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Dear colleagues:

In the mid-1980s the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Museum, located in Reston, VA (now called the National Model Aviation Museum and located in Muncie, IN) accepted model airplanes on loan from Susan Henn, the daughter of William Ostenberg. Two of these models are missing from our collection. We have been searching for these models for several years with no luck. The museum staff at the time were untrained and had a habit of loaning models from the collection to other groups and museums without documentation. Most likely, if they loaned these to another museum, it would have been on the East Coast, probably near Reston, VA during the years 1987 and 1995. We are hoping that these two models are out there somewhere and would appreciate if you could check your collections to see.

Here's the info:
Model Airplane #1: Bell P-39, static scale, roughly 24" wingspan, (roughly 1/20 scale). The model has moveable control surfaces connected to the cockpit controls (so when the rudder pedal was moved the rudder moves accordingly). We believe it also had an electric motor that turned the propeller, and the landing gear could possibly be retracted with small thumb wheels underneath the wing. The model has a balsa or basswood frame and the covering looks to be metal. The model might have been built from a Cleveland kit/plans.

Model Airplane #2: Boeing P-12C, static scale, roughly 24" wingspan (roughly 1/15 scale). The model has moveable control surfaces connected to the cockpit controls (so when the rudder pedal was moved the rudder moves accordingly). This model might have also had an electric motor to drive the propeller. This model has a balsa or basswood frame with probably a dark-colored doped silk covering. The model might have been built from a Cleveland kit/plans.

Any documentation or correspondence with the AMA Museum would have been with Hurst Bowers, John Worth, Geoff Styles or Mike Fulmer

If anyone has any information concerning these models, please let me know at my work email: [log in to unmask]

Thank you! All help is much appreciated.

Maria VanVreede
Collections Manager
National Model Aviation Museum
Academy of Model Aeronautics
[log in to unmask]
(765) 287-1256, ext 508