mainstream Luftwaffe planes, namely a DO-17 and a FW-190. Once those baby's are in the bag ill be ready to offer for display. 

Another good one that I aim to frame next is Heinrich Eharler's 109G Yellow 12 - 





I'm also literally waiting for for another 6 different relics to arrive either today or tomorrow including -
Soviet P-40
Arado 234
RAF Martlet
Seafire XXI (didn't see service but was built within dates of ww2)
Standard Lancaster
Mosquito
Blenheim.

Although I have serial numbers they all still need full research. 

Another one of my favourites are from a He111. I have part of a parachute and a tail fin from one of the incenderies - 





These particular relics come from w/nr5612 6N+GK

Just wish I had twenty pairs of hands.

Cheers Chris


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## Airframes (Sep 10, 2013)

Nice! Keep 'em coming Chris.


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## Gnomey (Sep 10, 2013)

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing.


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## Jeff Hunt (Sep 10, 2013)

What an excellent niche you have got going there. Never saw this type of " collecting" displayed before.

Cheers,

Jeff


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## syscom3 (Sep 11, 2013)

Nice!


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## s1chris (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks all. &#128077;

Just added P-47D Thunder bolt. 

Cheers Chris


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## Crimea_River (Sep 11, 2013)

Interesting thread and looking forward to more. Especially the Martlet, right Terry?


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## s1chris (Sep 11, 2013)

Added the detail for the Martlet. The relic is fairly unexciting but will post a pic up and update tomorrow.
This is my fail safe for #GB20

Cheers Chris


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## Matt308 (Sep 11, 2013)

Out of curiosity, how do you establish prominence for your "relics" and can you show the forum this background each item?


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## s1chris (Sep 11, 2013)

Hi Matt, I suppose like anything in life there is alway an element of trust needed. But it's about having good honest contacts who you know or get to know. All of my collection with maybe the exception of one or two pieces come from the same four people. With the majority being recovered under MoD granted licences from UK soil. Some come with certificates of authentication, some don't. 

You could in reality rip people off by selling any old random junk and claiming it was this or that, but I know for sure the sources of mine wouldn't dream of disrespecting the memory of the brave who perished in a lot of the planes by doing that. There have been some very clear examples of this centring around Dambusters relics in the recent aniversary. I have seen people pay literally £400 for a piece of generic aircraft wreckage branded as "Dambusters" because they didn't pay attention to the details. 

Part numbers on a lot of the relics also help confirm identity. For example I contacted a guy from this forum in Norway (Gutto) a year or two back to confirm identity of a JU-88 part. Turns out that the part I have confirms as being
Part of the hydraulic lines from the under carriage. 

It's a mine field but using your knowledge and instinct plays a big part in not being ripped off.
Rule number one - Avoid anything that has a Swastika on it. It's 99% going to be fake. Rule number 2 - if it's seems too good to be true, it probably is. 

Cheers
chris


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## s1chris (Sep 11, 2013)

There was a tv programm on in the UK the other month about the recent increase in interest in relics and some examples of people being ripped off. 

Quite famously was a pilots log book "from the BoB". However this particular log book was from a pilot that the RAF currently had no record of. So the unsuspecting buyer paid a substantial amount of money for this log book and presented it to the RAF museum at Hendon. Not until they analysed the serial numbers of the planes suposedly flown did it turn out to be a fake. One entry read that there was a problem with a port engine on a Tigermoth! Single engined aircraft!. Turns out somebody had faked the whole book using random serial numbers and even taking the trouble to recreate the war time stamps to stamp the log book. 

For example the source of my Dambusters relics also has much of his personal collection on display at RAF Scampton and other museums. One other has displays at station 146
Seething tower museum and one other belonging to an archeological society that undertake full airframe recoveries etc. One other set of relics were also recovered during a televised dig for the UK programm "Time Team". It's a mine field really. 

Cheers Chris


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## s1chris (Sep 12, 2013)

More added inc Mk1 Hurricane and JU88

Cheers Chris


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## s1chris (Sep 15, 2013)

Summer flying suit and boot inserts added.


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## vikingBerserker (Sep 15, 2013)

VERY COOL!


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## s1chris (Sep 15, 2013)

Thanks, glad you like it so far. About another twenty aircraft relics to photograph an upload.
I've just added the Halifax relics to the relic list and Luftwaffe refuelling document at the bottom of the post. 

Cheers Chris


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## s1chris (Oct 12, 2013)

Mosquito MM150 added. 

Any other collectors on the site?

Cheers Chris


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## Alex . (Oct 12, 2013)

Chris,

I was looking for more information about the aircraft your collection come from and stumbled upon this regarding Mosquito MM150.

I realise the post is from 2004, and that your collection is no doubt a tribute for those aircrews and a passion for you, but worry that excavation has been conducted unofficially, distressing and offending the aircrews relatives, with parts being hauled away for profit (Like dogtag thieves over the eastern front who destroy graves searching for artifacts) Likewise it is also an illegal offence to remove items from military crash sites (Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (PMRA) )

Mosquito crash site and crews' graves


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## s1chris (Oct 13, 2013)

Hi Alex,

Thanks for highlighting that thread for me. Confirms even more to myself why I don't get involved with recovering them myself. The source of my relics belongs to an archeological society and has been involved with many digs. Although I can't verify, he does always stress about the issuing of an MOD licence. What's more they didn't cost me a penny as I exchanged them for a number of my relics. 

It is shocking what you can find on eBay though. I was looking through ww1 items a couple of months ago. As my great uncle Joseph Henton was sadly killed and never found in one of the battles for Ypres. (Name on the menin gate). Some sick individual was selling an actual whole cross from a grave. It even listed the soldiers ID number etc. I reported it to the commonwealth graves commission but never got a response. 

Cheers Chris


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## s1chris (Oct 13, 2013)

I think there are two types of collectors as well. 

1) There are those who will turn over a site in search for really significant parts of aircraft, any aircraft and aircrew items.
For no other reason than to sell on the market or to keep vast personal collections. I believe these types have no reason other than money and the value of each item as a reason for recovering/collecting. This would be the type who wouldn't think twice about pulling wreckage from already known memorial sites (B-17s in the Peak District come to mind).

2) (me). Collects (via purchase or exchange) small usually Non verifiable parts of aircraft alone. From that either creates small tribute boards or as in my case also models as accurately as possible to serve as a memorial. Taking for example my B-17 from the Time Team 
Dig. An aircraft which without my research would only ever be remembered to future generations as a serial number and a tv show and an aircraft type. 
I can now ensure that there is an accurate, visual reminder of this aircraft and it's crews loss for generations to come. (I am forming my collection with it in mind for my children to inherit it when I finally kick the bucket in around 60years and then to stay in the family). 

Looking to the future, how long is it before a lot of crash sites are built over, get destroyed by agriculture or become simply not relevant to the times (as you see increasingly with ww1 sites that people constantly seem to dig up on the continent) I for this reason want to ensure that something exists and is not forgotten for future generations. This is why I want to gather as much from as many as possible but also represent as many different types as possible. 

It also surprises me how much you see for sale from the D-Day beaches. These surely can't have been recovered with permission.


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## s1chris (Oct 13, 2013)

I forgot to add that ultimately I would like my whole collection to be housed within a museum on display for others to view enjoy and remember. I will approach my local museum in Coventry when I have most of it modelled and framed. The other part of my collection that I am creating a saving fund for is to purchase a willys jeep and get that to full working order. 

Cheers Chris


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## Gnomey (Oct 13, 2013)

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.


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## L.Jeffery (May 7, 2014)

Hi Chris, Nice collection mate! A friend of mine stumbled across this forum and sent me the link... Being a collector myself (Australian WW2) I know I shouldn't ask this but is there anyway you would part with those bits from LK-901 ? I only ask as my Uncle was 38363 Flt/Sgt Keith Edward Jeffery who was killed on that plane. I have always wanted to get out to Scotland to see the crash site and try to bring a piece home and visit his grave but I doubt I will be able to do so any time soon. Anyway would love to hear back from you and if you don't want to part with them I will understand.

Regards Luke.


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## vikingBerserker (May 7, 2014)

Welcome aboard Luke, and a big  to your uncle.

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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (May 7, 2014)

I really like thread Chris, keep up the good work.

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## L.Jeffery (May 7, 2014)

vikingBerserker said:


> Welcome aboard Luke, and a big  to your uncle.




Thanks Viking it is nice to be here mate! Thanks for the kind words too.


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## s1chris (May 7, 2014)

Hello Luke, yes I would love to send you one of the pieces. After all I really do only collect these and model them as a lasting memorial so would be fitting to send you a piece.

PM your details and we can sort something out. Be sure to check back in on the site though as I will model LK901 in the near future.

I picked these particular pieces up on eBay last year (I don't physically collect them). It may also be worth over time checking the serial number on eBay as I am sure more piece would be offered for sale in the future. 

Cheers Chris


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## L.Jeffery (May 7, 2014)

Hi Chris, Thanks for the generous offer! I will shoot you a message a bit later... Also I will keep an eye on ebay.
I would love to see the model of LK-901 when you are done! Do you know if any pictures exist of the plane? I have tried searching for a picture over the years but have never had any luck... I have done a bit of research on the crash a few years back, but did not find out a great deal other than what was on the net.
It was quite an upsetting time for the family when Keith was killed it was a bit of a tragedy too as he had 2 years combat experience flying before he was transferred the Heavy Conversion Unit only to be killed in a training accident not long after... He was one of 4 brothers serving in WW2 his eldest brother Harold who served in the army was listed as MIA presumed dead 2 years earlier at El Alamein, the last anyone saw of him he was badly wounded and left behind when the Germans over ran their position. But luckily he was saved by an Italian medic and ended up in a POW camp in Germany and survived the war, he was released in 1945. His younger brother Bill also served in the army and was badly wounded at Tarakan in Borneo in one of the last battles fought by Australians in 1945, and the second youngest Raymond was a LAC in the RAAF and served in Australia and the Pacific, he survived the war.

Cheers Luke.


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## s1chris (May 7, 2014)

Hi Luke, 
unfortunately I have not been able to locate any photographs of this aircraft or of the crew. I usually keep checking the following site for information I am not able to find. Keep an eye on it as you never know what can turn up even after all of this time. - Latest News . Maybe even contact them as the site is under reconstruction and has nowhere near all of the information uploaded.

It's sad to hear of your family losses and I hope you can find out more information. If I ever find out any more I will message you or post up in this thread. 

Can anybody else on here help? 

Cheers Chris


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## lancasterman (May 7, 2014)

Interesting relic's, I like the idea of scale models to show what the aircraft would have looked like....

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