(01-18-2025, 11:17 AM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Check in the cranefly. He might need some of that. I’ve been promising to drop of my mom’s transport chair for a few months now and haven’t done it yet.
I have some of that and would love to pass it on if needed!
Walker
Collapsible cane
I3 electric scooter (like a rascal) and hoist to load it into/out of a car
Commode (never used)
Bed handle thing
Grabber
If there's anything else I come across, I'll add it to the list.
--tg
Speaking of purging, my mom had these green embroidered table cloths that she told me were ceremonial Navy. When my folks went to UCONN, they were in the outing club and bought a lot of their equipment via military surplus. Also, she told me separately that some of the students on campus found and empty attic space in one of the buildings and turned it into a clubhouse. I'm not sure which of these two is the origin story for the aquisition of the table cloths, but she's had them that long and they've probably never been used. I had been dialoguing with someone from the museum at Moffett Field to see if they wanted them as a donation, but the email thread went dead months ago. I decided to ping them one last time and this time they said they wanted them, so I packed them up and drove over there this afternoon.
hanger 1's re-skinning project is nearly complete. The museum was hopping. Apparently they were staying open late (until 5pm, instead of 3pm) because they have a special anniversary Battle of the Bulge exhibit that has been extended.
I met Jeff, the guy in charge, and gave him the tablecloths and retold their dubious provenance. Some other staff got excited and started to speculate on what they were, the age, and which branch (Marines?).
I suggested they get this book my friend published about his grandfathers experience as an ops person in WW2 and they seemed excited about that, too. I noticed in the gift shop they had some other books for sale that at one time or another were part of a "meet the author" day.
I also asked if they had any info about the giant analog flight simulator. KB might remember in Boy Scouts we got a tour of the base (I think we were working on the space exploration merit badge and one of the dads worked at Ames) and saw the flight simulator - a cockpit box up in gimbals. But this was before CG simulators. The cockpit had TV screens for windows and the images were coming from a camera feed. We got to see that, too. It was a giant diorama, like a train set, but vertical and about 2 stories high. The camera would sweep over the landscape and the pilots could practice take off and landings.
I recall the tour guide telling us that sometimes they like to play a joke on the pilots and out an alligator on the runway...
They didn't have any info on that sim. It's long gone. I think so read somewhere that it was cut into sections and they ended up in various places, including the Smithsonian (More likely the Air & Soace museum)
Any way, fun day out and I'm really happy when I find a home for some of this stuff where it can be appreciated.
--tg
