Judge Rules an eBay sale of a WWII Plane is a sale

GooeyGUI

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Aug 1, 2005
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There will be no more weasling out of eBay sales after a judge today ruled against a man who has been refusing to hand over a $250,000 vintage plane he sold on the online auction site.

In a case that reached the NSW Supreme Court, Peter Smythe sued Vin Thomas after he changed his mind on the sale of a 1946 World War II Wirraway plane after the eBay auction had ended.

The plane is understood to be one of five in the world still flying.

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It looks like the judge made this plane deal pretty plain for the pretty plane.

:thumbsup:

About the WW II Wirraway Plane



 

MrPickins

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May 24, 2003
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Smythe, an Adelaide war-plane enthusiast, was the only person to bid on the item, matching the $150,000 reserve price just seconds before the auction ended in August last year.

But Thomas, a radilologist from Albury, had already agreed to sell the plane to someone else for $100,000 more than Smythe's offer. Smythe took him to court hoping a judge would force Thomas to follow through with the sale.

Sounds like he should have put the reserve at $250k.

Too bad for the seller...
 

ElFenix

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The Wirraway (Aboriginal for 'Challenge' or "Challenger") was the first product of the new, privately owned Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC), and was a licence-built derivative of the North American NA-16 (known variously as the 'Texan' or 'Harvard')
i was about to say that it looks an awful lot like an AT-6
 

nakedfrog

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Apr 3, 2001
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So is the winning bidder going to keep it, or turn it over for an easy $100k profit? :p
 

GooeyGUI

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Originally posted by: nakedfrog
So is the winning bidder going to keep it, or turn it over for an easy $100k profit? :p

Trainer, Fighter, Dive Bomber; and not very good

Popondetta, Papua, 1942-12-12. Two RAAF Wirraway aircraft stand on the grass shortly after landing close together at Popondetta airstrip. Before Wirraway A2-103 (left) had come to a complete stop, its pilot, Pilot Officer (PO) J. S. Archer, had leapt from the aircraft and run across to the Control Tent where he had found the Control Officer talking to NX34655 Captain Alan Oliver Watson, Dental Officer with the 2/4th Field Ambulance. Puffing hard, PO Archer exclaimed excitedly, 'Sir, sir, I think I've shot down a Zero!' To this the Control Officer replied, 'Don't be silly, Archer, Wirraways can't shoot down Zeros.' 'Well, sir,' continued Archer, 'I went in to look at the wreck off Gona and I saw this thing in front of me and it had red spots on it, so I gave it a burst and it appeared to fall into the sea.' Within a few minutes, a dozen telephone calls from observers all around the Gona area confirmed Archer's story. While on a tactical reconnaissance mission over the Japanese ship wrecked in the sea off Gona, Archer and his observer, Sergeant J.F. Coulston, had sighted the Zero 1,000 feet below. After diving on the Japanese aircraft, they had fired a long burst into it with the Wirraway's two Vickers .303 machine guns, causing the Zero to crash into the sea. Archer was later awarded the DFC for his exploit. (Donor A. Watson) (Note: Archer's Wirraway is housed in the AWM.

Sounds like he better sell it and make the profit. :light: