My personal mini ww2 aircraft relic museum

[s1chris]

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/

 

[Capt. Vick]

Nice builds! What scale?

 

[vikingBerserker]

Great collection so far

 

[s1chris]

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

 

[Airframes]

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.

 

[s1chris]

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

 

[Airframes]

Nice! Keep 'em coming Chris.

 

[Gnomey]

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

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

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[syscom3]

Nice!

 

[s1chris]

Thanks all. 👍

Just added P-47D Thunder bolt.

Cheers Chris

 

[Crimea_River]

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

 

[s1chris]

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

 

[Matt308]

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

 

[s1chris]

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

 

[s1chris]

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

 

[s1chris]

More added inc Mk1 Hurricane and JU88

Cheers Chris

 

[s1chris]

Summer flying suit and boot inserts added.

 

[vikingBerserker]

VERY COOL!

 

[s1chris]

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