[wwiiaircraftinstruments]

Hello,

For years I have been collecting WWII aircraft instruments. I have built up quite an impressive historical collection.

Monday the 18th of January I had an 'invasion' of police officers & health care people in my house. The reason was a P-51 panel that was intercepted at customs (since it was sent with surface shipping...)
They entered the house at 08:30 and my girlfriend and I were not allowed to leave the building. at 14:30 they left with my WWII aircraft instruments collection.
They found my collection in the living room and confiscated everything. The reason is the luminous paint on the pointers and face of the instruments contains radium-226 which is apparently radioactive.
They told me that they will place it in concrete and dump it somewhere and that it can't pass the Dutch border anymore.

Now I have to prepare myself for a court case.
Is it legal in your country to have WWII aircraft instruments in your home?
Did you ever hear of a similar case?

I have found a good lawyer and he will request the return of the items.
For obtaining information regarding this matter I have read a lot of articles on the internet. Some are very negative about Radium-226
I called a seller in the Netherlands, the RAF Duxford Museum, Museum Speyer, 2 small aviation museums in the Netherlands, a watches & clocks dealer and a few aviation enthusiasts. Unfortunately I still don't know much more about the subject.
I have checked the law and it is not clear. If you are going to show it to the public as in a museum you need a license, but as a privat person you cannot obtain such a license.
I have bought loads of items from a lot of different countries and never had a problem. I have received most of them by post, declaring 'old used wwII aircraft instruments'
I have brought a complete Ju-87 & a Ju-88 panels from the UK to the Netherlands by plane without any problem at customs.

I feel quite helpless and that this hobby is illegal is quite shocking news for me. I would even prefer to go to prison than lose the collection this way.

An overview of the Items that were taken:

Complete Panels:

Luftwaffe:
Manned fi 103, DFS Olympia Meise, JU-87 D, Ju 88 A-4, Me 109 G-6, Focke Wulf A-8, He-162, He 219.

Allied:
Spitfire mk XIV, Mustang P-51 D
3 blind flying panels RAF early, mid and late war. I also had some very rare RAF instruments such as 2x Spitfire fuel gauge 1x Hurricane fuel gauge.

Instruments:

2 x very big Luftwaffe compass (the one under the Ju-88 panel and in the 'back seat' of the Me-110)
5 x big compass
4 x small compass fl 23334
15 Horizons
10 x Turn & bank
10 Speedometers
15 Altimeters
...etc etc etc
And a lot of very rare gauges, many in mint condition.

15 Japanese instruments.

I had 150-200 instruments!! of which 80% Luftwaffe.

I am working on a list of all the instruments that were taken, I will post it soon.

My first concern is the destruction of this unique historical, technical material. My second concern is that I am completely broke, for years I have spent every euro I had for this fascinating hobby.

Since I have to fight against the Dutch goverment I need a miracle, a good lawyer and all the relevant information I could get, so if you have any official, written information or statements from specialists that could be useful in my case I would be very grateful.

Thanks for your support!

Liad van Praag