Parts of the plane in which former US President Theodore Roosevelt’s pilot son Quentin was shot down in July 1918 will be auctioned off on June 29 in this northwest French town, organisers said.
The fragments of cabin were handed down to the descendants of Quentin Roosevelt’s former landlady in Issoudun, central France where the young pilot was based.
They were “without much visual value but very moving,” said Laurent Mirouze of Aiolfi Partners on Friday who have put a £250 ($335) opening price tag on them. Several US museums have shown interest.
Quentin Roosevelt was shot down aged 20 over eastern France on Bastille Day, July 14, 1918.
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91-yr-old U.S. MAN LIFTS 85 KG, BREAKS RECORD
Phoenix: A 91-year-old US weightlifter didn’t just break a world record for the bench press, he powered through it by 52 pounds (23.5 kg).
Sy Perlis set the record by benching 187.2 pounds (85 kg) at the National Bench Push-Pull Press and Dead Lift Championships on Saturday. The Arizona Republic reports that the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters previous record in the 90-and-over age division was 135 pounds (61 kg) and had stood since 2005.
Perlis took up weightlifting when he was 60 but didn’t enter his first championship competition until five years ago. “I got a lot of satisfaction out of it, and it made me feel good, and it was good for me,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of lifters in their middle 80s, late 80s and occasionally we get one 90 and over, but they’ve never inspired people (like Perlis has),” association president Gus Rethwisch said. — AP