Test Flying Memorial Auction

Some of the items coming up for auction in aid of the Test Flying Memorial Project.

Following on from Aeroplane's successful series of postal auctions last year in aid of the Test Flying Memorial Project (TFMP), this year we are auctioning items on the internet. Aviation prints, books and other memorabilia have been donated for us to sell, and more items are sought — if you can help, contact the Editor.

Items currently on offer:
Click on a description to access auction web page...

An unframed limited-edition print of a paiting by Paul Lengelle, depicting Wilbur Wright piloting a Wright Flyer Model A at Camp d’Auvours/Les Hunaudières in November 1908. No 488/500, signed in pencil by the artist. The original painting was commissioned for Aviation Week magazine's art collection to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the event in 1983. Size 700mm x 570mm. Donated for auction by Mike Stroud.

A framed and glazed print of a painting of Vickers Vimy replica NX71MY, from an original oil painting by Pat Owen commissioned by Rolls-Royce Ltd. The accompanying “Shell Spirit of Brooklands Vimy — Farnborough 1994” label bears original signatures by Peter McMillan and Lang Kidby, the pilots who flew the aircraft from England to Australia in 1995. A handwritten label on the back of the frame’s backing-board reads, “Pat Owen 94, 12/12” indicating that it is a limited edition. The overall size including alloy frame is 585mm x 537mm. Donated for auction by Mike Stroud.

"The Speed Saga", a book by Henry Matthews and Peter Davison about the record-setting Fairey F.D.2 jet and its successor the BAC.221. This copy is signed by F.D.2 test pilot Peter Twiss, F.D.2 designer Harold Colliver, F.D.2 engineer Norman Parker, and John Fairey, the son of company founder Sir Richard Fairey. Only ten copies of the book were signed; the occasion was an F.D.2 50th anniversary lecture event at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on June 27, 2006. The book is a 176-page softback, 275mm x 190mm. Donated for auction by the authors.

A copy of "The Aeroplane, Past, Present and Future", a book by Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper, published in London by T. Werner Laurie in 1911. 320 pages, 93 illustrations, “Colonial Edition”, bound in red cloth, 235mm x 150mm. Inked name “B. Wales” on flyleaf. Donated for auction by Brian Wales.

A set of 25 solid sterling-silver commemorative ingots marking “The Milestones of Manned Flight”. Each ingot measures 1in  x 2in x 1/8in (50mm x 24mm x 3mm) and weighs one Troy ounce; and all carry Assay Office hallmarks. The ingot set was produced in 1976 by The Birmingham Mint Collection and housed in a velvet-lined mahogany presentation case measuring 350mm x 270mm x 65mm deep. Donated for auction in aid of the Test Flying Memorial Project by Mike Stroud in memory of the late Alec Lumsden, a former 118 Sqn Spitfire pilot (who flew Mk IIA P8088/NK-K, depicted on the Spitfire ingot in this set) and who was an Aeroplane magazine author for many years.