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Airplane fragment in patriotic box

Airplane fragment in patriotic box

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Description
Description: Penny Elgas built a patriotic box to preserve this piece of American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Context: Driving on a highway adjacent to the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, Penny Elgas stopped as she saw a passenger jet descend, clip a light pole near her, and then crash into the Pentagon. Arriving home, Elgas found this plane fragment in the back seat of her car (she theorizes that it dropped through the open sunroof). Feeling that it was her patriotic duty to preserve the fragment as a relic, she crafted a special box and lined it with red, white, and blue material.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
Box
Date made
2001
maker
Elgas, G. Penny
associated
United States: Virginia, Pentagon
Measurements
overall: 25 in x 18 in x 6 in; 63.5 cm x 45.72 cm x 15.24 cm
ID Number
2003.0058.01
accession number
2003.0058
catalog number
2003.0058.01
Credit Line
Gift of Penny Elgas
subject
September 11 Terrorist Attacks
September 11th Attacks
Attack on the Pentagon
See more items in
Political and Military History: Armed Forces History, 9/11
September 11
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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