Hauptmann

As always Rick... absolutely amazing! You are da man! Congrats on discovering the history behind this one. Dan

Tragic that the crew lost their lives. Very glad they found it though so their remains could be returned to their families and given a proper burial. And nice that they've put up a memorial there as well. Dan

Again many thanks my friend! I'll be sooooo happy to be driving again as it's been several months... in fact before I left for my Florida trip. But I got the special car I was wanting (not the Marlene... that's still a goal for later). And this one I'm going to customize... at least that's the plan. Will talk about that in my lounge entry. And still going to get Kim's fixed... hopefully in a few more weeks at most. Her's is far too special and unique to not be on the road again. Gotta fly for now. Everyone have a great one and we'll see you tonight! Dan

Hi Christophe, Many thanks for that my friend. Guess we'll wait and see. Right now I've just finished job #1, getting ready to head off on my bike to job #2, then back to finish up anything that comes in on job #1 in my absence and then I'm off on job #3 tonight so hoping I'll be back on by then. Will keep my fingers crossed. Good news is... I've finally got a new car (well used but new for me/us). I'll pop over more info in the lounge when I get home tonight. Catch ya'll in a bit! Dan

Hi all, Big oops! Looks like I was just a tad late... fooling with the pics took time. I also didn't say what made them special... figured that was covered under them being dogs that went into space. Sorry bout that. Dan

Hi all, Okay, my second answer to a question so far: Korabl-Sputnik 2, popularly known as Sputnik-5, was finally launched at 0844:06 UT. There is a certain controversy as to the launch time. Sergei Voevodin gives the launch time as 0838:24 UT on Friday 19 August 1960 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Vostok rocket into 297 x 324 kilometre orbit at 65.0 degrees inclination. It carried two dogs, Strelka and Belka, and other biological specimens including plants, rats and mice. On 20 August 1960 at approximately 1020 UT the retro-rocket fired 8000 km from the landing point. At approximately 1050 UT the ejector mechanism operated as a test for the Vostok ejector seat, and the container carrying Strelka and Belka continued descent under a parachute. The experiment container with the dogs landed at approximately 1102 UT - the spacecraft touched down nearby at about the same time. A card accompanied Sputnik 5, which carried the dogs Belka and Strelka into space in August 1960 on the Soviet Union's first successful capsule recovery mission. In case the capsule landed outside the recovery zone, the card and related instructions directed anyone finding it to contact local officials immediately. The finder was also asked not to open the capsule but to set it upright, and to leave it exactly where it had landed. (The image below can be found at the Space Race feature of the web site of the National Air & Space Museum, which is herewith acknowledged. The NASM web site also contains an acknowledgement: "Courtesy of Emmet, Toni, and Tessa Stephenson", the owners of this historical document) At a dinner during the summit between US president John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, Khrushchev sat next to the president's wife Jaqueline Kennedy. He bragged about the flight of Soviet space dogs and told Mrs Kennedy about the puppies of the space dog Strelka. Out of lack of dinner topics and more as joke, she said to Khrushchev "couldn't you send me one?". She did not think more about it until two months later when Soviet ambassador Menshikov, during a visit to the White House, delivered one of the puppies to an astounded Mrs Kennedy. Info from: http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/sputnik5/sputnik5.html Bonus: Dogs were the preferred animal for the experiments because scientists felt that dogs were better suited to endure long periods of inactivity. As part of their training, they were confined in small boxes for 15-20 days at a time. Stray dogs, rather than animals accustomed to living in a house, were chosen because the scientists felt they would be able to tolerate the riguours and extreme stresses of space flight better than other dogs. Female dogs were used because of their temperament and because the suit for the dogs in order to collect urine and faeces was equipped with a special device, designed to work only with females.[1][2] Their training included standing still for long periods of time, wearing space suits, being placed in simulators that acted like a rocket during launch, riding in centrifuges that simulated the high acceleration of a rocket launch and being kept in progressively smaller cages to prepare them for the confines of the space capsules. Dogs that flew in orbit were fed a nutritious jelly-like protein. This was highly fibrous, and assisted the dogs to excrete during large amounts of vegetating time. More than 60% of dogs to enter space were reportedly suffering from constipation and gall bladder stones on arrival back to base. Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belka_and_Strelka If I win I'd like to pass the privilege of the next question to Charles (Hunyadi) who I believe wanted to ask one in relation to one of the other questions. Dan

Hi all, Just received this in an email from my friend and fellow member John Ross and wanted to pass it along: http://www.americanheritage.com/travel/art...nia-tanks.shtml He would have posted it but I know he's up to his ears at work right now. Dan

Great pieces so far. Hope we can keep this thread going as it's very interesting. Dan

Hi all, Here's another contribution... got them from Andreas while I was on vacation in Florida (photos used with his permission):

Hi Charles, Many thanks my friend. At first when they were frozen up I figured if I couldn't fix them I'd resell on Ebay and I knew I could get more than I'd paid. But didn't realize at the time these were one of the ones that went quite so high. Seems they're running around $250 to $350 range. But now that I've got them working methinks they're the perfect addition to the collection and it kills off yet another long time goal I've had. Plus they're great binocs! Can't beat that for the price I paid. And I'm sure I'll be able to find the proper case for them down the road. Sure am glad I got up early to go hit the sales. Was an exhausting day but well worth it. Dan

And last but not least the case that came with them: I just knew at the time that these were not original to these binoculars even though the dealer insisted they were. The mountings where the case strap would attach screamed 60's-70's period like on Poloroid camera cases to me. The Binocs also did not completely fit into the case. And the maker info on the case is SWIFT and on the bottom is Made In Japan. Don't get me wrong... it's a very nice heavy duty case in pretty decent condition... but not original to these binoculars. When I got home I checked out listings on Ebay and found an exact match to these for over $300 and I'm wondering if this is correct and if these are indeed worth anywhere in that neighborhood? Not that I'm intro'd in selling them but am just curious how well I did... as I got them for the grand sum of $15! He'd listed them for $18, I'd offered $12 due to the missing piece and the frozen focus knobs... he said $15 and I couldn't pass them up. Here's what I found: Ebay Number 270168334668 I tried to copy the URL but it kept messing up and wouldn't connect to it... many apologies! Any opinions, info, etc., would be deeply appreciated! Dan

Hi all, Our city had a "Junk Fest" today. Part of it was a flea market held down at the county fairgrounds which is a few blocks down our street. Anyhow we went out and checked things out from early in the morning till about 11 a.m. One of the first items we found (actually Kim spotted it for me! ) was a book called "Their War" "German Combat Photographs From The Archives Of Signal" by Will Fowler and Mike Rose... for all of $5! Then at the same dealers section I spotted a pair of binoculars sticking out of a brown leather case. Well, I took a chance and pulled them out and they turned out to be United States Navy binoculars. Funny enough I've always wanted a pair of these since my cruise on the U.S.S. Lexington and having to use a pair as part of my duties on board. Anyhow... it's missing one part of the eyepiece as you'll see in the photos and both eyepieces are missing their rubber eye cups. Other than that they look great and after getting them home and carefully getting the focus knobs to loosen up (frozen solid (not tempt wise!) when I bought them today) they now function perfectly and have a nice clear view! On this one the full inscription is: BU. AERO. U.S. NAVY MARK 21 F.S.S.C. 88-B-320

Dan

Hi Paul, Here's mine:

Hi David, Many thanks! And yes, I'll definitely let you know if I ever decide to sell, but doubt I will as it goes well with my other Olympic goodies including my 1936 torch holder: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=230&...older&st=60 http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7292&hl=olympic Sadly, I don't have a 1957 Luftschutz. But will continue to keep my eyes open. Dan

Hi David, You actually beat me out on this one and the Luftschutz. Oh well... there'll be more. Very nice pieces! Here's my Olympic 1st for comparison: Great pieces and definitely ones you don't see very often. Dan

Dan

Hi all, Here's my contribution... only one I have so far.

Hi all, Well, the auction ended and it went much higher than I'd expected. I'd written the seller a couple of days before the auction ended and told him the bar was likely a put together and that the Labor medal was a fake. I was very nice about it and explained the why's and wherefores in case he wanted to add the info to the auction. Surprise surprise, he didn't do so and I have not heard back from him. At least I tried. I feel bad for the buyer though. It had 8 bids and went for... $109.48!!!! Here's the link for anyone intro'd: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...DME:X:AAQ:US:11 Dan

Hi Andreas, Many thanks for your reply. Quite understand on the vacation situation as when I was off in Florida for a couple of months I was in basically the same boat. Much as I hated to, I had to leave my red and green bibles behind. On this one the star does indeed seem to touch the rim of the medal from what I can see... just. But what you say about the letters... especially the B... the point of the star seems to be point at the back of the B in the pics in the red bible but it seems to be pointing almost to the front of the B on this one. So considering all things... the Labor is definitely a copy. And as a put together it's really only worth whatever the other three medals would run separately and possibly a little more for the Labor as a copy. Still hoping to hear more opinions on these as again, not ever having seen one of the real numbered examples I'd love to learn all I can about them. I'd actually not heard about the letters in relation to the star before. Many thanks on that. Will stay in a holding pattern for now. Thanks!!!! Dan

Again any and all opinions would be deeply appreciated. Many thanks!!!! Dan