Autographed Aviation Memorabilia Collecting Turned Into a Business

Floyd Walker is a man with a love of aviation and aviation collectibles. In the 1980's he turned his passion for the autographed memorabilia into a profession that took him all around the United States. Walker began to sell models of early and mid-century planes, but found the operation to be time consuming and lacked lucrative backing.

In 1985 his business changed course, Walker was introduced to a WWII test pilot and stunt pilot Robert Hoover. Walker purchased several aviation collectibles, including shirts, hats and posters and Hoover produced the autographs. Together they sold out of items on the first day of their first three day show.

From there, Walker began to travel the country, from aviation show to aviation show, in contact with famous pilots and selling memorabilia. For over 20 years Walker and his wife Mary made a living from selling autographed aviation collectibles with the business title of Dixie Aviation Collectibles.

In July 2007, the Walkers were forced to retire the traveling portion of their business. Floyd had been experiencing health issues and needed a quadruple bypass surgery. Currently, the Walkers have their business online. With the growth of his company, Floyd's personal collection has also grown to over 2,500 aviation collectibles.

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Helpful collection websites

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Autograph Hell Featured at Two October Events

Above: Charles G. Irion, Cindy Zimmerman, Chef Eddie October will be an exciting month and will consist of two events for Irion Books LLC. and Autograph Hell - The Truth About Collecting! The first event is part of the Lunch and Learn series and will take place on October 13th at Eddie's House in Scottsdale. The Lunch and Learn series will be hosted by Cindy Zimmerman, the founder of Writing in Style. The series focuses on written communication and the power it holds. Charles G. Irion will be speaking about his book Autograph Hell. Eddie's House is located at 7042 E. Indian School Rd. in Scottsdale, Ariz. and will take place from 12pm - 2pm. To make a reservation please click here. The second event is part of the Dine and Discuss series at Café ZuZu on October 20th at 6:30pm. The Dine and Discuss series is also hosted by Cindy Zimmerman. Irion is a special guest and will be speaking along side Zimmerman with attendees on the realities behind autograph collecting: "i...

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