Favorite airplane and Favorite individual piece?

[grwebster]

Oddly, the Sunderland Flying Boat and the B-36 are too of my favorite aircraft. I do have weakness for the Bell Huey as I flew them a lot in the US Army.
I usually get every toy I can of these three aircraft.

[fliegerii]

Messerschmitt ME-262 and Lockheed F-104. When I was a child, I was living 2 km far from Noervenich Airfield. They operated F-104 until 1983. An on-ground engine test is an unforgetable experience even 2 km far. I have several aluminium desktop models of the F-104 plus the Aero Mini toy and some toys made of tin. No other plane has a better shape than the 104.
The ME-262 is a representative masterpiece of German engineering: Too fast and too late... I have three original desktop-models made for Messerschmitt plus the Lintoys.

Last but not least: B-58 Hustler! The only plane having a better shape than the F-104...
30 years ago I failed making a Monogram kit (fuselage halfs impossible to join), a few years later..... I made an aluminium desktop model by myself.....

[bstewart9]

My favorite airplane is the Me-262.

My favorite piece is the 1:72 Dragon Wings diorama of the white 3 flown by Hans-Guido Mutke which matches my print of "Stormbirds Over The Reich" by Robert Taylor.

[BWBrown]

OK, I'll bite!

My favorite plane, and I feel that I am betraying my family roots to admit this, is the Lockheed Constellation. I took my first commercial flight in this aircraft, back about 1950-52. I loved its "swoopy" and aerodynamic shape! I've always been prone to motion sickness, to the point that I won't let anyone else drive me around, even today, at least not for very far. On that Connie I was never so sick in my life! I certainly recall the experience, and still love the plane, nevertheless! I remember the engines revving up as we boarded, and the attentiveness of the attendants. I wish I could remember which airline, but I think it was TWA.

I was an impressionable youth! What else can I say!

In retrospect, I still think the Connie was a beautiful melding of purpose and art, or vice versa!

Setting aside this definitive moment from my youth, my other favorites have to be the planes my father flew in combat: P-36, P-40, and P-38. I grew up with many stories about those old planes. All of these little old guys used to stop by our house when I was growing up. As a teenager, of course I was "too cool" to meet and talk with them. Only many years later did I come to realize that I had met some of the most deadly fighter pilots of WWII. They are all gone today, and it's my loss that I wasn't old enough and wise enough at the time to learn more from them when they came to visit. To quote somebody or other, youth is wasted on the young!

Regards! -- Bryan

[Tone]

Yonezawa brand #329, AA Electra with illuminated propeller action.



Story behind this one:

When I was very young I loved real and toy airplanes because they looked cool, especially the Allegheny Convair 580 twins (favorite plane - you had to ask) with their round tails. My mother and aunt went down the river to New York City's Metropolitan Opera, in 1967 or 1968 when I was three or maybe four years old. Before the show they had time to shop at Macy's. Mom purchased a plane like this one and stowed it underneath the seat during the show. When we got home the lighted props fascinated me. Me and the local kids played with it and broke it so by the mid-70s it was quite the hulk. Shortly after throwing it away I began to miss that plane and so I searched for all things Electra. I finally bought this one in January 1999 with the very first computer auction bid in my life. I wanted one in good shape!

[BoeingDriver]

As a follow up to Tone's Electra I'll claim the Lockheed Electra as my favorite aircraft and show you my favorite tinplate piece.



The Mar Line Japanese Electra is mint in the box (box safely stored) and works just fine. It is the most accurate Electra toy I've run across.

As far as a most favorite piece I'll switch categories and name the Raise Up Eastern Airlines Boeing 720 as my favorite piece.



I would have picked my Eastern Raise Up Electra as a favorite but it will have to rate second after the 720. The finish on the 720 is just beautiful while the Electra paint seems a bit dull and the casting wasn't as clean. It seems to me there is a wide variance in the overall quality of Raise Up models which probably can be attributed to being finished by different people in the shop with some being more skilled than others. The Golden Falcon stands add much to the allure of the piece to me as well.

Ladd