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  #1  
Old 06-09-2011, 05:22 PM
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Maniac BAR Maniac BAR is offline
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Default Centuri history

Not sure if this the right place for this but here it is just the same.

I just got off the phone with Betty, Lee's wife. I had left some questions with the staff at the local Hobby Bench to give to Lee. She was gracious enough to call me to answer my questions even though Lee had just come home from surgery. Wonderful woman.

For you information junkies, Centuri Engineering started out in one half of their garage in 1961 in Phoenix. The first kit they produced was the Javelin (1961). Business grew very quickly and they had to move to larger quarters. The operation was moved to a small machine shop at 4015 N. Black Canyon Hwy. The shop was off of the service road to the Hwy. and Indian School road as the cross street. All the kits were put together and shipped from there.

They started with Estes motors to resell and then had Coaster making them. That is where their larger motors came from. A shop was purchased off of Williamson Field road where they started to produce their own motors.

Acording to Betty, Lee was already into rocketry in the early 50's, making some home brew metal rockets and motors. After the Russian launch in Oct. of '58, Lee became very interested in rocketry as a whole and how to get others interested as well. Thus the new model rocket company.

I don't know if this is old information or not but I thought this was some great information to share. If anyone has other questions, I would be happy to take them and pass them on to Lee or Betty.
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  #2  
Old 06-09-2011, 05:25 PM
Ltvscout Ltvscout is offline
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Now it's in the correct area.
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  #3  
Old 06-09-2011, 10:18 PM
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Tau Zero Tau Zero is offline
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Thumbs up Jay chimes in...

Geoffrey,

Thanks for running down that info.


Lee and Betty are two of my favorite people, and they complement each other very well.


Cheers.
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“Centuri fret buzz in an updated form.”
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03 Sept 2014
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  #4  
Old 06-09-2011, 10:23 PM
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Default Centuri history

Thanks Jay. Betty let me know that she was going to leave an article that you wrote at the store for me to pick up. She had nothing but good things to say about you.
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Old 06-09-2011, 11:53 PM
stefanj stefanj is offline
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Geoffrey:

Could you show the Piesters my attempts at recreating the first two Aero-Dart kits?

It's been an awful long time since these were out, but I'd be curious how close they are to how they remember them.

1962

1964


If they ARE close, I'd like to offer them for their shop!

Stefan
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  #6  
Old 06-10-2011, 12:14 AM
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Default Kits

I'll print them out and take them to the store sometime next week. I may be a while till we hear a reply as Lee is recovering from some surgery.
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  #7  
Old 06-10-2011, 12:19 AM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanj
Geoffrey:

Could you show the Piesters my attempts at recreating the first two Aero-Dart kits?

It's been an awful long time since these were out, but I'd be curious how close they are to how they remember them.

1962

1964


If they ARE close, I'd like to offer them for their shop!

Stefan

, and a great idea to boot!
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  #8  
Old 06-10-2011, 12:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maniac BAR
Not sure if this the right place for this but here it is just the same.

I just got off the phone with Betty, Lee's wife. I had left some questions with the staff at the local Hobby Bench to give to Lee. She was gracious enough to call me to answer my questions even though Lee had just come home from surgery. Wonderful woman.

For you information junkies, Centuri Engineering started out in one half of their garage in 1961 in Phoenix. The first kit they produced was the Javelin (1961). Business grew very quickly and they had to move to larger quarters. The operation was moved to a small machine shop at 4015 N. Black Canyon Hwy. The shop was off of the service road to the Hwy. and Indian School road as the cross street. All the kits were put together and shipped from there.

They started with Estes motors to resell and then had Coaster making them. That is where their larger motors came from. A shop was purchased off of Williamson Field road where they started to produce their own motors.

Acording to Betty, Lee was already into rocketry in the early 50's, making some home brew metal rockets and motors. After the Russian launch in Oct. of '58, Lee became very interested in rocketry as a whole and how to get others interested as well. Thus the new model rocket company.

I don't know if this is old information or not but I thought this was some great information to share. If anyone has other questions, I would be happy to take them and pass them on to Lee or Betty.


Geoffrey-

Your post is actually very timely. In a recent Centuri-related thread about the Screaming Eagle kit, I asked if anyone here on the forum was local the greater Phoenix area, since I was attempting to pin-point the location of their last motor plant that apparently was located south of Phoenix proper.

In email discussions with a former Centuri employee, he stated this motor facility (not the old Mini-Max plant that was on property that is now part of the airport), but was located, as he described it: "It was located just off U.S.10 near the small town of Chandler. If you look on Google Earth just east of where U-haul and Williams rotoway are sat the engine plant in a large field."

This facility was built around '69 or '70 and turned out the A through C motors and the Enerjets. I've looked on Google maps to locate the site, but with no luck.

If you talk with Betty or Lee in the near future, could you ask them about a road or street address for that facility and if the facility structure(s) are still there? I'd like to find it on Google Maps or 'streetview' or have someone local to the area drive by and make a photo of the area today, if the buildings still exist.

Earl
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  #9  
Old 06-11-2011, 11:34 AM
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Thank you Geoffrey!!!

Good to know someone on here shows initiative!

Jonathan
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  #10  
Old 06-11-2011, 03:50 PM
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Tau Zero Tau Zero is offline
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Red face Well, gosh...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maniac BAR
Thanks Jay. Betty let me know that she was going to leave an article that you wrote at the store for me to pick up.
Geoffrey,

That's probably the Jan./Feb. 2003 issue of "Sport Rocketry" that featured my article about Lee.


Quote:
She had nothing but good things to say about you.
Aw, gee. (scuffing foot on floor)


Lee and Betty are what my folks would call "good people."


Cheers,
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Jay Goemmer
"Centuri Guy"/"Tau Zero"
YORF Member 28
Semroc SAM #0029
NAR 86131


"I think about organizing things all the time. Never seems to happen. I find something that piques my interest and I'm off on a quest. Or a Centuri. "

--Bill Eichelberger, 02/22/2022


“Centuri fret buzz in an updated form.”
Bill “Wallyum” Eichelberger re: Estes Flutter-By
03 Sept 2014
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