Dad left civil service (which was very low pay in those days) to work for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). in Indianapolis, Indiana. WE moved annually? U understand it is because each time our one year lease was up, the house was put up for sale.
Our addresses were : Oct 41 – 925 E 36th Street, Apr 42 714 E 50th Street, Oct 43 633 E 47th Street, Aug 44 5942 Carrolton Avenue. Different school for each address.
Pearl Harbor happened. The next day our teacher brought in her personal radio and we listened to Roosevelt’s Day of Infamy speech.
When the war started, dad worked on military projects. One was a facsimile machine that was for sending written orders down the ranks. As far as I know, nothing fame of it.
We lived in Indianapolis for the war years. We were there exactly when the Indianapolis 500 auto race was not run.
I developed an interest in chemistry and created a fine lab in the basement. One experiment was a hydrogen generator. I enjoyed blowing hydrogen filled soap bubbles and lighting them..I lit one while it was still connected to the generator, and the whole thing blew up. Not serious, but startling and a good lesson in safety. I also learned that iodine crystals soaked in ammonia makes nitrogen tri-iodide. It is unstable when wet, and when dried, very unstable. Anything – a little breeze, will set it off with a nice popping sound, or a big bang if you have enough. I later made it in high school and spirea it, while still wet, on the school stairwell. As people went up and down the steps, it would make popping sounds. One day in college I had a small wet batch in my jacket pocket. The instructor said he was going to give a lecture, so I reached in my pocket for a pen and the batch went off with a loud band. The instructor was just starting to write on the board, and made a big swish line from being startled. He turned around and glared at us, but I kept an innocent look on my face. If he had examined my hand he would have found it purple from iodine!
I also acquired some calcium carbide. When mixed with water it emits acetylene, a flammable gas. It used to be used in some lamps. I would put a small piece under a tin can in the back yard, and put some water on the carbide. Then when the gas was coming out of the hole in that I punched in the top of the can, I would light it. It would make a nice little flame, until enough air got in the can from the bottom. Then it would explode, and fling the can way up. Great fun for middle school kids . . .
TV was an experimental thing in those years, being developed by RCA. An across the street neighbor was a single woman working for RCA and she had the first television set I ewer saw. It had a 10″ display that you viewed in a mirror. I watched a boxing match – my first TV show.
With the annual moving, I had little in the way of friends, and developed the ability to spend hours alone working on projects of one type or another. I did not learn to play sprots.
No Picture
October 1941 – April 1942 – 925 E 36 street
April 1942 – October 1943 – 714 E 50th Street
October 1943 – August 1944 – 622 E 47th Street
August 1944 – May 1946 – 5942 Carrolton Avenue