Aero Shuttle History

From: Suzann SWELKER@delphi.com
Date: Thu, 04 Jul 1996 21:31:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Aero,short history

To all you die hard Aero fans,

The original Aero was made by Abel Morrell of Redditch, England. It had been preceded by an aluminum Aero without the bobbins. By 1972 the aluminum model had been discontinued. The earliest picture of our Aero I have found is in Bessie M. Attenborough's "The Craft of Tatting" (out of print now). Sometime in the late 80s the production of the Aero had moved to the U.S. and was being sold by Bernat. The shuttle still had Aero and England on it. A year or so later the Aero was getting harder and harder to obtain. Suppliers had waiting lists of those who wanted to order an Aero. Then in 1992 in the Ring of Tatters newsletter I read that the Aero had been discontinued. Grief fills the tatting world. Members had been writing to the Ring asking about their favorite shuttle. The Ring had written to Abel Morrell and had gotten no response. It was suggested that all interested parties should also write to Morrell. Around this time another shuttle called the Pony had showed up. It looked exactly the same as the Aero except for being red with black bobbins. The Pony was not available in the U.S. Reading the letters in the Ring it seems the Pony was not a satisfactory replacement to the Aero.

Rumors are flying that the production of the Aero is going to be in Mexico. In either 1993 or 1994 the rotten Aero with the plastic point is introduced. Production of this model is in Germany, at least that is what the shuttle has imprinted on it. Another letter writing round begins, give us back our metal hook. The plastic hook model was announced with great fan fair and a sharp increase of price. Those of us with metal hook Aeros put them aside for fear of breaking them. In either 1995 or 1996 the metal hook Aero is brought back in the regular grey color. The price, which had gone up with the black model is still up and rising for the old grey model. The black Aeros are taken out of production. If you mail order an Aero you must make sure to ask for the metal hook or you will get stuck with the rotten black plastic one. The last of the black plastic hook stinkers is offered as a collectors item. Creative salesmanship.

My Sebalace catalog from last year still offers the Pony for 1.50 (pounds) same price as the Aero. The Aero metal hook can be ordered from all the lace suppliers now. I think the price rise had more to do with the demand then the anything else. Tatters triumph, I think.

My original Aero, which is broken has Aero and Made in England on one side and Abel Morrell Reddich England on the other.