Replies

ANTIQUES ROADSHOW: WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIRBASE

"Hmm! What do we have here???"

"Uh... A genuine Me-262 "Swallow." My mom died and dad was in the war and, well, you know, we were kinda digging aorund in the basement when Billy turned it over..." *sniff*

"Fascinating! Can you tell me anything else? You say your father was in the war? How'd he get it back to the States?"

"*ah-hm!* Well, dad was in the Combat Engineers and he was interested in airplane stuff. He sez he found it in a bunker near a stretch of highway somewhere in Germany. Some town... Dunkeldorf... Winkelworf... Gugenheim... Something like that. Anyways, he and some buddies took it apart and shipped it back in K-ration boxes marked 'spoiled' to some warerhouse in town. He and a few friends came home after the war and... well.. spent weekends for about 20 years-- off 'n' on-- puttin' it back together. We weren't allowed downstairs for a long time. Mom just took beers downstairs on Saturdays and muttered 'That man o' mine!' Ha!"

"Yes! Your father was quite a man to disassemble and reassemble such a craft unnoticed!"

"Heh! Daddy was always very clever!"

"Yes... well.. You are essentially correct. What you have here is a fully-functional relic of Hitler's Third Reich. An Me-262 "Swallow," as you said. What makes this a real find are the live munitions that your father lovingly restored to the bomb racks and ammuntion bays of this jet fighter..."

"Oh, my!"

"Yes! And the flight suit and instruction manuals for operating and servicing this old warbird are still in the cockpit, waiting for some valiant superman of Hitler's Thousand Year Reich to take the controls and...!"

"You say such nice things! Daddy would be so proud!"

"*Ah-hmm! Well! I get ahead of myself. I didn't mean to wax poetic! *Ah-hm!* Well! I mean, it's not everyday you get a chance to look over a piece of air history like this, in this conditon, unmolested and gathering dust in a veteran's basement for 20 years!"

"He-hee!"

"Do you have any idea of its worth?"

*Shrug* "Tee-hee! No! No, not really!"

*Sigh* "Well, my dear, I'm afraid I have some disappointing news for you. Authorities in Germany have found BUNKERS! FULL! of Me-262 Swallows."

"Oh dear..."

"Yes, I'm afraid the arms market is currently glutted with more "Swallows" than the market can buy. In fact, there are more surplus Me-262's than surplus De Loreans."

*sniff!* "Oh."

"But don't lose hope, dear. Dealers like myself expect many graspy, new owners to crack up many of these in accidents, or just sell them off to states in Central Asia and Africa to shake the stigma of owning' Nazi stuff.' It may take 10 years for a rebound in the Me-262 market, but your bird should be worth $100,000 by then."

"That's wonderful Thank you!"

"Yes! And thank YOU very much for bringing it by!"

*BLING!* Surplus Operational Nazi Me-262 'Swallow' $20-$100,000