Rich, the way I understand it is, astro clubs and groups volunteered to take part. Individuals joined the clubs. I don't think the government handed-out the scopes, I believe the various groups had to procure them, themselves. That may explain the large number of variants that existed. Mine, from the early to mid sixties, carries a price tag of $29.99, which was not pocket change in those days. The build quality is good. All metal components, cast metal base, nice optics. On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 10:16 AM, Richard Tenney via Utah-Astronomy < utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
If an amateur was "enlisted", does this mean such a scope was given to them by the federal government, or enlisted as in "buy this little scope and help us defeat the Russkys!"? If the latter, how much did it cost for an interested party to help out? I'm also curious about the quality of the optics/workmanship (hard to tell from the photo). Regardless, thanks for sharing this bit of historical trivia Chuck! /R.