I bought this rare Douglas Aircraft Company commemorative plate today at an antique shop in Long Beach today. I almost missed out on buying it. I was reminded today of that old and oh, so true, saying - He who hesitates, loses.
My wife Jeri and I were out antique hunting yesterday when my wife spotted this plate and one other, both of them old Douglas Aircraft plates. I should have bought them right away but I thought to myself "No one will buy them and I'll get them next time I come back".
This morning my wife said "We better go get those plates before someone else buys them". I thought about it and said "Okay" but I was still confident that no one else was looking for Douglas plates.
We walked into the shop and I walked back to the section where the plates were hanging . When I turned the corner I was shocked, Yes Shocked, to find a man and woman squatting in front of the plates. The woman was holding one of the plates and she was telling the man some story about Douglas. I could see that they were going to get the plates. I turned around and started to walk away and then it hit me like a epiphany "Screw them" (I actually used another word but that is neither here nor there). I walked over, said "Excuse me" reached between them and grabbed the other plate that was still hanging. They gave me a funny look but I got the plate. They learned the same lesson today that I learned. He (or she) who hesitates.....
All in all, I feel like I really found a small piece of aviation history.
On the backside of the plate:
The First Twenty Years
It's a far cry from the Douglas “Cloudster” of 1920 to the B-19 super-bomber of 1940. It's founders had a vision of wings to come, and what they wrought in twenty drama-packed years has shaped the destiny of aviation and written new chapters in history. The military airplanes built for the United States Army were sent on an epochal globe-circling flight. Douglas airplanes brought new standards of safety, speed and comfort for the traveling public, and today Douglas Transport Airplanes serve 57 differernt countries, and in the United States carry the vast majority of all air passengers, airmail and express.
Designed for
DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INC.
Santa Monica, California
By
VERNON KILNS
U.S.A.
Sold Exclusively By
HENSHEY'S
Santa Monica, Calif.
1 comment:
I guess I am fortunate that I just discovered this very same plate in my Father's belongings. I've had it stored away for over 15 years! He worked at Douglas Aircraft for his entire career assembling airplanes, in other words, over 40 years. I also have his Douglas buttons to celebrate the milestones along the way.
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