ARMSTRONG NEIL: (1930-2012) American Astronaut, Commander of Apollo XI (1969). The first man to walk on the moon. A ...

ARMSTRONG NEIL: (1930-2012) American Astronaut, Commander of Apollo XI (1969). The first man to walk on the moon. A rare, early A.L.S., Neil, two pages, slim 4to, n.p. (Cleveland, Ohio), n.d. ('Monday'; 7th March 1955), to Carl Bleschmidt. Armstrong enquires as to how his friend is in the Far East, asking 'Have you managed to completely de-structure the structures lab as yet', and continues to send news of his own activities, 'My time is split between flying and general rocket engineer. The flying is fine - we have an F8H, F2H, F82E, F82B, R4D, C47 & C82 with possibilities of a few other planes coming. In my first week I've made trips to Wash. D.C., Norfolk, VA, Chincoteague & Detroit, Mich. The missile work is both Aerodynamic & Structural or multi-stage test missiles. We fly them out over the Atlantic & launch them from the F82B & F2H.' Armstrong concludes by referring to his correspondent's wedding photographs and explains that he will be happy to forward them once he has confirmation of the correct address. Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by Armstrong to Bleschmidt at the Structural Test Laboratory of the Martin Aircraft Co. in Baltimore and also signed ('N. A. Armstrong') by Armstrong in the return address to the upper left corner. Some very light, extremely minor age wear and a few creases, otherwise VG At the time of the present letter Armstrong was working as a research test pilot with the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland from where he made his first test flight on 1st March 1955, just a week before writing to his friend. Armstrong's spell at Cleveland only lasted a couple of months before he was able to secure a position at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, beginning on 11th July 1955.