"Free Gondwanaland!"

Graffito at Duke University

With the excitement of business school now barely behind them, it had been disappointing to realize at so early an age that nothing but the future lay ahead. Yet they possessed the exuberance of youth and the ambition to conquer the business world and then move on to something difficult. Both had been trained to take over immediately as chairman of one of America's leading corporations or, if things didn't work out, to start as president. In fact, they had both graduated with honors, largely on the basis of the thesis they co-authored entitled Top Management for the Beginner. But as luck would have it, not one of the Fortune 500 had an opening for a chairman or even a president. Having no experience which would qualify them for any other jobs, the only remaining alternative was to form their own small firm. Even the exuberant should have a contingency plan. But in the words of C. D. Jackson, "Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings." Thus on a wing and a prayer began the fledgling Daedalus Model Airplane Company, the confluence of an enduring interest they had shared in model airplanes and their unfortunate inability to find a position helping someone...