Aerial Match 1939

[Stef]

I like this reel for two reasons, on the one hand there is the history and on the other hand it is just beautiful. That is why I ordered one of Chris Lythes' Spitfires some time ago and I hope I will receive it soon! I saw one of the originals one year ago and I think it was the one Mark is referring to. I met the seller at a vintage tackle fair and had the opportunity to take a closer look at it. I really fell in love with it and I am even more excited since then

[FromFife]

Here's a pic of a left and right hand version. You do also get a further version with no lineguard, but I have only ever seen one I thought was genuine and it was not for sale. The one's I have been offered had clearly had the lugs cut off for fitting the lineguard and the paint over the top did not match.

[The VFC]

Well, after many years, I finally managed to get one that I liked at a price I was happy with. Now you must understand that I'm usually a hard-bitten dealer who has seen many wonderful reels come and go, and often I can't quite see what the fuss is about a particular Hardy Perfect or whatnot (other than their rarity of course!) but I must doff my hat to the Allcocks team who turned out the Aerial Match - it is a simply stunning piece of engineering that's as good today as it was in 1939. You know when you spin a good centrepin it seems so smooth and emits the barest whisper? Multiply that by 10 and make it almost silent (just the sound of the air rushing over the tensioners).... I think I'm in love...... but can I resist having just one little fish with it (I know it would be just perfect on my Paul Cook Avocet - the danger is I'd never let it go!).

They say its the pinnacle of pins - and I can only agree with them. Anyway - must go: can't type and spin reel at the same time....

ATB
Jim

[Mark]

Well done Jim.

[Paul F]

Well, after many years, I finally managed to get one that I liked at a price I was happy with. Now you must understand that I'm usually a hard-bitten dealer who has seen many wonderful reels come and go, and often I can't quite see what the fuss is about a particular Hardy Perfect or whatnot (other than their rarity of course!) but I must doff my hat to the Allcocks team who turned out the Aerial Match - it is a simply stunning piece of engineering that's as good today as it was in 1939. You know when you spin a good centrepin it seems so smooth and emits the barest whisper? Multiply that by 10 and make it almost silent (just the sound of the air rushing over the tensioners).... I think I'm in love...... but can I resist having just one little fish with it (I know it would be just perfect on my Paul Cook Avocet - the danger is I'd never let it go!).

They say its the pinnacle of pins - and I can only agree with them. Anyway - must go: can't type and spin reel at the same time....

ATB
Jim

Any photo's please Jim for me to (of the said reel)

[Lea Dweller]

I agree with Macko, having seen and handled a number of aerial matches over the last 20 years the only thing that sets this model apart from other aerials seems to be that the factory producing them was bombed, thereby reducing the number that would otherwise have been produced! Having said that, collecting is all about rarity, so by definition people will pay "silly money" for an item that others would deem "run of the mill " I rest my case!

[The VFC]

For many years I would have agreed with you LD - especially after I'd seen (and handled) a couple myself over the year that weren't at their best: but then this one came along and I'm forced to re-evaluate. The history (and to a lesser extent the rarity) is part of it - but then that's why I got into vintage tackle in the first place - but there are plenty of older and rarer aerials: the combination of its engineering and its history truly does set it apart for me ("run of the mill" I don't think!). Its about the only reel EVER that I've thought "I may have to keep that" (though this has happened with a few rods over the years!). Still each to their own I suppose.
ATB
Jim

[Vole]

I've seen and handled one, briefly, and Jim of the VFC is, if anything, understating the case. It is very light, and the drum, where lightness really matters, has so little inertia that you wonder (a) where the motor is hidden and (b) is it made of helium aerogel?

Perhaps, like Speedias, they were a bit "batchy" and this one was a proper "good'un"? I got no sense of "ordinary" from it; more like the buzz I got when asked to wrap up an Etruscan urn, 2,500 years old and achingly elegant. Normally I'm immune to this sort of thing, and I dislike "pillared" reels, but this felt a very special reel.

The only downside would be the "Curse of the Merlin"; that outward-turned flange bearing spoke-heads whose mission in life is to feast upon monofilament. If they'd turned it inwards, I think it would have been the greatest spokes'n'pillars 'pin ever; of course, this only concerns those like me who don't get out enough to get off the steep bit of the learning curve and who usually spend the morning remembering how to fish, and the afternoon fishing - if there's enough line left. (Or one has cunningly packed a spare reel).

[The VFC]

Well, after many years, I finally managed to get one that I liked at a price I was happy with. Now you must understand that I'm usually a hard-bitten dealer who has seen many wonderful reels come and go, and often I can't quite see what the fuss is about a particular Hardy Perfect or whatnot (other than their rarity of course!) but I must doff my hat to the Allcocks team who turned out the Aerial Match - it is a simply stunning piece of engineering that's as good today as it was in 1939. You know when you spin a good centrepin it seems so smooth and emits the barest whisper? Multiply that by 10 and make it almost silent (just the sound of the air rushing over the tensioners).... I think I'm in love...... but can I resist having just one little fish with it (I know it would be just perfect on my Paul Cook Avocet - the danger is I'd never let it go!).

They say its the pinnacle of pins - and I can only agree with them. Anyway - must go: can't type and spin reel at the same time....

ATB
Jim

Any photo's please Jim for me to (of the said reel)

Go on then - but no drooling on the drum: I've just cleaned it!

39 Match Main.jpg

39 Match 1.jpg

39 Match 3.jpg

[Paul F]

Well, after many years, I finally managed to get one that I liked at a price I was happy with. Now you must understand that I'm usually a hard-bitten dealer who has seen many wonderful reels come and go, and often I can't quite see what the fuss is about a particular Hardy Perfect or whatnot (other than their rarity of course!) but I must doff my hat to the Allcocks team who turned out the Aerial Match - it is a simply stunning piece of engineering that's as good today as it was in 1939. You know when you spin a good centrepin it seems so smooth and emits the barest whisper? Multiply that by 10 and make it almost silent (just the sound of the air rushing over the tensioners).... I think I'm in love...... but can I resist having just one little fish with it (I know it would be just perfect on my Paul Cook Avocet - the danger is I'd never let it go!).

They say its the pinnacle of pins - and I can only agree with them. Anyway - must go: can't type and spin reel at the same time....

ATB
Jim

Any photo's please Jim for me to (of the said reel)

Mmm I like that a lot and it RHW which were less common than LHW

Go on then - but no drooling on the drum: I've just cleaned it!

39 Match Main.jpg

39 Match 1.jpg

39 Match 3.jpg