This could be the most mind-blowing thing that we have ever seen listed on Craigslist. Matt Cramer of DIYAutotune.com tipped us off to this 10′ long, remote control, steel, battle ship with functioning weapons that was built in 1937 by a man who police later suspect killed himself with one of the miniature weapons he had come to be known for.
The ship is a tiny (with respect to the real one) recreation of the USS California and it was on the bleeding edge of recreational remote control technology. Even by today’s standards, the amount of functionality it has is incredible. The craft weighs 360lbs and as you would expect, it can be controlled to drive around whatever water you’d like to stick it in (apparently the builder used to use it in his pool and then put it in a local pond when he really wanted to open it up). The guns are the thing that we’re kind of fixated on and you’ll understand why when we tell you that there are 12 of them that fire .38 caliber ammunition and four of them that fire .22 caliber ammunition. That’s what leads us to the weirdest part of the story…the man who built the ship.
His name was Howard Bixby and clearly he was an incredible talent who may have had a screw or two loose. The control unit for the boat is not shown below but when you hit the link to the CL ad you will see it. The whole thing is vacuum tubes and other ancient stuff but it all worked. This ship had to have completely blown anyone who saw it in 1937 right out of their socks. Like black magic, it was being controlled by invisible forces that no one could see.
The ship comes with plans and all kinds of documentation to prove that it is legit and that it is the same one that caused a mini-sensation in the media back when it was new.
Bixby stood 4’8″ tall and was a direct descendant of the people who founded Long Beach, California. His family were pioneers that came and helped to settle the area. By the time he died, likely by a suicide, he was 68 years old and as the newspaper below describes, he had created a “fleet” of ships like the one you see below. Where are the rest of them? They have to be around, right? Somewhere?
Check out the ship, click the ad, and then read the news paper story that documents Bixby’s death. This is wild!
SCROLL TO CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND THE TRAGIC NEWS STORY
CLICK HERE FOR THE CL AD FEATURING THIS INCREDIBLE SHIP
(Click news story to enlarge) –
You couldn’t make that up!
Did he kill himself in the bath I wonder whilst re-enacting naval battles of the past?
As he was so short did he find out that there were no more Stits min-biplanes being built?
Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll go back to my 1/10th replica minuteman missile silo with working nuclear warheads and start WW3/10ths!
Tommy Chong has been busy these days.