EBay User Claims to be Selling Piece of Vega 31, the Sole F-117 to be Shot Down

Well now. It seems that an Ebay user could either have the ultimate trophy for members of this board or be the ultimate fraudster.

An Ebay user is claiming to have a piece of Vega 31, the F-117 shot down in the xYugoslavia during the late 90s. And, yes, that piece is for sale.

Looks like compressed... clay?

Sammish.... Zaphhhhh! ?

Edit... Zelko?

Wow, you really can buy anything on the internet.

I'd be dubious of this...I also wouldn't want to end up in a bidding war with China either.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Wow, you really can buy anything on the internet.

I'd be dubious of this...I also wouldn't want to end up in a bidding war with China either.

Yuan'a bet. Gotta get while the getting is good!
Still looks like compressed clay though.

originally posted by: Bigburgh

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Wow, you really can buy anything on the internet.

I'd be dubious of this...I also wouldn't want to end up in a bidding war with China either.

Yuan'a bet. Gotta get while the getting is good!

Still looks like compressed clay though.

You made me shoot hot coffee out my nose. I guess that's worth a star...

On a serious note, would China be interested in buying scrap of dubious provenance when, in all likelihood, they've already got pieces of this F-117, as well as RAM of more recent vintage (such as off the stealth Blackhawk that crashed during the Bin Laden raid)?

Was thinking the same.
I enlarged that "clay ".. I didn't see one speck of RAM. But your hypothesis is good on the notion they have a tail section of a Black hawk. RAM included.

Like a lot of things I have seen to be "Sold" on E-Bay, I rather expect this to end up being a piece of paper with a part crudely drawn on by a child haha

This wouldn't be the first time someone sold some kind of aviation tech on ebay.

A while back someone was selling the canopy from an A-12.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Sammish.... Zaphhhhh! ?

You wont see them 2 , they are busy setting up an esnipe account .

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I doubt it to be honest.

It will be old stealth tec from the 90's which is likely old news to china or anyone else.

I get the impression that the stealth coats the US use are considerably diffrent these days.

a reply to: Bigburgh

The skin was honeycomb and several layers of different material. That looks like it's supposed to be the under layers of skin.

No way in hell I'd pay a dollar for it.

a reply to: hutch622

Darn it! How'd you guess?

Seriously though, it's not that valuable beyond it's historic relevance. It's too old, probably no way to verify its authenticity and besides, as Zaph and I did in CA, you can go out into the desert and pick up skin pieces from more recent stealth any time you want...for free.

originally posted by: Sammamishman
...and besides, as Zaph and I did in CA, you can go out into the desert and pick up skin pieces from more recent stealth any time you want...for free.

Shhh.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Looks like the real deal. I'm not sure why this is any sort of news though. There have been numerous pieces available for sale over the years. Hell, the aviation museum in Belgrade used to sell small fragments with a card certifying authenticity. It's a nice piece of history, but very primitive compare to today's technology. Some of the newer planes don't even need "parasitic" RAM glued onto the airframe surface (adding weight and drag); now it can be built right into the skin panels.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

I'd still rather go out into the desert and get more pieces of an F-22 than pay for a piece, although it would be an interesting conversation piece to have on the mantel.

Yeah, my first thought was that it looks like a small piece ripped off of a tar paper shack. It's pretty dinky too, only about 4.5x2.25 cm.

originally posted by: Shadowhawk
a reply to: Zaphod58

Looks like the real deal. I'm not sure why this is any sort of news though. There have been numerous pieces available for sale over the years. Hell, the aviation museum in Belgrade used to sell small fragments with a card certifying authenticity. It's a nice piece of history, but very primitive compare to today's technology. Some of the newer planes don't even need "parasitic" RAM glued onto the airframe surface (adding weight and drag); now it can be built right into the skin panels.

I've got a small section in a bag with a card certifying authenticity, I bought this directly from the Belgrade museum whilst on a business trip, I know it's genuine as they showed me where it was cut from around the cockpit section. I can post some picture if anyone is interested.

a reply to: Black Watcher

Sure, that'll be cool to see.

I found a decent sized piece of metal at the F-22 site that I'm still trying to determine if it was part of the aircraft, and if so where on the aircraft it was from.

Scamram.

a reply to: Sammamishman

All well and good if what you want is a piece of the latest LO aircraft. After all, as you pointed out, the F-22 crash site is easy to visit. Even if you just want a piece of an F-117A there were several crashes in the U.S., and all of the production and preproduction (YF-117A) airframes had pieces removed during routine maintenance and modification. So, there's a lot of material out there. Some people say they don't want to pay for it, but if you can't get to Serbia to visit the crash site and you specifically want a historical artifact from the shoot-down incident then there is little choice.