Many moons ago, I posted a blurry shot (seen above) of the satellite arm perched above the America The Beautiful attraction.
Now I have a much better view of it from January 1964.
Cox Pilot had sent his recollection of this futuristic contraption:
As I recall, there was a satellite that circled around on a big arm on top of the building that housed the Circarama show that included space and satellites. Both the arm and the satellite would turn, and they were a replica of the AT&T telecommunications satellite. It was a big deal in those days because of the TV broadcasts of the Olympics. Later the big ball stopped turning (another detail that was left to fall apart). A little side note: one of our airplanes (the biggest one) broke its lines during a show. It did a half role and zoomed right towards the clock about 20 feet off the ground. At the last minute, it rolled over again and took a right turn and slammed right into the big AT&T sign. We paid, and WED began to re-think our being in the park.
See more vintage America The Beautiful photos on my America The Beautiful web page.
