Greetings From new member Maurice McMurry. The Air Craft of the past have always thoroughly intrigued me. My brother was a skilled modeler. We shared a room. I did not have a mobile hanging over my bed. I had the most of the US Air Force. I am posting today with the hope of getting data on a lost local myth. I attended Robert E. Lee Elementary in Columbia MO. For some crazy reason I was often suspected of mischief. One day in the third grade the Principle entered the bathroom just as I was stepping away from the sink with wet hands. As I made eye contact with him a blob of wet toilet paper (thrown and stuck to the ceiling by another boy) dislodged its self and landed on his bald head. I was marched with ceremony to the dark, stinky, boiler room deep in the bowels of the school. We came into a cavernous room lit only by a desk lamp on the janitors gigantic desk. The janitor did not look up but simply asked, Propeller? and unlocked a drawer. My father had a cabinet shop then and at only 8 I had done enough sanding of wood and sealers, to recognize a highly polished piece of premium hard Ash, and that is what came out of the drawer. I was asked politely to put my hands behind my head and put my elbows on the desk. and was introduced to the "Swat". Falsely accused of various things I made the march to the boiler room at least once a year.
My Jr. High Was Jefferson Junior High Columbia MO. Through no fault of my own I found myself in the Principles office once again. Mr Burton`s office had glass walls and was perched like a guard tower over the main hall of the school. He dealt in Threes and by the third swat I was wondering why he was not in the Majors. He kept His piece of carefully crafted hard, polished, wood hanging in his office. It was a perfect sister to that of my elementary Principles.
I do not know if it is Irony or Coincidence or both, but Over 40 years later I worked in what is now called the Atkins Building. It is a quarter mile from my Junior High and three quarters of a mile from my Elementary.
It is a cool old factory. During the Second World War It was a propeller factory. The Atkins have an old prop that was made there. It is a nicely crafted, Highly polished, piece of hard wood with a very distinctive shape. The first time I saw it I did a double take... and a triple take. I got a lump in my throat and a burning feeling in my rear end.
Has anyone heard of propeller seconds or used propeller being cut in half, having the hub trimmed into a handle, and being favored by school Principles of the past?
Best Regards, Maurice
My Jr. High Was Jefferson Junior High Columbia MO. Through no fault of my own I found myself in the Principles office once again. Mr Burton`s office had glass walls and was perched like a guard tower over the main hall of the school. He dealt in Threes and by the third swat I was wondering why he was not in the Majors. He kept His piece of carefully crafted hard, polished, wood hanging in his office. It was a perfect sister to that of my elementary Principles.
I do not know if it is Irony or Coincidence or both, but Over 40 years later I worked in what is now called the Atkins Building. It is a quarter mile from my Junior High and three quarters of a mile from my Elementary.
It is a cool old factory. During the Second World War It was a propeller factory. The Atkins have an old prop that was made there. It is a nicely crafted, Highly polished, piece of hard wood with a very distinctive shape. The first time I saw it I did a double take... and a triple take. I got a lump in my throat and a burning feeling in my rear end.
Has anyone heard of propeller seconds or used propeller being cut in half, having the hub trimmed into a handle, and being favored by school Principles of the past?
Best Regards, Maurice
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