WW2 military surplus collector Jerome Oxman set up a store in 1961, but he had began collecting in 1950

in 1964 he purchased 8 surplus B-29 engines and propellers for $400.

he purchased a Norden bombsight, a gyroscopically controlled telescope and computer, for $9.80 in 1950

he had an actual B-17 bomber cockpit he bought in 1963 for $100 from an archeological team that discovered it buried for decades in the sands of the Sahara Desert.

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2011-jun-06-la-me-military-museum-20110606-story.html