Twas the night (morning) before Christmas - what do you have planned?

I do love her and will check this out - thanks!

When Neil Armstrong was six years old, his father was transferred to work in Warren, Ohio. His father was an Ohio state auditor and worked in many cities throughout Ohio. One Sunday morning, Neil's dad was driving him to Sunday school. He told Neil that there was a new type of airplane at the Warren Airport. Neil begged to go see the plane instead of going to Sunday school.

Neil's father had taken Neil to the Cleveland air show when he was two years old. Neil was fascinated with planes and dreamed of flying through the air. They went to the airport and the pilot of the Ford Bi-engine plan offered to let them go for a ride in it for 25 cents each. Neil's dad got airsick, but Neil loved his first experience of flying.

A group of people in Warren got together and created a Neil Armstrong memorial at the site of the old airport. They built a replica of the space capsule that landed on the moon. It was built my retired metal workers from a titanium company. The company donated titanium for the memorial.

When it was finished, Neil came to Warren for the dedication. He said that the capsule was so much nicer than the actual one that went to the moon. Neil said that the real capsule was like a tin can compared to the replica. I was part of the committee that worked on getting the replica built. One fun thing that we did was throw bowling balls into the freshly poured concrete to make it look like craters on the moon.

Neil was a bit of a shy person and did not like any fuss or confrontation. Gus Grissom who was on the Apollo was much more aggressive. He only gave someone a bloody nose when the man started saying that the moon flight had been staged and not real. One of the boys I went to school with became Gus Grissom's personal pilot and flew Gus to various air shows around the country.

Neil said that one of the things that they used to say the landing was not real was the fact that the US flag was blowing in the wind and there is no wind on the moon. He said that they spent time arranging the flag to look like it was actually flying before taking that picture. Because of people saying the landing was fake, Neil was reluctant to be in crowds or to be interviewed.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Neil+Armstrong+Home&FOR M=RESTAB

I have heard that about Neil being very humble and reserved. What fun to be part of the replica event though.

I think Gus had passed away before the moon landing in the Apollo 1 fire but he was known for being very defensive about the Liberty Bell 7 sinking; Buzz is the one that has (more than once) punched the moon landing deniers though. I love Buzz.

The museum I volunteered at had the Liberty Bell 7 mercury capsule after it was recovered for an exhibit and I have to say I was so shocked at how small it was...off it's display stand, I swear it wasn't much taller than me. It was also amazing to me to meet so many people that worked in the space program in the 60s that were so important to building the Mercury capsules. My favorite was talking with an older woman who had been part of the team that built the toggle switches for MM back in the day. I wish we still had that same type of "everyone pull together" attitude! Maybe the new moon mission or mission to Mars will bring it back.

We were warned not to say anything that might made Neil uncomfortable during his visit and never to use the word hoax around him. You are right that it was Buzz Aldren and not Gus Grissom that I was remembering. There was another astronaut from Warren, Ohio, Ronald Parise. Ronald has passed away now too. He said that while growing up, he often played at the site of the old Warren airport and felt there was something about that site that made him want to fly.

I lived across the from Gus Grissom's nephew 8 years ago. He had a cat named Gus who is ours now the ginger tabby I post about. We call him Bubba-gus or Bubs for short.

oh wow, that's great! I do love an orange cat...but an astronaut adjacent orange cat is the best cat:-)

That is so much fun. Have a great holiday.