The story of an eccentric farmer's amazing collection of aircraft and other mechanical artifacts, and how, ultimately, he was responsible for so much being preserved for succeeding generations.....

Anyone who spends any time at all in the North American war bird community will eventually hear the name "Ernie Simmons. So many of today's restored antique aircraft.......Lysanders, Fairey Swordfish, and especially Yales (known as BT-9's in the U.S.) ...or at least parts of them.....seem to have come from "The Simmons Collection". And not just aircraft. Every second antique car, motorcycle, tractor or steam engine...even military ground vehicles seem to trace their lineage back to here.

Stories of eccentricities and quirks that would make Hollywood proud have grown ever more legendary as the years pass.

So how did these vehicles avoid the cutter's torches, and who was Ernie Simmons?

Read more: The Simmons Collection - Part 1: The Story

It was a dark and stormy night!

August 24, 1968. Ernie Simmons was awakened by a clap of thunder. He looked outside into the intermittent darkness and spotted what he had always known would happen......several thieves were loading his precious motorcycles onto the back of a truck.

His years of suspicions had been vindicated.

"I grab Remington 3 1/2 pump, race in my sleeping underwear to lane, I yell halt and I shoot. I tell fellow on ground to get up and walk and he say he can't....."

Five men and a woman were apprehended, and subsequently, charged. Ernie's two shotgun blasts had wounded three persons, one of them seriously. After a lengthy trial, charges against three of the culprits were dropped. The others were given a two year suspended sentence with probation. Charges pending against Ernie were dropped. In those days it was still legal to defend one's property.

Read more: The Simmons Collection - Part 2: The Attack!