[Tonino]

Hi friends,
excuse me if I start a separate thread for this little thing that is only a single detail in the Shuttle flight deck I’m building, but this little box is the reason for I choose to represent STS134 mission and not another one. Perhaps this thread should have been posted in another section but, after all, there is actually a build in it (you’ll see… later) so I eventually decided to put it here, please, admins, tell me if this should be moved elsewhere…
Let’s start with some background story…

Not all of you may know that here in Italy we have many towns and cities who has still distinct medieval features in their urban structure. If you walk in streets of the old towns you can easily forget you live in the 21st century and feel like an ancient knight. San Marino is one of those cities (images #1 and #2).

Many events are organized every year to recall those ancient times and crossbows shooting competitions are among them (image #3).

In Middle Ages, crossbowmen was the elite army force. Their crossbows was the most powerful weapon available in that era and the arrows they shot could penetrate an iron armor at more than 400 metres.

In 1600’ the “Statuti” – the ancient San Marino laws – established that every year , on September 3rd , the San Marino day, when Republic foundation is celebrated, all the crossbowmen should compete in a great shooting competition where they could prove themselves and show to the people (and the enemies) what they could do with their weapons. This was done for centuries until crossbows became obsolete and the traditional competition lost its original function.

This remained until 1956 when a group of enthusiast rediscovered the art of building crossbows with the same techniques used by their ancestors and the “Federazione Balestrieri Sammarinesi” was born.

Till now every 3rd of September, like in ancient times, crossbowmen from San Marino compete with the shooters from other cities who preserved the ancient craftsmanship inherited from old “maestri d’arma” (the crossbow master builders) to gain the coveted title of “Re della balestra” (crossbow king) for the current year. The crossbowmen come from the 5 cities members of Italian Crossbow Federation: San Marino, Gubbio, Sansepolcro, Massa Marittima and Lucca.

The most exciting phase is the shoot at the “Corniolo” a special kind of target composed of a circular plate and a cone whose base is the actual target to aim to (image #4). It’s a very little target to hit at a distance of 35 meters (115 feet).

The contest winner has the honour to wear, during the year he owns the title, the golden collar who entitles him as “Re della balestra” (image#5 and #6). The one who will win the title for 3 consecutive years will keep the collar definitely. This was never happened (and it’s unlikely to do) but the only one who succeeded to win the title for two years was a San Marino shooter, Bruno Giacomoni, in 1973 and 1974.

But what this all has to do with me and the Shuttle?

My involvement is simple to explain… I was member of San Marino Crossbow federation (last images) as a drum player for several years, (many years ago…sigh!) this is the reason for all this crossbow talking till here. But what about the Shuttle?

(more to come...)