For decades, aviation art and aircraft archeology were two separate fields with little to no overlap. Framed and matted artwork adorned walls. Excavated airplane parts sat in unceremonious piles - or remained to be found in remote forests. The latter held little value unless they could be used in a restoration, and more often than not such was not the case. Pictures hung and parts languished.
During the early 2000s, Ron Cole was an aviation artist as a side hobby. Professionally, he was an industrial designer. In those days, like other artists, he endeavored to have his prints autographed by famous pilots and Aces. But as that greatest generation began to fade away, the question arose: What now? How shall aviation artists breath real history into otherwise newly created work?
"I knew that aviation archeology had been a popular hobby in Europe since the end of World War II," Ron explains. "Pieces of airplanes were all over that part of the world in boxes and buckets in people's garages and barns. Many retained serial numbers and markings, the sorts of things that could be traced back to surviving records. Buckets of metal that had so much to tell."
Ron Cole's obsession with aviation history originated as a child. "Dad and I shared the same interests," he says. "Thank God. I remember meeting Adolf Galland, Pappy Boyington and Saburo Sakai. I read all of their biographies and all of the books. By the time I was in high school I founded a quarterly magazine devoted to historic aircraft preservation and history. Robert Mikesh [then Curator of the National Air and Space Museum] and [Japanese pilot 'Ace'] Saburo Sakai were Charter members."
All of Ron's passions and talents came together to create Cole's Aircraft in 2006, and by 2009 his business was marketing its first 'relic displays' - Ron's creative answer to this biography's original question. Authentic aircraft pieces, fully researched, combined with Ron's original artwork of that aircraft, framed in wall hanging displays.
"I feel that I [give] voice to voiceless material, and I show it rather than just tell it," Ron says. "There is a piece of real history on your wall. You can touch it with your fingers. There is how it looked in action. There is the history of its life. People who don't even know about it, or typically follow the subject, will marvel at it, and it'll be a conversation piece forever. 'Is that a piece of the Hindenburg?' they'll ask incredulously, 'Why, yes. Yes it is!' Nothing that I've ever done in my life or career has approached the pride that I have thanks to being able to do this."
Please enjoy our offerings. They often sell out quickly:
$160.00
Special limited edition 'Allied & Axis' World War II aircraft relic display with authentic aluminum parts from a combat loss USAAF P-51 Mustang and a combat loss German Luftwaffe Me...
$200.00
Own, display, and preserve an authentic aluminum skin section from one of the most famous and important participants in the D-Day invasion of France. Ron Cole has combined his original...
$220.00
Boeing B-17F ‘Memphis Belle’ Limited Edition Relic Display This aircraft needs no introduction; probably one of the most famous aircraft of World War II, and certainly the best-known of the...
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Authentic fragment from Messerschmitt Bf 109 E Battle of Britain combat loss combined in a nice ready-to-hang display. . BF 109 E-7 ‘Black 6’ of 2./JG 52 (Werk Nu. 5895)...
$120.00
Here's something very special and unique for the aviation or military history collector: an opportunity to own an authentic piece of the aircraft flown by one of the world's greatest fighter...
$220.00
Why hang just a piece of art when you can display and preserve a piece of history that you can touch? History, as displayed with the artwork: The North American...
$160.00
Own and display an authentic piece of flown titanium from SR-71 Blackbird 'Super Skater' (s/n 61-7970) - paired in this wall-hanging display (9 x 12-inches) with original artwork of this...
$200.00
Own an extremely rare and significant piece of aviation history! Authentic piece of the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 'stealth fighter', combined with Ron Cole's original painting of this aircraft in action,...
$200.00
Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair relic display - combining Ron Cole's latest piece, depicting a VF-17 Corsair in the South Pacific c. mid-1943, and a near-perfectly-well-preserved large piece of upper fuselage...
$100.00
German WW2 Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter authentic aircraft aluminum fragment, paired with original artwork by Ron Cole. . This 8 x 10 inch handsome display includes a beautifully...
$400.00
We, at Cole's Aircraft, have been blessed to acquire one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of authenticated LZ 129 Hindenburg airship relics, including the largest duraluminum girder...
$200.00
Lockheed U-2 TR-1A s/n 80-1078 Relic Display by Ron Cole The U-2 was designed in the early 1950s to penetrate enemy airspace, and fly above the reach of enemy interceptors...
$1,000.00
One of the rarest and most historically important displays ever released by Cole's Aircraft - Original un-doped linen from the Wright 1903 Flyer (also known as Flyer I) that first...
$200.00
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was one of the most important assets in the arsenal of the U.S. Navy during the War in the Pacific, even though it was slow and...
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Extremely rare SR-71A titanium black outer skin fragment from 'Blackbird' s/n 61-7970 'Super Skater' - lost on June 17th, 1970 - paired with Ron Cole's new and original artwork of...
$170.00
Aviation history that you can touch! The Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju 87 was initially designed as a dive bomber, and first flew in 1935. It made its combat debut in 1937,...
$120.00
Authentic fragment from P-51B Mustang European Theater combat loss combined in a nice ready-to-hand display with original artwork of this specific aircraft by Ron Cole. This P-51B (s/n 43-12391)...
$200.00
John F. Kennedy’s VC-137C ‘SAM 26000’ - known by its call sign ‘Air Force One’ - was the first official presidential aircraft in U.S. history, and its now iconic livery...
$200.00
Authentic fragment from P-51D Mustang European Theater combat loss combined in a nice ready-to-hang display. . This P-51D 'Little Doc' was engaged in aerial combat with four Me 262 jet...
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Authentic fragment from P-51D Mustang European Theater combat loss combined in a nice ready-to-hang display. . This P-51D 'Little Doc' was engaged in aerial combat with four Me 262 jet...
$160.00
Bell UH-1B 'Huey' Helicopter Limited Edition Relic Display A unique opportunity to own an authentic piece of this early Vietnam-era Bell UH-1B, paired with Ron Cole's original painting of this...
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Own an original piece of aluminum skin (with original paint) from the most famous Luftwaffe fighter: Messerschmitt 109 G-6 of JG2 (Richthofen), lost in combat over Epinoy, France on August...
$1,100.00
*** The last of the last! These two special 20x16-inch open-framed canvas displays include the last two evenly divided original pieces of aluminum skin from this Japanese B5N2 'Kate'...
$200.00
Own an authenticated piece of A-10 Warthog skin combined with Ron Cole's original artwork of this epic ground attack aircraft. . These large 1x4-inch pieces of green-camouflaged composite aircraft skin...