[Milsurplus] NEM Sale - The End of an Era!

[B. Smith]

Many thanks for reporting on this event properly. Really nice job.
K4CHE  (ex KN4CHE Lexington, Kentuky)

On 3/9/2024 8:04 PM, Jeff Kruth via Milsurplus wrote:
> I attended the NEM sale on Friday March 8, 2024. It was an 8 hour 
> drive from Morehead Kentucky, where I now live, to Baltimore. Long way 
> to go in 24 hr. stretch, but worth it to participate in the last 
> hurrah! It was held in the old Westinghouse  Storage warehouse where I 
> used to buy stuff from old programs (A-12 anyone?).  I was in on the 
> original creation of the "Westinghouse Museum", back in 1984 time 
> frame (IIRC) and the guy who ran it was Bob Dwight, a really nice 
> fellow. It grew into the Historical Electronics Museum and eventually 
> was moved into a building off Elkridge Landing road that had been the 
> Westinghouse "print shop" (again IIRC, its been a while). ). It 
> morphed into the National Electronics Museum. It was quite popular and 
> grew & grew. I donated a lot of old WWII stuff to HEM, microwave 
> widgets to MTT and military books (Janes) to the library. I had 
> friends, like Don Davis and John Roberts (all gone now) who, at my 
> suggestion, donated stuff as well. When I moved to KY in 2005, my 
> participation ended.
> I have not seen the new place, but it is sort of out-of-the-way a bit, 
> up in Hunt Valley, North of Baltimore, not near the Airport and I-95.
> The fact that Northrop-Grumman pulled their support in favor of other 
> more "PC" approaches to "STEM" really kiboshed the place. There is all 
> sorts of stories that "they needed the space", "the money dried up", 
> etc. The truth may never be known. But it is a total shame: It really 
> was a National treasure: It housed the NEM collection, a great 
> library, fun to browse, the MTT Microwave Historical Collection 
> (Something I helped Dr. Steve Stitzer with, a really great guy and 
> prime mover in the historical stuff), and the Association of Old Crows 
> (of which I am a life member) historical collection (which is now 
> largely gone). This was a world class museum, and those of you who 
> didnt get to see it really missed out. A lot was owed to folks like 
> Dwight and Stitzer who often worked long hours to see we had some look 
> at the history of the technology of the modern age. Its a damn shame 
> modern folks care SO LITTLE about the history, as when it is gone, its 
> gone. A lot of the stuff sold will be in a few private collections, at 
> hamfests and on eBay. I saw a lot of resellers there, knew a few of 
> them from over the years.
> There was an AWACS HV supply, a complete F-4 APQ-120 radar test bench 
> with the radar(!), a big chaff dispenser, an X-ray machine (early W?), 
> a large S-Band 100 kW (or more) GE Klystron, several E-O targeting 
> pods, a complete Long version of a Raytheon  ALQ-184 ECM pod (rebuilt  
> West. ALQ-119 pod, boy, I wanted that bad, probably going to the scrap 
> yard 1500 pounds of tech), almost a complete ALQ-153 Tail Warning 
> Radar (I worked on that program!), and stuff from deceased engineers 
> from all over!
> I saw my first ever Mk II No 19 High Power add-on amp for the Mk II 
> Xcvr, oh, so many things. Its a shame. I asked some of the museum guys 
> how they felt and the universal response was "Sad".
> BTW, it  the SCR-270 was *not* the radar from Pearl but another one, 
> it was recovered from a scrap model found at a University Ionosphere 
> Research Station in Canada. They rebuilt it from basically nothing(!) 
> into a beautiful display piece. Also from Canada,I found them a 
> complete Navy destroyer radar in crate from a museum up there, owner 
> called me and asked if I could remove the (still) crated units from 
> their parking lot (they needed space), I passed it to Mike Simon, who 
> was the most recent director at NEM.  He was super happy to have it 
> and, assembled and restored, it was a prize display for them, they had 
> no Naval unit like it.
> They used to have a HUGE X-band lensed radar mount outside, as well a 
> Giant Wurzburg. One of their best pieces was an SCR-584, completely 
> restored and working. It was used for a NOVA program "Echoes of War" 
> and filmed at Logan tracking A/C on final approach for the WBGH 
> program. A guy I knew from Westinghouse days, Heru Wombsley, a fellow 
> ham and neighbor of mine in Ferndale MD, right around the corner from 
> Westinghouse (and the airport), was instrumental in rebuilding it. He 
> operated it at Logan (guy with the mane of white hair!). I am told 
> they have no space for it at the new location, and its going to the 
> old Glenn L. Martin facility at middle river, where it can be housed 
> and displayed inside a hanger they are putting together as a 
> historical museum!
> For me, who loves technical history, particularly ECM from WWII, it 
> was sad as well, the end of anera. The internet is mostly forever, and 
> so maybe some of this info will survive (Hi Heru!) Hope I didnt bore 
> you too much!  Jeff Kruth
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Milsurplus mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/milsurplus
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html