1/32 Berkeley North American AJ-1 Savage Navy Bomber - Twin Gas Engines Plus Jetex Engine 27 Inch Wingspan Flying Aircraft
Wood Model Kit, Box Condition: VG
Very rare, and even more so in this condition. Large, true scale model with no deviations from the original prototype and designed for operation with three engines- two gas and one Jetex. For .045 to .099 gas engines for control line or can be converted to electric power. Highly prefabricated and features carved and hollowed fuselage and nacelles, five metal-hub rubber wheels, full decals, metal engine cowls, clear canopy, shaped leading and trailing edges, all die-cut parts, full size plans and more. The model has not been started. The hardware is still in the factory sealed paper bag, and the parts that were never sealed have been inventoried complete including decals and instructions. Berkeley is a very famous manufacturer of flying model kits from the Golden Age of flying aviation, about 1932-1954. Founded in 1933 by William Effinger, the company was quite progressive in producing quality kits - it was likely the Berkeley 'Buccaneer' was the first gas powered model in kit form. In the later 1930s, Effinger acquired the services of a very talented Henry Struck. Struck went on to design numerous award-winning kits under the Berkeley name. Berkeley weathered the post WWII recession and emerged as a major kit producer in the late 1940 and 1950s. These were great years for Berkeley and they produced some incredible and large kits. The company went bankrupt in about 1960 however. Fox engines (Duke Fox) bought the company and released the kits alongside his own FOX models and engines. This arrangement did not last, and in the early 1960s the Berkeley name disappeared from hobby shop shelves.
This item has been sold.
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