NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 7 - Vintage Launch Controllers

Reunion attendee Jeff Jenkins (NAR 46879) brought along a very nice collection of vintage model rocket launch controllers for display.  Most of them were from Centuri Engineering, and also included the original instruction sheets that came with them.

One launch control system in the display that really caught my eye was this Estes Multi-Pad.  The unit is a 12-pad launch system with a built in PA amplifier and microphone.
(Somehow, the wine glasses parked next to the controller add a little more sophistication to the display!)

This one brought back lots of memories for me, for it was this very model of controller used extensively by Skywatchers/ROMAR in Colorado Springs for conducting all of its demonstration launches throughout the 70s and early 80s!

I haven't touched one of these since 1983, but it seems like only yesterday!

When I got home from the reunion, I searched through my old photo files to see if I could find a picture that had our old club Multi-Pad unit in it.

I found one, but it's not too clear....

Yep, this is me in my old 'hippie' days, acting as RCO at a shopping mall demo in 1982.  The Multi-Pad can be seen on the table just behind my freshly wrecked (sob) Centuri Little Joe II.