Aircraft Display Model Collector Investor and Appraisal Guide

By Henry Tenby
Self-published
ISBN 9781926714011
163 Pages

Review by Shea Oakley

I have been collecting airliner models since I was old enough to point up at the sky and say “plane.” That is about 50 years. During this time a precious few of them have been what I always called “airline ticket office” or “travel agency” models. These were the kind of big replicas I remembered from the 1970’s. In those early childhood days, my dad and I would walk down Fifth Avenue in New York City once a year so I could collect ticket folders from the often beautifully appointed ticket offices which, for a long time, lined that street representing every major world airline. I also remember seeing these models in other places, as in the case of an unbelievably huge National Airlines 747 “cutaway” example that sat in the ticketing lobby of their JFK “Sundrome” terminal during that same decade.

While I have collected everything from 1/600^th to 1/24^th scale airliners in my time, I always knew that these special models were truly in a class by themselves.

Now a physically impressive new paperback book from Henry Tenby, a major collector and true expert on these types of replicas, for the first time gives us not only a comprehensive history of all the makers of “professional aircraft display models” but also a very useful price guide and great general overview of this important segment of the airline enthusiast hobby. His self-published work does so with 162 pages of images that are virtually all color-printed on excellent heavy-stock glossy paper. Photographically this volume is a beauty to behold, in terms of content it is a pleasure to read.

The Vancouver, Canada-based Tenby started collecting in 1988 after visiting Brazil to chronicle the late, great Varig’s legendary “Ponte Area” Lockheed Electra shuttle operation as a reporter for the former “Airliners Magazine.” At the end of his interviews with the Brazilian flag carrier’s executives he was presented with a new 1/100th model of an Electra produced by one of the major players in the field of display models built for airline promotional use, Vogelaar. In his own words “from this point forward the author was perpetually hooked.”

Today Tenby, along with some other familiar, long-known names in the hobby, including Anthony Lawler, David Marx and Dr. Charles Quarles, is one of a small group of collectors who have large collections of these often extremely valuable models. I had the pleasure and rare privilege of visiting one of these collections at the home of its owner last January. In fact that is where I first encountered a copy of this book.

Since the rarest of these pieces can fetch as much as five figures for a single example; this segment is among the most “upscale” in the world of airline collecting and most of us cannot afford more than a few of them (at least without taking out a second mortgage!)  For instance, your reviewer currently has just six models that would qualify as professional aircraft display models by the author’s well-thought out standards.

While not inexpensive (no high-quality illustrated book this size is these days) I highly recommend Tenby’s work for anyone who has had more than a passing interest on this subject. It is rare to find a book that is both chockful of useful and engaging content yet could be proudly displayed on any true airline enthusiast’s coffee table. In my opinion this one definitely qualifies!

There is very little to criticize in Aircraft Display Model Collector Investor and Appraisal Guide. There are a fair number of minor typos that slightly detract from the reading experience. The book ends with some mouth-watering selected photos from some of the largest collections of these replicas in the world. I might have enjoyed a few more photos from them, but the book is self-published and paying for the reproduction of color photos in a book of this quality cannot be cheap! We can certainly be grateful that these collectors were willing to work with Tenby to the degree they did, as I have seen very few glimpses of such collections in my over 25 years in the “official” airline collecting hobby.

So, to sum up, this one is truly a keeper. I can tell you that my personal copy will be treasured for many years to come. Even if you cannot afford a single professional aircraft display model for your own “fleet” this book provides a way to vicariously enjoy hundreds of them!

Availability: Copies of this book can be ordered directly from the author’s website, www.aircraftdisplaymodels.com, for US $36.95 each (plus postage from Canada).

Written by Lane Kranz

Despite the ongoing pandemic and resulting crisis on the travel industry, several new Junior Wings have appeared in 2020.  Each of these are airline issued and will make beautiful additions to your collections.

Written by Marvin G. Goldman

Many airlines, particularly on longer flights, have typically handed out beautiful menus in advance of their meal service.  One type of menu, popular in the past with certain airlines, served a double purpose – it had a postcard back, as the airline hoped the passenger would mail the postcard, and this would publicize the airline more widely.  Some of the early menu postcards even state on the back: “Please address and return to Stewardess, who will stamp and mail for you”.

Surprisingly few airlines actually issued menus in postcard form.  I know of only 17 airlines that did so, although probably more exist.  Also, at least three other airlines issued menus with postcards attached so they could be separated and mailed or saved.

The late 1940s through the early 1960s were the high point for the popularity of airline menus with postcard backs.  Some, however, date as early as the1930s and the latest I know of were issued by TWA in 1987.

All the postcards shown in this article are airline issued; standard or continental size; and from my collection except for those of B.O.A.C., Ghana, and South African Airways.

The airline that issued the most menu postcards, by far, was United Air Lines.  I estimate that more than 80% (and maybe 90%) of the menu postcards that you can find at airline collectible shows or on the internet are those issued by United.

So let’s start with menu postcards of United Air Lines.  United issued many types of menu postcards, including those celebrating special events, holidays or destinations, menus with suitable illustrations for breakfasts, and a lengthy set with photographs of United destinations.

Here are my three favorite United menu postcards.  I was fortunate to acquire them over 30 years ago from collector Randy Lieberman, and I have never seen other originals of each.

In the 1940s United several menu postcards with the symbol of a chef running to serve a steaming hot meal, such as the following:

 In the early 1950s United issued a set of menu postcards, each with a photograph of a particular United destination.  I know of at least 20 different destinations in this set, and there may be more.  A particular destination card was sometimes used for several different menus, so the varieties multiply.  The postcards in this set are the most common of all the menu postcards and are widely available.  Here is one example,

 

Let’s now turn to the other U.S. airlines that issued menu postcards.

 

 

 Not illustrated here, but in my collection, are menu cards with detachable postcards issued by three other airlines: Finnair (with attached DC-10 postcard), KLM Amsterdam-Los Angeles service menu postcard (with attached 737-300 postcard), and Virgin Atlantic (one with attached artist’s depiction of people in London looking up to sky, and another depicting a London double-decker bus).

Now let’s turn to menus with postcard backs issued by airlines outside the U.S.

 

I am not aware of any South American, European or Middle East airline menu cards with a postcard back other than those issued by B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Aircraft Corporation)

There are two African airlines that apparently have issued menu postcards, as to which I have never seen an actual card.  They are illustrated on the Famgus Aviation Postcards website, as follows:

 

From Asia and Australasia, I am aware of three airlines that have issued menu postcards.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of airline menu postcards.  If you know of any other airlines that issued menu cards with postcard backs, or if you have any comments on my article, I would be pleased to hear from you.  Just email me, Marvin Goldman, at [email protected].

Until next time, Happy Collecting.
Marvin

Written by Lester Anderson

There was a day when you needed a paper ticket to get on an airplane.  You checked in at a ticket counter (or sometimes a gate) and if assigned seating was available, you were assigned a seat.

You were given a gate pass folder (or envelope) telling you the gate assigned to the flight and the flight details.  Some airlines then took your flight coupon and your next step was boarding the aircraft. Some airlines put the flight coupon in the boarding envelope and collected it as you exited the gate to go the airplane, or sometimes the stewardess (too early to call them flight attendants) collected it as you entered the aircraft. Early tickets were handwritten. Later came computer tab cards with a magnetic stripe on back along with multi page dot matrix computer printout, often with a distinctive print of bright red carbon paper marking the impression.

Airlines used this paper opportunity to market their own services (like fly now pay later) and promoted new aircraft. Many  included a graphic of their route map and lines to show what city pairs they were authorized to fly (recall the days when the Civil Aeronautics Board dictated routes).

Most probably through a joint marketing program gate passes often also promoted a car rental company (or in the case of the Northeast gate pass included, the petroleum company that provides them fuel or for American the official timepiece ). Boarding passes from the 60’s and 70’s were universal in their reminder to reconfirm you reservations if you have break in your travel.

As time and technology progressed, the ticket became a record in the airline computer.  The boarding pass became a card (the standard size of an IBM computer punch card). Then as check in became more self-service, the boarding pass was generated at self-check in kiosks at check in using a thermal printer.

My collection is exceedingly small and in no way comprehensive. Besides creating this record of history for your to enjoy, I use this as an opportunity to ask all of those reading who have old boarding passes and other interesting airline memorabilia, to write an article and submit it to share those images on the Captain’s Log.

As a pictorial I am grouping them by airline.  Except for the Northwest Orient shown here, all were my flights (NW was a visit by my grandmother). I did find an occasional treasure with them, which I have also included.

Enjoy the memories:

American
This was more an envelope than a folder. The image is of the front and the back of that envelope

Continental

As a personal note – these thermal boarding passes were my son’s favorite bookmark for all his books.

Delta

Eastern

Note the graphic design is different on the computer generated passes, and no longer were the details hand written on the boarding envelope, just a boarding pass stapled.

And in the days where travel agents were a big facilitator in ticketing, some airlines provided special travel agent boarding passes for the agent to provide to their customers.

Mohawk Airlines

Northeast

And if you asked nicely at the gate, often the agent would give you an airline sticker that you would put on our suitcase to show your travel experience!

 

Northwest Orient

In the first Airport movie one of the characters who would sneak onto the plane as a stowaway explained she always carried a thick black crayon pencil to write on a blank gate pass.  Here is a real example of a 1960 Northwest gate pass written with a thick black crayon/pencil.

My grandmother took that flight, and saved two of the napkins from her meal service.  She flew on a Northwest DC7C for this segment of her trip.

United Airlines

 

A United Suitcase sticker

And this is the way you get on a United flight today

The physical size of this boarding pass is a throwback to the IBM Punch Card, used years before. It is no longer used in that fashion and no holes are punched in it to signify data (that is done by scanning the bar on the right).  In the early days of computer reservations, flight tickets were issued on IBM punch cards at the ticket counter and even when tickets became dot matrix printer output, they size of the ticket still echoed the punch card.

Written by Shea Oakley

If you are an older traveler and airline enthusiast living along the so-called “Northeast Corridor” of the U.S. it is likely you have a story about the Air-Shuttle. When I use the term “Air-Shuttle” I’m not referring to those run today by Delta or American. For me this reference has always been synonymous with Eastern Air Lines, the airline that started the whole concept of an hourly guaranteed seat service between New York-La Guardia, and both Boston-Logan and Washington-National airports. The airline that “threw in the towel” only after over a quarter-century of dominance on those routes, and that only two years before its own demise as a pioneering American air carrier. At the time of the Shuttle’s sale to Donald Trump in 1989 there was perhaps no greater symbol of the decline of a once great company than its loss.

I am one of those “avgeek” denizens of the Northeast who has a few personal recollections of the Eastern Air-Shuttle to share.

Sorry, no tales about eventful LGA-DCA Connie flights through summer thunderstorms. The last back-up L-1049’s were retired less than a week after my birth in February 1968. The retirement took place on St. Valentine’s day that year and EAL had a brilliant advertising tagline touting the advent of all jet-powered service: “On Valentine’s day You can Kiss Connie Goodbye.” I do, however, have a Lockheed Electra story. It was July of 1977 and my dad and I were returning to our home in New Jersey from a whale-watching trip in Nova Scotia. At Logan we hoped to catch what I believe was the last La Guardia-bound Shuttle that night. I remember gazing at two aircraft from the concourse windows of Eastern’s exclusive terminal building at that airport. One of them was a newly stripped to bare metal DC-9-31. Beyond it, gloriously lit by airport floodlights, was a white EAL airplane with four turboprop engines incorporating the largest propeller blades I had ever seen. Apparently the load looked heavy that evening so Eastern, true to its perennial Air-Shuttle guaranteed seat policy, had trundled out the old bird (one of several still being used for back-up sections only). I was nine years-old and more than a little excited. The Electra looked so exotic to this child of the “Jet Age” and I wanted that ride so dearly that I could taste it. Alas, it was not to be. We were all accommodated on the ‘Nine and as we pushed back my dream plane sat there, forlornly alone on the ramp. Three months later the airline retired its last Electra’s, thus crushing my hope of ever having such an opportunity again. At age nine you don’t tell your parents you are heading out to the airport and catching every Air-Shuttle flight until you manage a ride on a Lockheed 188.

One day in 1981 I boarded flight 18256, once again from Boston to New York. My logbook confirms it was a Boeing 727, and my strong recollection was that it also was a 727-100, the airplane possibly was an equipment sub for the Shuttle-dedicated 727-200’s on strength at the time. The interior (and the “flight dynamics” that day) seemed to me a bit rough around the edges, generally projecting an aura of the aircraft in question having been perhaps an early, 1964-era, build “Three-Holer”. That said, the flight was on time and the service as good as the Shuttle framework allowed. It is interesting to me that some of those very early 727-100’s were still wearing the distinctive EAL “Falcon” logo while flying late into the 1980’s.

My last Shuttle trip was just before I left home to get an aviation management degree at college. I wanted my father, with whom I had enjoyed many trips in earlier years, to accompany me on one last journey before I “left the nest,” so to speak. Having decided on a day together in Washington D.C., we were on the first LGA-DCA flight that morning. This was during the late summer of 1986 and Eastern was in the process of renovating all of its Shuttle terminals. The recent Texas Air buyout struggle (which would ultimately lead to the ignominious end of EAL) seemed very far away as the smells and sounds of construction filled its section of National Airport when we deplaned that day. I remember that the 727 stretch back to La Guardia said “Air-Shuttle Plus” on the forward fuselage. This was part of a leftover marketing effort to become more competitive with the New York Air shuttle which had attained to a fairly large chunk of the market at Eastern’s expense. New York Air ironically had also belonged to Frank Lorenzo’s short-lived airline empire along with the airline that “earned its wings every day.”

Today if I want to head North to Boston or South to our nation’s capital there is, of course, no Eastern Air-Shuttle to fly. There is little doubt in my mind that American or Delta’s contemporary shuttle operation will get me there with reasonable dispatch and bearable service. But they are still imitators as far as I am concerned. When someone uses the term “Air-Shuttle” I will always only remember the one that was “On Time, On the Hour, and On the Money.”

Note: All photos sourced from Wikipedia.com and WikiCommons

Written by Charlie Dolan

Some very old and established carriers, operating under their original names , and several very small, short-lived charter carriers which had interesting insignia.

Iberia         IB        IBE        1927 – present   (two versions, metal and cloth)

KLM    Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, N.V.
KL     KLM     1919 – present

Lion’s Air  (Switzerland)   1986 – present
Small charter carrier

L O T   Polskie Linie Lotnicze  LOT
LO   LOT   1929  – present

Martinair Holland     MP      MPH    1958 – present
Since 2011 a purely cargo airline, had been a large charter carrier

Martin’s Air Charter  – MAC  1958 – 1966

SUDFLUG    Suddeutsche Fluggesellschaft   1952 – 1968  (to Condor)

TASSA    Trabajeros Aereos del Sahara, S.A.   1961 – 1965 DC-6
Holiday charters

Transavia Holland  HV   TRA    1966 – present

Written by Charlie Dolan

Over the years, my career has been dealing with international travel or shipping. I began on the border with Canada processing passengers and cargo entering the United States from Canada. Overtime assignments at Niagara Falls International Airport (KIAG) widened my horizons dealing with flights arriving from Europe and the Caribbean. I wish I had started my collection back in those days.

Until our twenty-fifth anniversary, my wife and I had limited our vacation travels to the United States, primarily in the northeast, visiting friends and relatives (VFR?). The big “escape” was when, on our honeymoon (and my reporting to my first duty station) we made a trip from Buffalo, NY to Vero Beach, FL to introduce my new bride to my grandmother. On the way to reporting to Fort Gordon, GA, I dropped Karen off at Jacksonville, FL (KJAX) so she could return to Buffalo and finish her last semester at Buffalo State College.

Fast forward twenty-five years and we began our water borne vacations. I had arranged a week in Bermuda shortly after Karen’s mother had passed away, flying both ways, but she indicated that a flying anniversary was not to be sufficient. Her sights were set on a cruise. To be honest, up to that point, my familiarity with ships had been limited to engine rooms, chain lockers and cargo holds. I was not thrilled with the idea of spending a week on board of a seagoing vessel.

Long story short, Karen prevailed and we became avid cruisers. We have fifteen deep-water cruises (one around the world) under our belts, and had just

discovered River Cruises. Last year we travelled from Vienna to Nuremberg on a river cruise and had a wonderful time.

Before the pandemic shut down the world, we had scheduled a cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna followed by a three-day stay in Prague. Naturally, we cancelled, but we still have a deposit on file for whenever the world gets back to “normal”, whatever that may be.

With that in mind, I am featuring insignia from European carriers including those of The Netherlands, Austria and the Czech Republic.

I hope you enjoy them..

Written by Charlie Dolan

I think I goofed with my last submission. It seems that I referenced several carriers, which I had featured in an earlier article. To avoid another such error, I have moved to an entirely different area of our planet.  So, moving north and east, across an ocean, I will display a first article featuring the airlines of Europe.

I hope you enjoy them. Some were early carriers, some were small and short-lived and others have a long and storied history.

Aer Lingus – Irish International Airlines
EI – EIN  1936 – present

Aer Turas 1962 – 2003

Air France
AF – AFR  1933 – present

Air Holland        HD – HLN
1985 – 2004

Air Malta           KM – AMC
1973 – present

Alisarda (Italy) IG – ISS
1966 – 1991

Alitalia               AZ – AZA
1946 – present

Calair (Germany)  charter operator
1970 – 1972

Cargolux   CV – CLK
1970 – present

German Wings  4U – GWI
1997 – 2020

 

Aircraft Safety Cards
Jet Aircraft – Part 2
Eastern

Written by Lester Anderson

Eastern

As I explained in a Propeller Aircraft Safety Card Article, Eastern was my favorite airline. Part of the reason was because when they first opened airline clubs to the general public for a fee, I was an early participant in being a member. That started with a one-year membership paid to upgrade to a 5-year membership and finally to a lifetime membership, all within a 12-month period. Business travel without a membership in an airline club to confirm and change flights (or rebook due to a flight cancellation) can be a nightmare. I paid considerably more (but it was worth it) for memberships in the Delta Crown Room Club and the United Red Carpet Club during my peak business travel years.  I am very grateful my Eastern Ionosphere Club membership evolved into a Continental Presidents Club membership, and now is a United Club membership.

But back to Eastern, the fact that I am in the NY metro area and my personal and business travel was often on the east coast, Eastern was a natural.

My collection probably had more Eastern safety cards, most all removed from aircraft on which I flew.

The Eastern 720 emergency card is a little unusual because it is more a “what to do in case of a water landing” card rather than a general “on land” emergency card. This card most probably came from a “gate visit” at Idlewild (Kennedy) airport.

I flew many an Eastern DC-9, mainly to and from Atlanta. I was one of the people who really enjoyed the 3-2 seating in economy.

 

This 727 card, dated 6/65 is an early version for Eastern. I flew on one about a year after the “Whisperjet” introduction, and I remember the mid-cabin galley. I also remember sitting across from it and being amazed that instead of the little bottles of liquor, there were full size bottles mounted on the cabin wall, with an automatic dispenser of one portion for each drink. That has nothing to do with flying directly, but one of those things that were of interest at the time and that I remember from my youth.

While I enjoyed the memories of these cards (and the many flights on which I flew), it also brought up some mysteries for me. My favorite Eastern aircraft was the L-1011, on which I flew many times. Yet I have no card.  Nor do I have one for the L-1011 on Delta on which I also frequently flew (alas, I flew neither TWA or Pan Am TriStars). I cannot believe I did not take at least one, but they are nowhere to be found. I also think of the many New York Air MD-80 flights I took, and the Delta DC-8 flights that have great memories, but no cards. Maybe there is a black hole that remotely collects cards that are marked “Please Do Not Remove This Card From The Aircraft” – which might explain it all.

Aircraft Safety Cards and Seating Diagrams
Propeller Aircraft – Part 2
Eastern; Continental; United; BOAC

Written by Lester Anderson

Jet Aircraft – Part 1
United; TWA; Mohawk; American

For those of you who have not yet seen the Prop Aircraft articles on safety cards, these images are from cards I collected since the 1960s. Some from aircraft on which I actually flew. Some from being a teenager interested in airplanes and asking a gate agent if I could go on board to look at the airplane. In those days, security was minimal and if you asked nicely, you were usually given permission.

All the images seen in these articles are from a collection donated to the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey. Since both I and the museum have the images, at my suggestion the museum (always in need of money) sold them on eBay and added about $3,500 to its financial resources. I bring this up because as I write this, the Aviation Hall of Fame, and virtually every other museum and cultural organization is suffering from the worst financial disaster in history with the Corona Virus. May I humbly recommend that if you enjoy these articles, please contribute to the charity of your choice.

United

My first airplane flight was from LGA to PHL on a Northeast DC-6B. The return flight was PHL to EWR on a United Caravelle. And just as they say about your first love, the Caravelle has a special place in my heart. (As an item of trivia, although this “seat card” was a mere piece of paper, neither card stock nor laminated, it brought into the museum the highest price of any of the seat cards, $420)

The Early Boeing 720 Emergency cards were also single sheets of paper, neither card stock nor laminated. Note that although a swept wing jet, the over wing window exits still used a rope for egress.

TWA

I am very happy I had in my collection a TWA Convair 880 emergency card. The Aviation Hall of Fame has a former TWA Convair 880 cockpit, galley, and part of the first-class cabin on display and now they have an authentic TWA emergency card as well.

 

 

Mohawk

This BAC One-Eleven I flew on (on a “weekends unlimited excursion”) from Albany to Newark. I am told that the flight crew referred to the BAC-111 as a “roman candle” because although it had engines in the back, the only door exits in the entire aircraft were at the front of the cabin.

American Airlines

I only flew a 720 once, and that was a 45 minute “flightseeing tour” on TWA for a fare of $5 from Idlewild airport. These cards came from a gate visit or possibly from a weekend open house at Newark Airport.

Stay tuned for the next (and last) chapter of these cards—devoted to some of the jets of Eastern Airlines.
Lester Anderson