What we do know is that it hung as a decoration behind the speaker\u2019s podium at a party in St. Louis honoring Charles Lindbergh in 1927.\u00a0 The great-uncle of the Bing Autoplan\u2019s donor, Dick Moyer, attended the party.<\/p>\n
Dick\u2019s great-uncle was a vaudeville actor performing under the name Chief Little Elk.\u00a0 Apparently, Chief Little Elk was persuasive enough that he convinced the party organizers to give him the Bing Autoplan.<\/p>\n
The model was in flying condition when Chief Little Elk received it, and for a time afterwards.\u00a0\u00a0 His nephew, Dick\u2019s uncle, remembered chasing the plane as it flew down a street in Quincy, IL.\u00a0 By the time that Dick\u2019s uncle passed it along to Dick it had been disassembled and the covering was gone.\u00a0 The story and its connection to Lindbergh, though, had survived.<\/p>\n In June 2013, Dick had a modeling friend contact Museum Director Michael Smith asking for help in identifying the type of model and its history.\u00a0 Michael had done earlier research into the Bing Autoplan and was able to make identification pretty quickly.\u00a0 Thanks to Dick Moyer\u2019s generosity it is now a part of the museum\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/amablog-modelaircraft-org.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/09\/NMAM2013.36.01assembleddonor-300x225.jpg\")
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