It was in that context that he was making those comments. I wonder what the astronauts’ opinion was when it was announced in 1972 that the same company (now Rockwell of course) got the contract for the Shuttle Orbiter?

What a lot of people often don’t realse is that NA were actually building two very different kinds of Command Modules in the mid 1960s, called Block 1 and Block 2 respectively. The Block 1 design dated back to 1959/60 when the successor to Mercury was being formulated. It did not have any EVA or docking capabilities as these requirements were not envisaged at that time. Once JFK announced that America was going to the moon and Apollo was going to be the vehicle to get there, NA had to totally redesign the Command Module to allow docking and EVA. To save time, they cointinued with the original concept – the plan being that the early Apollo flights, which would not carry a Lunar Module, could go ahead more quickly if the earlier spaceship was used. Apollo 1 would have used a Block 1 Command Module.

After the fire, the whole idea of using Block 1 spacecraft was dropped and no Block1 ever carried men into space.

Which is a Mercury capsule, of course.

Good guess by me then 🙂

I’ve always been a fan of the Gemini programme. It kind of gets forgotten because it came between Mercury and Apollo and yet they carried out some dramatic and important tasks during those flights. The photos and film taken on the Gemini missions are some of the most spectacular manned spaceflight images ever.

Is it full size or a boiler plate I wonder? I’ve seen photos of a black and white dummy Gemini capsule being towed aloft behind a DC-3 and I’m pretty sure it had a fixed wheeled undercarriage.

The big question is, how did this device end up in the UK?

Although I didn’t see the programme, I had heard about this particular element of the show. Methinks they were trying to be a mite controversial.

It is true that about 25 years ago, Airfix did sanitise a lot of their box art. Partly this was to do with being a bit more careful about what they were depicting but there was also a general tightening up of what could be displayed from an “accuracy of depiction of contents” point of view. By 1981/82, Airfix and most other kit manufacturers had got rid of their box art completely and were showing less than inspirational photos of made up models on the box lids.

The good news is that for the past ten years, Airfix have gradually reintroduced a lot of the original artwork and commissioned a lot of new stuff as well. You might be pleased to know that their current boxing of the 1/72 scale Lancaster shows the same picture that adorned the Lanc box back in the 60s i.e. the plane coming in over the black and white chequered hut at the end of the runway with one of its engines streaming flames and smoke. Very dramatic.

So, May was sort-of correct but really out of date.

The one genuine PC element of modern kit selling is the lack of Swastikas shown on Luftwaffe kit boxes or included in the enclose decal sheets. Did they mention that?

There’s an Italian fighter in the background in the Arado picture. Definitely the Mediterranean area.

The Fantrainer certainly displayed at the 1986 show.