- 45 minutes ago
A 1947 Aero Flight travel trailer steals the show in this detailed walk-around, and the restoration makes it easy to see why collectors call it one of the rarest vintage campers around. With only about 20 known examples in existence, this 20-foot, 2,500-pound Aero-Lines Falcon blends post-war airplane-inspired design with serious craftsmanship.
Patrick Botticelli tours the exterior and interior, pointing out the rolled aluminum body, buck-riveted construction, slider windows, raised center ceiling for extra headroom, and clever cross-breeze ventilation. Inside, the trailer opens up into a surprisingly spacious layout with a front dinette, center galley kitchen, and rear bedroom, plus mahogany veneer, vintage hardware, storage everywhere, a three-burner cooktop, ice box, and restored period details throughout.
This is a great pick for fans of vintage camper tours, RV history, classic travel trailers, Airstream-style restorations, and retro mobile living. The video also highlights modern updates like upgraded electrical, heating, and safety touches while preserving the original look and feel.
Perfect for anyone searching for vintage camper tour, rare travel trailer, restored 1947 camper, classic RV walkthrough, Aero Flight Falcon, and historic trailer restoration. If you enjoy automotive history, mid-century design, and detailed camper van or trailer content, this rare barn-find-style restoration is a must-see.
Patrick Botticelli tours the exterior and interior, pointing out the rolled aluminum body, buck-riveted construction, slider windows, raised center ceiling for extra headroom, and clever cross-breeze ventilation. Inside, the trailer opens up into a surprisingly spacious layout with a front dinette, center galley kitchen, and rear bedroom, plus mahogany veneer, vintage hardware, storage everywhere, a three-burner cooktop, ice box, and restored period details throughout.
This is a great pick for fans of vintage camper tours, RV history, classic travel trailers, Airstream-style restorations, and retro mobile living. The video also highlights modern updates like upgraded electrical, heating, and safety touches while preserving the original look and feel.
Perfect for anyone searching for vintage camper tour, rare travel trailer, restored 1947 camper, classic RV walkthrough, Aero Flight Falcon, and historic trailer restoration. If you enjoy automotive history, mid-century design, and detailed camper van or trailer content, this rare barn-find-style restoration is a must-see.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome back to the show my name is Patrick with New Jersey's
00:03Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. Today I got a very special episode for you.
00:08Behind me is a 1947 AeroFlight travel trailer. This thing is one of 20 known in
00:15existence and it is top-notch. Wait till you guys see the inside. I'm gonna take
00:20you through a walk around. We'll start on the outside because I think it's just as
00:23cool as the inside. So this trailer is about 2,500 pounds. It's surprising
00:30because it's so well built and so well engineered. It's 20 foot long floor and
00:36it's 8 foot wide so it's a little bit wider than most travel trailers during
00:40that time frame. Now it's similar to an Airstream travel trailer because it has
00:45an aluminum exterior finish but instead of stretched form panels that go around
00:50the front and top it's got this rolled aluminum finish here. And it's all buck
00:57riveted in place but look at some of these really cool design features. It's
01:01got the gutter rail over the window here. It's got all slotted screws. You got this
01:07middle belt line protection here. Add some rigidity to the construction and the
01:13windows are slider windows. So instead of them purchasing a window and zipping it in
01:18place they actually manufactured all these windows. And the design was inspired
01:23by airplanes back then. Think about it right after World War II that's like the
01:29direction and the passion that a lot of people had. Over here you got this textured
01:36finish aluminum. It's got a vent over here. Another vent down over here. It's a
01:41single axle trailer and it looks like it has about 15 inch tires on it. You got
01:47another vent over here. 30 amp shore power. This thing went through a three year
01:53frame off restoration and it's quite spectacular. Over here is a vent for the
01:59battery compartment which is on the inside. You got another slider window here. So
02:04what it does is it slides and recesses into this here and then this one slides and
02:09recesses here so they meet up to here in the middle. If you ever had to service that
02:13window you could undo this panel here and get to it. In the back it's got updated
02:20taillights so it's a little bit brighter. Less chance of getting rear-ended. It's
02:24got these really cool like bullet style taillights here on the bottom and
02:29reflectors just in case you're parked on the side of the road. But one of the
02:33coolest things about it is look at the middle of the trailer. So instead of being
02:38that just a canned ham style trailer it's got this elevated area in the
02:43middle that raises up and has a transition that goes right to the back.
02:49And in that is a glass window and a rubber gasket and it has an eyebrow over on
02:57top. And there's your logo there AeroFlight. F-L-I-T-E. For turn signals look at
03:04this inside the license plate bracket. You've got your left and right turn
03:08signal. You've got a light here and then this just swoops all the way in and this
03:13aluminum goes all the way underneath the whole entire trailer. It's got least ring
03:18suspension. You've got marker lights here on the side with that same exact style.
03:27Another eyebrow over this whole entire side of the trailer right up to the entry
03:32door. And to fill the fresh water tank look at this very simple just lift up
03:37slide this over stick the hose right in that hole there and you could fill up
03:42your fresh water tank and then when you're driving this thing's not gonna fly
03:46around. For jacks it has manual stabilizer jacks really cool vintage style
03:51that are cranked up. It's a leaf spring suspension you got the baby half moon I
03:57think hubcaps here in the middle I think that's what they're called. And then for
04:02speakers outside it's got these drive-in movie theater cast aluminum speakers
04:08that slip slip right into a notch here and then they're plugged right in through
04:13this speaker jack so the inside stereo can play outside. Now this wasn't an
04:19original feature I don't believe back then I think during the restoration they
04:22took took some liberties to add some cool touches to it. It's got a porch light
04:28over here and look at this the arrow flight points right to the entry door
04:34which has that porthole window built right into it. It's got a catch for the
04:39entry door to slide into right here and then it's louvered here for extra
04:44ventilation. You'll see when I show you the screen door in a little bit how you get
04:49some ventilation. But one of the most significant things about this trailer is
04:54their cross breeze ventilation. So it have roof hatches that lift up inside the
04:59trailer and then in these grates here there's little slots that open and
05:04close on the inside with filters in them so you can allow air flow into the front
05:08and natural convection that heat comes right out of the roof of the trailer. In
05:12this box here is a single propane tank it's got a manual hitch jack, modern
05:18seven-way connection, weight distribution hitch, c-channel frame and it looks like
05:23a one and seven eighth inch ball but it might be a two inch and it has a grease
05:28zerk fitting built into it. And then this front window here just so it doesn't
05:34shatter out when you're driving it's curved and this is plexiglass and it took a
05:39lot of engineering in the remodel to get that in there perfectly. All right look at
05:48the entry door handle here isn't that really cool and the whole inside is
05:55mahogany veneer which is very lightweight very durable material but over here you
06:01could remove this piece here this slides up and it gets you access to those
06:05louvered vents here. Right now it's sealed off but that lines right up with the
06:09screen for ventilation. And then the door clips in right here so what I do is I
06:14hold down on the handle and that will clip right in. Let me just get it where
06:21it's supposed to be. Give me a second. There we go. And then the screen door look at
06:31this. Handmade mahogany. There's probably about ten human hours into this screen door but this
06:37slides across to fill up the gap and then it snaps right in here and then you get
06:44inside. Has a linoleum floor throughout and when you come inside it is one of the most open floor
06:55plans of a trailer of this time frame I've ever seen. You get the dine-out in the front, center
07:00galley kitchen, and it's got a bedroom in the back. Now there's no shower, there's no
07:05toilet, there's no bathroom. That's not something that these trailers would have
07:09had back then. Now some people renovate older trails like this and will add a
07:12bathroom. There's plenty of room but they wanted to kind of keep it to the original
07:16style. If you look up top you got that mahogany that curves all the way up and goes all the
07:23way down to the back and then that channel that we saw from the middle is this. So this
07:28is the normal height of the trailer and that box that comes up and that gives you all the
07:33headroom. I'm five feet nine and I got plenty of room up above me but even if the trailer
07:39is this height about six foot I'd still have plenty of room. One cool thing is look at this
07:45dinette table. Now it's not screwed down because it is removable but look at this
07:49all buck riveted aluminum here, aluminum plate here on the bottom. It's got a curved
07:55aluminum base here. Just super super cool but this whole thing goes away and
08:00there's slats that make this into another bed and the material choices they use are
08:06spot-on in this and there's storage all underneath these. So if you lift up this
08:12one here there's storage in here. Plenty of room for all your stuff. It's kind of
08:19like a dinette like in a diner you know the cushions have the plywood on the
08:23bottom the hard base and they sit on a rail. You got more storage back over here
08:27and then this whole front one this whole thing lifts up here and you got more
08:33storage back over there. They added modern speakers you got a magazine rack and
08:38here is that ventilation one of the most significant things about this trailer. I
08:43can actually feel the airflow coming through because we got the roof vents
08:48open here but if I close this off there's no airflow. Now there's plenty if I put a
08:53piece of paper in front of this you see it flicker. You got lights here these
08:58blinds go all the way up and these are reproduction you know newer style. Another
09:04magazine rack on that side and you know this owner of this trailer that invited
09:11me to their property to take a look at all their vintage trailers they love
09:14decorating so look at it even has a vintage style flashlight over here. This
09:21is all aluminum top on the cabinet but look at this hardware I mean look at that
09:25press the little button it releases it and it has all the all your kitchen stuff
09:31you could store in this one. It has even a chain that prevents it from opening all
09:35the way. Up top over here there's another cabinet with additional storage and it's
09:40separated by aluminum just like my 1961 Airstream Bambi trailer and then this
09:49flash latches in. You got a little light up here sliding storage cabinet and there's
09:57even a ledge on top of these blinds that you can store things on here. Alright now
10:02come on in and take a look at this awesome kitchen. This whole piece looks
10:07like one piece of furniture it's got aluminum aluminum trim but this is an
10:13icebox look how big this is for such as I would say a small trailer compared to
10:19other things in the market look how big this is you got all this room in this and
10:24they even remade the slide out bins and buck riveted them to keep your stuff cool I
10:32love that. In here is an integrated sink it's a stainless steel sink and then this
10:39would be for pressurized water or city water and this is a hand pump to pump water
10:45out of the tank and it's got a fire extinguisher over here this is one of
10:51those slider windows I'll open up a different one a little bit look at that
10:55a cool vintage paper towel holder little spice rack here and then this thing
11:01right here is an exhaust fan so that goes up through the cabinet and right out the
11:08roof of the trailer got a light over here and you can just see the design and
11:13the curvature all this aluminum here has been stretched and bent to match the
11:19contour three burner gas cooktop and look at this the knobs here for the burners
11:24are right on the front built right into the whole entire cabinet and you want to
11:28cook things look at this oven oven so you could broil things in here just heat
11:33things up and cook things totally awesome moving to this side this
11:40originally had a heating system that had a stack that went through the ceiling but it
11:47could be very dangerous to operate one of those with carbon monoxide so they
11:52modernized it and put a modern style heating electric heat right in here and
11:58it's the skies in the original case and the original case is restored you got a
12:03deadbolt lock here for the entry door this little spinny thing got a light here
12:09and then look at one of the sliders look how this works so if I was outside and I
12:13tried to open this window it would hit that little catch unlock it now you could
12:19slide the window and it recesses all the way in and he has insect screens that go
12:25into the channel here when you have them open and this is really thick glass on
12:30this thing up over here in the roof locker you got storage more storage over
12:38here and then there's a clock and a lot of these clocks 1947 some of this stuff
12:43was made during the war so they didn't have raw materials so inside of it's like
12:49a soup can you know they used whatever they had because they couldn't
12:52manufacture some of the things but that's been restored and put up there you
12:56got a flower vase for like a vehicle they integrated in here plenty of counter space
13:01over here electrical outlet and a 12 volt socket so you could plug in all the
13:06modern USB adapters and charger devices over here there's storage and inside is
13:13that vintage green and this is stored inside and preserved inside a barn so of
13:20course there's you know rodent deterrence all throughout but no rodent droppings
13:23at all in here look at the closet here so this comes with a full Sunbrella awning
13:29a vintage style awning and the poles actually have their own little storage
13:33compartment here on the back of the door first aid kit in here you can hang your
13:38clothes the box in the bottom there's the wheel well and you got some wire
13:44baskets for organizing things all the electrical system was completely redone
13:49when this thing was restored quite a few years ago and then the privacy if you want
13:55to get changed really quick you pull these across now before we get to the
14:03bedroom I want to show you one of my favorite things look at this that's the
14:09roof hatch that's it it's a spring action and they're very effective there's a lot
14:14of airflow naturally just coming right through this so you open those up when
14:18you're camping and you can be comfortable in the bedroom it's got a
14:22double-sized bed plenty room someone to lay down there's your rear window at the
14:29foot of the bed look at this it's like a bread box and look at the vintage
14:35handwriting here I say vintage but handwriting from way back in the day of
14:40all the different things that you could store in this cabinet or things that were
14:44stored so people knew where things went and that goes all the way to the back
14:48you got another little cabinet right here you fold your pants you could set
14:56your glasses over here next to the bed a little cup for your water you got a
15:02wardrobe storage here lots of storage in this trailer and then on this side USB
15:09electric you got a vent here for the cabinet you have more storage here
15:15more storage here modern battery charger fuses and breakers stereo system
15:22and then I want you to see this
15:26Aeroflight model Falcon 1947 serial number and that's who manufacture AeroLines so
15:34there's different people different places that manufactured these nice vintage
15:39mirror on the back of the door and then battery kill switch here on the bottom
15:45and look at this now people didn't have laptop computers back then but maybe they
15:51wanted to write in their journal this latch comes up and this slips in and you
15:59can write your little notes here right into your journal your diary you even have a
16:03spot to put your pencil or your pen right here in the door and then this latches in
16:14place so it doesn't flop around when you're driving now underneath the bed
16:20there's more look at this a drawer slides way far out nice and lightweight another drawer over here
16:35and then when you lift up the mattress there's an access panel to get to the battery compartment there
16:43so this trailer may be for sale one day and it'll be on Facebook marketplace in New Jersey
16:50I hope you enjoyed the tour I geek out on like vintage trailers you guys know I have a 1961
16:58Airstream Bambi
16:59and I've been around Airstreams for about 25 years now and like something like this just brings you back in
17:06time
17:06the craftsmanship the quality the styling and the design and the durability is quite impressive
17:14so thanks for joining me for the tour today if this is for sale by the time the video comes
17:18out
17:19I'll make sure I put a link in the description and I'll see you on the next tour