183490742902: Bell X-2 flown cover - collectSPACE: Messages

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183490742902: Bell X-2 flown cover

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Topic: 183490742902: Bell X-2 flown cover

dtemple
Member

Posts: 729
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 10-21-2018 05:09 PM

Where is the proof that shows this cover to have been flown aboard the X-2?

It is signed by Everest and has "classified" in the blanks for speed and altitude. There is no addressee. As I recall, there are some Kincheloe signed X-2 covers that were allegedly flown but the cancel date does not match up with a flight.

micropooz
Member

Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 10-22-2018 08:32 AM

If you are looking for some kind of COA signed by Everest, there are none for any of the flown X-2 covers. I corresponded with him back in 2000 regarding these covers. He recalled flying covers in his pressure suit pocket on some of his flights, but did not recall dates, quantities, or any other details.

The cover in question is of similar type and layout as the rest of the X-2 flown covers first reported (as far as I know) in Ellington-Zwisler in 1973. Several collectors sent covers in to Everest for him to fly and there are several well-known collector addresses on a lot of these covers. Unfortunately this one has no address, or Hanson erased the address in order to apply his artwork. And the "Classified" notations on this cover match those of the other Everest flown covers of the period — performance data for the X-2 was classified at that point in time.

The Kincheloe covers you mentioned are a different story. They may have been flown, or may have been sent all together after Kincheloe cleaned out his desk at the end of the X-2 program (see SCOTW 385 for more on that story).

So is there absolute proof that this cover on eBay got flown by Everest on the March 26 fight? No. Is it consistent with the other Everest flown covers that have been documented since 1973? Yes. Wish this could be more definitive, but all we have got is its' consistency with the other generally acknowledged flown covers.

For what it's worth, if I needed this one in my collection, I'd be bidding on it.

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