Norton sales rocket parts

Though what is shown in the pictures may seem like a lot, its only a fraction of Norton's original hoard distributed across several large warehouses in the LA area.

The Aerospace aspect of their business is inconsequential as its primary focus is hydraulics and support to the local movie industry - but they still DO sell a lot of rocketry hardware under the radar off line even at perceived elevated pricing.

It's quite the place and the folks are great. Fun to browse for sure. I won't go into details but I left with a very nice piece for a Saturn V launch vehicle.

Well worth a stop. In addition to including a tour of Norton's, the show addresses reverse-engineering of Apollo technology by MSFC staff to support Project Constellation.

I'm quite sure that the valve being examined in Huntsville is an example of the same item as I am fortunate to have acquired several years ago. In one corner of the warehouse was a twin of the Apollo command module engine that brought Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong back from the surface of the moon nearly 40 years ago.

Nearby was the second-stage motor for a Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever used in the U. Jonathan Goff, a year-old rocket engineer, climbed atop a mound of titanium spheres once used to store highly explosive liquid oxygen rocket fuel and scanned the area for used rocket parts. For almost five decades, Norton Sales Inc. Through most of its history, the space junkyard has served as part museum and part fantasy camp for wealthy collectors willing to plunk down thousands of dollars for a piece of an Apollo rocket.

Some of its best customers have also been car customizers looking for cheap, spaceflight-grade hydraulic valves. That J-2 engine for the Saturn V?

The new generation of rocketeers is less interested in these big-ticket items than in the smaller pieces of scrap and surplus that they can use to build prototypes, often for a dime on the dollar of what it would cost to buy new parts.

They come in looking for hydraulic pumps that they adapt to make cars jump up and down like rearing stallions. A frayed wooden gate leads to the rear of the warehouse, a dimly lighted storehouse as cold as a meat locker. Shelf upon shelf of parts reach high into the air.

Triumph Expand menu Collapse menu. BSA Expand menu Collapse menu. Transmission Wheel. Norton Expand menu Collapse menu. More Expand menu Collapse menu. BSA Triples where produced from BSA "unit singles" where produced from while Triumph "unit singles" where produced from Old Part Number.

I wonder what Taking Inventory is like for a surplus shop. I would love to spend a few days digging around in this warehouse A side door leads to the back yard of the shop, where bigger items are stored. Things like Turbopumps for rocket engines. Just lying around. And another. These things were all over the place! Some stuff here is from the Mercury Program, some Gemini, some Apollo. A lot also comes from various missile programs.

Carlos pointed out several pieces shown above are from the older, liquid-fueled ICBM's that were replaced by faster-to-deploy and more reliable solid-fuel boosters. A canopy. Not sure from what. Pipes and conduits from rocket engines. Could these be Saturn parts? And another engine.

This one was in a shipping case at one point, but was opened up and exposed to the elements, the cover is that big round thing lying behind it, holding many gallons of rain water I don't think the Dessicant pack that protected the engine from moisture is going to help at this point In addition to a lot or really cool junk.