New Hub for Sundry Collectibles!

Hi everyone.  A super quick note to let you know that I have generated a new hub for my multiple blogs!  You can check it out (and the blogs linked there) at sundrycollectibles.net.  Here you will find links to my Disneyland postcard site, my vintage aviation paper site, and my "Comics Data" site (I am excited about this one!)

I will occasionally come back here to point people to my new stuff...but this newly revamped site is now my "official" hub.  

Until next time...

Saturday Evening Post - May 29, 1948

All I can say about this amazing issue of the Saturday Evening Post is, where to begin?  This thing is absolutely loaded with nostalgic advertising and some great articles and writing from the mid twentieth century.  I'll get to the primary reason I bought this magazine in a bit, but there is so much fantastic advertising that I had to share it here.

I'll start off with the cover which has a nice painted piece by an artist unknown to me, Mead Schaeffer. There are wikipedia articles on him, and you can see other samples of his work online.  I have to believe that back in the day, getting the opportunity to have your work published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post was a huge deal.  

Inside, we'll start out with this great American Airlines advertisement.  This was 1948.  Commercial air travel was still in its infancy for the most part (OK...maybe it was a toddler) and this ad was addressing some concerns as well as making air travel look cool.  Read it for yourself, but I find the last panel interesting.  Not only was air travel making our businessman friend hip and efficient, but it was appropriate for the mother and young baby as well as the elderly couple.  And get a load of all that leg room!

Next up is this magnificent centerfold advertisement for Mobil De Luxe Tires and Mobilgas.  This piece is unsigned, but it has that Norman Rockwell feel to it (pretty sure it's not him though).  The "girls" are off to the side with mom trying to quiet the young one while dad fixes the tire....but to no avail because the dog is wreaking havoc.  Just brilliant.  

Another great double page spread is this 7-Up add.  7-Up was created in 1929...this was 1948, so a mere 19 years into the life of the product.  "You like it - it likes you"...they don't mention it here, but 7-Up is not a caffeinated drink.  I suspect it was not then either.  But somehow I suspect that this is not why they say "it likes you"...probably just marketing speak for "buy this drink"!

Finally I come to the reason I bought this magazine in the first place (only a few bucks on eBay...by the way).  Look at the double page spread above.  Notice the tiny cartoon on the bottom left hand page? This is Charles Schulz's first published work in a national magazine.  While Li'l Folks had been published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press since 1947, this was Schulz's first nationally published work.  The rest, as they say, is history!

Until next time....

Flying Aces Magazine - 1941

If you have read this blog for any amount of time...you know that the one thing that ties most of my collectibles together is the medium on which they were produced...that being paper.  Paper collectibles...or ephemera...have always been interesting to me.  Most paper items are produced to serve a purpose and then were usually not taken care of and/or thrown away.  Whether it was a tourist pamphlet, an early comic book, or, in the case of today's item, a magazine...printed paper items always offer great insight into the culture of the era.

Flying Aces was a popular aviation magazine from the early 20th century.  This issue is from 1941 and is loaded with factual articles on aircraft of the day, fictional stories, and model building tips for kids and adults wanting to try their hand at the design and build of model aircraft.

I particularly thought the image here was interesting.  The P-38 Lighting, as you are probably aware, went on to become one of the most fabled aircraft of WWII.  And the P-40 also saw a significant amount of service all over the world, perhaps most notably as the "Flying Tiger" in China.

As an aside...I couldn't resist including the back cover.  Build planes...get a girl...I love it!

Until next time...

The Douglas DC-7 - First East-to-West Coast Service Non-Stop

It's been a while since I have posted any aviation postcards here, so today we are going to look at this Douglas DC-7.  This aircraft was, as the card states, the world's fastest airliner for a time in the 1950's.   Built from 1953 to 1958, it was the last of the big turbo-charged propeller driven aircraft built by Douglas.  You may recall that the DC-8 was a jet aircraft that Douglas came out with starting in 1958 (oh the good old days...when you could develop new passenger aircraft in a few years!)

Anyway...when the plane was put into service in 1953, it offered the first non-stop airliner service from east coast to west coast.  It was eight hours, nominally, not the ~five and a half hour trip it is today.  (Note...if you have ever travelled east to west on a day when the gulf stream is really blowing...then you know that even in a modern jet, the trip can take up to 7 hours or more.)

According to the 1000 aircraft photos site (which has this exact postcard photo on its site) this particular aircraft served United Airlines until it was sold in 1964.  Eventually it was destroyed in a fire at a facility where it was being scrapped.  Not a very glorious finish for this plane I am afraid.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

The Lyon Air Museum - One Man's Collection

As a collector, one of the things I like to do is see what other people collect.  When I walk in to someones house...maybe they have invited me and my family over for dinner...my eyes are always drawn to the book shelves, or the mantle...or maybe even the wals if there are interesting prints or paintings on them.

A friend of mine and his wife are really into photography.  The shots are almost always personal family photographs taken while on vacation...but done so in a very artistic and creative way.  This may not be a collection in the classic sense, but it really is not that different.

This past week I was on business travel to Anaheim in Southern California.  As the plane touched down, I noticed for not the first time a small air museum on the opposite side of the airfield:  The Lyon Air Museum.  In the afternoon I had a little time to go check it ut while I was waiting for my flight.

The man who started this museum is a collector...of motorcycles and airplanes.  How cool is that?  He needed a hanger to show his stuff...but it is quite a collection.  He has a B-17 bomber, a B-25Mitchell, an A-4 Skyhawk, an old American Airlines DC-3 (you can see the aft end of this plane in the photo above), a C-47 cargo plane in invasion stripes...and a bunch of motorcycles from Germany and America (the Indian above is magnificent).

If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a quick stop at the Lyon Air Museum.  Even if you have only a passing interest in mid-20th century aircraft and mechanical machines...you will not be disappointed 

Until next time....

The Boeing Model 247

Another aviation postcard today from the same estate as the last post.  You may recall that at a recent estate, the owner had been a United Airlines pilot.  I found this card among various other paper items.  It is a commemorative card printed in 1973.

One of the things I like about collecting this sort of thing is that it is educational.  Prior to picking up this card, I would not have known what a Boeing Model 247 looked like, or what era it flew in.  But now...I do know.

This plane brings back visions of characters like Indiana Jones flying to far off and exotic places in the 1930's.  Of course the plane that is shown in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark carrying Indy to Asia is a Boeing 314 Clipper sea plane...but this aircraft has a similar flavor to it.  I love that forward slanted wind shield....probably not that aero-dynamic...but very stylish!  (With the Model 247D...the slant went with the wind...)

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

LAX circa 1950

I can't be totally sure when this Plastichrome postcard photo was taken, but it was probably around 1950 (perhaps even a little earlier) given that the TWA Constellation and United DC-4 are front and center.  This is a great shot of an air-hub that has done nothing but grow since it was carved out of a wheat and lima bean field in 1928.

I have flown in and out of LAX many times lately for my work and while I am more often than not caught up in the purpose of my work, I am occasionally tuned in to the fact that this place was one of the first modern air terminals...ever.  It's easy to forget the nostalgia when you are waiting in a huge security line trying to get into the terminal...but if you look carefully, you can still find clues to the past in and around the airport.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

"El Lobo"

Sometimes you find stuff at an estate sale that goes beyond being an interesting or collectible item.  It is clearly something that had a personal connection to the estate.  If you are lucky enough to get the backstory of the item...then you can get a flavor for what that thing may have meant to the person whose house you happen to be walking through.

Yesterday, I went to another sale on the San Francisco peninsula (the second of three this week-end) and found something unlike anything I had found before.  Inside this old Eichler home was a cabinet full of old Kodachrome slides...perhaps about a thousand in all.  I looked through about a hundred of them, maybe more, looking for any interesting views of cities or images with aircraft or automobiles from times past.  The images were all taken in and around 1950.  In a box that was full of various landscape shots I found two slides of aircraft...one of which was clearly a B-24 Mitchell.   So...along with a few Modern Library editions that I also found at the sale...I bought these and headed home.

When I got home, I dug out my slide projector and took a look.  Here is what I saw:

This is where the backstory gets interesting, intense, and frankly tragic.

In the top picture above, there is enough information visible on the aircraft to identify it...so, a few minutes of research on the internet yielded the full story.  I was able to confirm the ID of this plane on the website B24.net.  This aircraft (42-7510) was named "El Lobo" by its crew and, and if you look carefully you can see some art on the nose of the aircraft in the picture above.  In fact, they had painted a wolf in a tuxedo...El Lobo.  I was also able to discover that this aircraft did not survive the war.  For a complete account of what happened to this plane and its crew see this article written by Annette Tison, the niece of one of its crew members.  Annette's uncle, Douglas N. Frank, was killed, along with the rest of the crew, on April 29th, 1944 while returning from a bombing mission to Berlin.  Search the page for "El Lobo" and the "Wyatt crew".

This is the Wyatt crew:

The B-24 Mitchell was, from what I have heard, not the most flyable aircraft.  But, it was what it was, and the men who flew it into harms way did what they were asked in the service of their country.  These men served, and they did not come back.

Finding this little slide and its backstory has been thought provoking and moving.  You cannot look at the photo of the crew and not be moved...I think.  It isn't Memorial Day...and it's not July 4th.  It's just another day today; 68 years after these guys did their part to rid the world of a punk and his cronies who had gotten a tad overzealous in their thirst for power and control.  

Thank you gentlemen...thank you very much!

Until next time....

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

United Airlines C-54 to 747

I was out at another local estate sale today.  This man was a retired United Airlines pilot who had flown for United from 1945 to 1978.  That...is impressive.  Just imagine what this guy must have seen and been through.  To live through the golden age of aviation in America.  That really had to be something.

I have generally focused on vintage aircraft in this blog, and I won't stray too far from that today.  I am going to give you two items I found today, spanning the career of this pilot at United.

First up is a C-54 flight manual, published in 1954.  What is so remarkable about this book is that it is only about a half of an inch thick...maybe 100 pages.  Operator manuals for a modern jet aircraft are many volumes.  You can see in the scan here the full contents of the book.

From the other side of this man's career is this post card of one of the very first United 747's.  Using my handy dandy magnifier,  I was able to identify the "N" number on this aircraft as N4703U.  This airframe was built by Boeing in 1970, first flown on April 6th, 1970, and delivered to United on June 30th, 1970.  The very first 747 to go into service did so with Pan-Am on January 22, 1970...so I suspect that this was United's first 747...or at least one of their earliest.  For a complete history of this particular aircraft...check out this link.

So...another interesting outing to a local estate sale.  As I have said before...estate sales are interesting for a lot of reasons.  In this case, I got to get this cool stuff...but I am again reminded that we cannot take anything with us when we die...it all stays here.  So...just as this man seems to have done...be a good steward of your time, serve others, and live as fully as you are able.  

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-1959

Jane's is the recognized leader when it comes to information on military equipment.  Jane's All the World's Aircraft was founded in 1909 and first edited by Fred T. Jane.  These books are a lot of fun to look at...even if you are not particularly into aviation.  But if you are into aviation, they offer a complete index of all that has happened in aviation since the earliest days of powered flight.

Today' post features a copy of Jane's All the World's Aircraft from 1958-1959.  The thoroughness of these books is what makes them so fascinating.  There are countless aircraft presented here that most people, whether avid fans of aircraft or not, have probably never heard of.  

In the picture above is a page from the Bell Aircraft section featuring the Bell X-14.  This was a one off experimental Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.  I actually saw this plane rotting in a field when I used to work at Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, California.  It has since been salvaged and isnow located at the Ropkey Armor Museum in Indiana.  

Prior to cracking this book open today, I had never even heard gof the Breguet Type 763.  Looks like an interesting, albeit bulky passenger/cargo aircraft.  Sort of reminds me of the Boeing 377 that I posted on a while back.  

Finally...I wanted to comment on the "Airlines of the World" section.  When I saw this today, my initial thought was that it would make a great reference for the aviation postcard collector.  For example...looking at the page scanned here, I can see all of the aircraft that Air France had in it's fleet in 1959.  I suppose it is not unreasonable to expect that the company probably published postcards featuring these aircraft.  So, in a way, this section almost serves as a checklist for someone collecting vintage airline images.  

Until next time...

The Eiffel Tower by TWA

I have shown a number of airline postcards with actual aircraft on them, but the airlines published other postcards as well.  As you might expect, they would often advertise the destinations that their fleet was capable of carrying their passengers to.

 

Today's card is a Trans World Airlines card from sometime before 1952.  (The one cent postage for the card gives that away).  It's a linen card, not chrome, so it is probably a fair bit earlier than 1952 I suspect. The back of the card has a hint that the card may be from 1948, but that is just a guess.  Either way...this is a great view of the Eiffel tower taken from the Trocadéro, site of the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. 

Until next time...

Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 was primarily a wartime aircraft, built from 1942 to 1947.  The military variant, the C-54 Skymaster, was produced in large numbers, 1170 according to Wikipedia.  But only 63 of the passenger version DC-4 were built.

The caption on the back of this card reads, "America's great cities are served by these huge luxury liners of the "Northwest Passage".  Travel in comfort and safety at cruising speeds of over four miles per minute."

Well...four miles a minute is about 240 miles an hour...a little over a third the speed of a modern sub-sonic jet.  And I guess huge is relative.  Seating 86 passengers with a maximum take-off weight of 73,000 pounds was indeed pretty remarkable for the day.  In modern terms though, a 747-8 seats 467 in a three class configuration and has a maximum take-off weight of 987,000 pounds (!!).  Someday...I suppose this will seem small and slow.  When that will be, though, is anybody's guess!

Until next time...

The Lockheed L-188 Electra and NASA N429NA

It's been a while since I have spoken to an aviation postcard, so today I thought I would show a couple cards of the Lockheed L-188 Electra.  These are not vintage cards, but they are vintage photographs.

The Lockheed L-188 was a civilian version of the Lockheed P-3 Submarine chaser and was built starting in 1957.  It unfortunately had a rather spotty safety record early on, and was replaced by jet aircraft after only 170 were built.  Compare this to 757 total built for the P-3.

This aircraft has a special place in my past as I flew on the NASA Electra N429NA when I was in high school.  I had volunteered to work at the NASA Ames research center in the atmospheric research group.  They used to put exerimental platforms onboard U-2 aircraft, but also onboard planes like the Electra.  We would fly around collecting samples of the atmosphere at different altitudes and bring them back to the lab for analysis.  It was a boat load of fun!  

Last I heard...this aircraft was converted into a fire fighting aircraft by Neptune Aviation in Montana.  Here is another picture of the airplane during its conversion process.

Until next time...

Pan Am Clipper - Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

I recently picked up this card of a Pan American World Airways Clipper flying above the San Francisco Bay.  It is not, perhaps, one of the most attractive aircraft ever built, but a little research has revealed that this was a rather capable aircraft in its day.

The Boeing 377 was based on the C-97 military freighter, which had it's heritage from the B-29 Superfortress.  It was a double deck aircraft and could seat up to 100 people depending on the layout (some had sleeper berths in them with a lounge on the lower deck).  It was actively used from 1947 through 1963 when the jet age basically replaced planes like this one.

With the help of a magnifying glass, I was able to determine that this card is of N1025V, an aircraft that started life named as the Clipper  Celestial, was later changed to Clipper Rainbow, and finally Clipper America.  For more details, check out this video on the Pan Am operated Boeing 377.  The third part of this video is especially interesting.  It gives a contemporary perspective on the then giant aircraft and the amenities it offered.

Until next time...

Delta Airlines DC-4 Postcard

I was at an antique mall a couple of weekends ago.  You know...one of those places with a bunch of stalls that are rented by different vendors, but all under one roof.  These places can be fun to peruse, but also a little pricey sometimes.  That aside, I did manage to find this postard...a Delta Airlines DC-4 from the 1940's or thereabouts.

This plane was used extensively in WWII, but it was designated the C-54 by the military.  The card says it cruised at 215 miles per hour and carried 44 passengers.  Pretty tiny by today's standards.  For comparison, a 737-800 carries around 162 passengers and cruises at .78 Mach...or around 550 mph depending on atmospheric conditions.  Production on the DC-4 was brief...only 1942 through 1947, so this card is likely from the 1940's since Delta was flying the faster DC-6 by the end of the decade.

Short post today...enjoy your Wednesday!

Until next time...

Western Airlines Convair CV-240

Some collections are all about accumulating a group of items...plain and simple.  As I have written about before, when I was collecting Star Wars cards as a kid, my goal was to get the complete set...period.  And to some extent this is what drives a lot of my collecting, even today.  But some collections offer more than that.  They offer a look back in time.

Don Ballard's Disneyland Hotel book (which I promote in the side-bar) is a great example of how a hobby can turn into a quest for the history of a place or thing.  Another example is the Nickel Tour, known as the bible for Disneyland postcard collectors.  It is a history of the park, but uses the postcards to tell the story.  It is this book that got me hooked on the that particular collection.  

So, with that thought in mind I am posting this "post-war" Western Airlines postcard of a Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (also known as Convair) CV-240 in Western Airlines livery.  A pretty interesting card...depicting a by-gone era in aviation.  And I don't care if I have a complete set!

Until next time...

Aviation History: Charles Lindbergh and Gary Powers

One of the smaller collections I keep has aviation history as its subject.  I have always enjoyed experiencing the adventures of aviators through their biographies.  The men and women who pioneered aviation in the early and middle part of the 20th century had some "serious thrill issues" (to quote a recent Pixar film)...they had to be a little crazy to do some of the stuff they did.  But they did those things...and the ones who lived to tell about what they did wrote some great stories.

Shown here are two of my favorites...Lindbergh's "We", a chronicle of his trans-Atlantic crossing written in 1927, and a cold war thriller with aviation as its center piece, Gary Powers' "Operation Overflight"from 1970.  

Both of these books are captivating and griping, albeit for different reasons.  Lindbergh writes about his early years in aviation up to the Spirit of St. Louis flight and then gives a blow by blow of the whole 33 hour journey to Paris.  Powers recounts in detail what it was like to be a pilot of a spy plane from the moment he got recruited to the fateful day he was shot down over Soviet Russia.

If you enjoy reading this sort of thing, these are both great reads that would work well for an upcoming summer read...unless of course you are already planning on reading a pile of vintage Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks!  

Until next time....

Memorial Day - Frontline Combat #8

Since today is Memorial Day, I thought I would post something in honor of our men and women in uniform.  I have found a number of interesting military items in my garage and estate sale travels (check out my post from May 15th for a small sample).  But I thought I would pull out a comic today since comics have such a rich history of portraying men (and women) in battle.

The cover shown here is from Frontline Combat #8, publish in 1952 by EC comics.  EC comics were published before the comics code was created in 1954, so it and it's sister publication, Two-Fisted Tails, strove to show warfare realistically...not necessarily all victory and glory.

The cover artist here was Alex Toth...one of my personal favorites.  This story in Frontline #8 is about an F-84 Thunderjet squadron that goes on a mission in the Korean War.  They succeed, but the story is punctuated by the realization of the flight commander that he could very easily not return from his mission...his job is dangerous indeed....and the other side has resources that he does not.  So, here's to our men and women in uniform...you deserve my heartfelt gratitude for your work and courage.

Until next time...

United Airlines DC-6

Yesterday, I went on a day trip to LA (again...), and while I like Southwest Airlines...it's not much fun flying on what is essentially an airborne bus.  Sure, I still get mesmerized looking out the window while flying over the California desert or over downtown LA.  But there is something about air travel in the 1950's that I find captivating.  And while I don't actively collect airline postcards, when I come across cards like the ones below, I usually can't resist.

Perhaps an exaggerated sense of nostalgia is coloring my perspective, but those people in the card below sure do look comfortable and well taken care of!  Why can't Southwest have a "smart club-car" section on it's 737's?

I suspect it wasn't all glamour and excitement though...the postcard claims 5 miles a minute for the DC-6.  At that rate, my flight to and from LA yesterday would have taken a lot longer than an hour each way!

Until next time....