Life Rafts, Headsets, Airplanes and Consolidated Vultee B-24 Yoke Caps

[diggummup]

I haven't been out to the sales too much in the past month with work taking up much of my time. Then I was sick with the flu for several days. Finally, I was able to get out last weekend to a few sales. I bought a bunch of good stuff, way too much to go into right now. These are just a few of my favorite finds from one estate sale that I went to on Sunday.
Included are an EAM 4-6 man life raft ($20), a pair of David Clark Aviation headphones ($5), a Consolidated Vultee B-24 Liberator yoke stick cap ($1), a signed photo from the top ace pilot in WW2 "Gabby" Gabreski ($2) and a small desk display model of a TWA Trans World 767 ($2).

 

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[mojjax]

Amazing finds !

 

[Baltimore]

Good stuff! Looks like that yoke cap will be a pretty high dollar item if you choose to sell it!

 

[bdsawyer]

Super nice finds! The life raft and vultee cap are awesome! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Punatic]

Very cool, the stuff that gets sold at sales never ceases to amaze me

 

[tamrock]

Good eye

 

[catherine1]

The yoke cap usually had a picture on the back side. Nice stuff!

 

[Coldshuz]

Watched a History Channel show on "Gabby" Gabreski. I believe the show was Air Aces. Great story and helluva pilot. The Jug was my second favorite plane of WW2, Mustang took top billing for me.

Great finds Diggum!

 

[jfreakofkorn]

those are some neat find(s) there =0)

 

[2ndisbest]

I haven't been out to the sales too much in the past month with work taking up much of my time. Then I was sick with the flu for several days. Finally, I was able to get out last weekend to a few sales. I bought a bunch of good stuff, way too much to go into right now. These are just a few of my favorite finds from one estate sale that I went to on Sunday.
Included are an EAM 4-6 man life raft ($20), a pair of David Clark Aviation headphones ($5), a Consolidated Vultee B-24 Liberator yoke stick cap ($1), a signed photo from the top ace pilot in WW2 "Gabby" Gabreski ($2) and a small desk display model of a TWA Trans World 767 ($2).
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Ok I want to hit estate sales by you, because by default anything with anyone's name autographed on it adds a zero to the price, obviously if it is noticed. But that picture would be hard to miss. If it was me that would not be up for sale and I don't collect anything. I did a quick look up of Richard Bong autographs and they are in the thousands. Obviously because he died in 1945 so not going to be many around. Great find.

 

[Paleo_joe]

Wow. This is the stuff I look for. What a motherlode!!! Great picks!!!

 

[diggummup]

The yoke cap usually had a picture on the back side. Nice stuff!

Really? I've never seen one with a picture on the back. This is the second one that I have come across in the last couple years. Both were retired (deceased) pilots/vets who worked out of MIA after the military. I almost bought one of these a couple years ago at another estate sale. I had it in my box of stuff and the man having the sale said he couldn't sell it because it was one of his fathers keepsakes from the war, he also took back the K98 Bayonet that I had. Anyway here is a photo of what the back looks like on mine (this is a web photo though)-

Ok I want to hit estate sales by you, because by default anything with anyone's name autographed on it adds a zero to the price, obviously if it is noticed. But that picture would be hard to miss. If it was me that would not be up for sale and I don't collect anything. I did a quick look up of Richard Bong autographs and they are in the thousands. Obviously because he died in 1945 so not going to be many around. Great find.

Yeah, there is a certificate of authenticity taped on the back of it. The former owner wrote "$50 1-9-95" in tiny lettering on the bottom of the certificate. I would guess that is what he paid for it back then. It's worth no more than that today though, at most. It seems Gabby signed a lot of photos in his time.

 

[clovis97]

You might gather a little more interest on a few facebook pages. I belong to a B-24 group, an 8th Air Force group and a P-47 group.

I bet that the autographed P-47 pic was to raise money for a not for profit association, like one serving vets or a group restoring a plane.

I do love the yoke cap, especially since it came from one of the Ford B-24's...built at Willow Run, most likely.

 

[meanpc]

That Yoke stick cap is awesome. I bought a few gauges this summer - one from a B-17 and two from B-24's, but this find of yours is way cooler. If you haven't read it yet, Unbroken is a pretty damn good book and soon to be movie about a WW2 bomber crew.

 

[clovis97]

FWIW, there are repops of the Boeing B-17 yoke emblem.