[ATM] [Fwd: Re: Question about an old military surplus telescope]

[Daniel Fundo]

Actually, Jaegers' sold a half bazillion of them too!  

I recall reading about government overproduction and waste following
WWII and Korea.  I forget the numbers, but there were tens of thousands
of those elbow telescopes made, and only 5-10% of them ever got used by
the military.  (It may have been in an S&T article back in the early
60's.)

IIRC, there were several thousand Norden Bomb Sights in storage at some
base that were still classified as "Top Secret" in the 80's.  They were
finally destroyed around 1991. It was reported in the papers years after
the fact!!! .

There was a good book written in the 60's called  "The Kidner Report", I
think.  It detailed how the government and businesses promoted the
military-industrial complex in the Eisenhower era, by classifying things
like a hammer as a "manually operated, friction fastner insertion
device".  

*****-----
Dan F.
Memphis, TN