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Old 09-20-2020, 12:03 PM
rocket.aero rocket.aero is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 173
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Initiator001
G.Harry flew back east to the National Archives in order to research the location of the MPC equipment and did plenty of old-fashion shoe-leather investigating.

Eventually, the MPC plastic molds were found in a climate controlled warehouse in either Wisconsin or Michigan, I forget which. The molds were in good shape and would only need some polishing to be usable again.


These documents are still contained in the G. Harry archives at the NASM Udvar-Hazy center in Virginia. They are a fascinating read, as you can see the enthusiasm that MPC has in building a new product line, and they want Harry advising on the market and future products. Harry, needless to say, is all in on this opportunity. The correspondence begins to sour as MPC realizes that the model rocket market is not producing the returns expected. MPC stops responding to Harry's correspondence, and eventually the line is discontinued.

The story picks up again as Myke Bergenske, the person running the product line at MPC, secures the rights, molds, and motor-making machines and resurrects the line as AVI (the acronym decoding escapes me at this time). Harry was again brought on as an adviser.

Everything was moved to a ricketry building (a large farm shed?) in Wisconsin, I believe. The AVI experience reflected in Harry's files is much the same as MPC; big plans, but the market fails to respond. It has been several years since I read through the documents and the details are a bit hazy, but those are the broad strokes.

The Stine archives at NASM are fascinating, BTW. I've spent 10-15 days there over the years, and have barely scratched the surface.

James
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