How a Texas collector ended up with millions worth of World War II fighter planes

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | September 16, 2015 | Dylan Baddour

[artichokegrower]

Tuesday marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when Royal Air Force pilots took the reins of world history, repelled the prelude to a Nazi invasion and defended the land from which America would lead the D-Day landings four years later.

But few folks likely know that West Texas long hosted one of the world's finest collections of WWII-era warplanes—largely because the small fleet of historical aircraft were never advertised or opened for public viewing.

[Cymbaline]

I thought something looked funny about it. The exhaust pipes are all up top, like on a P-51, not lower down like on the 109s. Plus the BF-109 had the cannon in the nose, which this doesn’t have.

[TexasRepublic]

WW2 birds show up in the most unexpected places. A friend of mine used to hang out at a little airport in Denton, Texas. In 1973 he sneaked me inside a closed hanger and I found my staring at a SpitFire.

[biff]

Mabee’s stuff is all sold off including the ranch with airport.

[Nailbiter]

for later read