Einar Enevoldson Signed F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire Shuttle Test Flight Cover, 1978

A NASA commemorative flight cover marking a Shuttle-related F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire test flight flown out of the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards A.F.B., California. The cachet features a blue-printed F-8 Crusader in flight above the program title, with typed mission detail below: Practice Shuttle Approaches, Flight 119-82-40, Crew — Einar Enevoldson. Franked on a 13c Liberty Tree postal stationery envelope and postmarked Edwards, CA — APR 10, 1978, with a matching Space Shuttle slogan cancel.

The cover is signed twice by test pilot Einar Enevoldson — once in block lettering across the front and again in flowing script at lower right. The F-8 DFBW program was NASA's proving ground for the digital flight control systems later flown on the Space Shuttle, making these approach-practice flights a direct technical ancestor of the orbiter's landing profile. Enevoldson, a longtime NASA research pilot, flew a range of experimental aircraft at Dryden and is a fitting name on a piece tied to Shuttle development. A Certificate of Authenticity from Mesilla Valley Estate Sales accompanies this lot.

CONDITION

Very Good. Clean cachet and crisp postmark with bold dual signatures in black ink. Light handling and a small pencil notation at upper left; envelope unsealed with no writing to the plain verso.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
• Postmark: Edwards, CA — April 10, 1978
• Postage: 13c Liberty Tree postal stationery
• Flight: 119-82-40
• Signed twice by Einar Enevoldson
• Certificate of Authenticity: Mesilla Valley Estate Sales