posted 01-06-2014 08:50 PM
It's incredible what people throw away. I answered an online ad from a guy who was selling a flag and patch flown on STS-41B. The display is an AIAA presentation to Dr. Robert Jones and if you're not familiar with his work, he's a god in the aeronautics world.
So this guy tells me that he found the AIAA presentation after a garage sale was over, the person holding the garage sale told him to take whatever he wanted cause it was all headed for the dump. Luckily he grabbed everything he could and took it home.
I then find out that besides this AIAA display with the two flown items, he also has a few of Dr. Jones' awards presented to him. These awards are all original and authentic presentations on parchment that include:
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- 1973 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1973 Member, National Academy of Engineering
- 1979 Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- 1981 Langley Gold Medal, Smithsonian Institution
- 1986 USN Award Engineering Fluid Dynamics
- 1990 NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering from the National Academy of Sciences
Then I find out this guy has a one of 12.5' x 3.5' original lithos of Dr. Jones' famous rotating wing aircraft that was used at Dr. Jones' funeral. Obviously this collection had to come from a family member who passed away or moved and didn't care about this stuff.
So now the cake topper is that this guy also has the original 1940's and 50's balsa wood model of the famous scissor wing aircraft that Dr. Jones designed and I bought it all.
Absolutely incredible that someone would almost throw this stuff in the garbage and lose all this history of a man who was so revolutionary in his design and math ideas and a true pioneer of aeronautical genius.
posted 01-06-2014 08:50 PM
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