4/58 Sputnik 2 burned up in the outer atmosphere , upon reentry.

4/58 Sputnik-3 launched.

4/58 A mouse was launched in a Thor-Able “Reentry 1″ test as the first launch in the Mouse in Able (MIA) project. The rocket was destroyed during its launch .

4/58 President Eisenhower proposed to Congress to create a civilian space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), using as its basis, .the existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) .

4/15/58 First MMI "Aerobee-Hi" Model Rocket Kit 001-A, rolls off the assembly line at Model Missiles , Inc 1159 California St, Denver CO and becomes available to the public. This kit contained the Aerobee-Hi model rocket, a 36" 1/8" diameter launch rod, a blast deflector and 6 Type A Rock-A-Chute model rocket motors.

4/18/58 Bell Helicopter News has an article and Cover photo of Menford L. Sutton and his Super-Son model rocket.

4/58 American Modeler magazine article about model rockets By G.Harry Stine, titled, "The Do-It-Yourself Rocketeers". The Cover states: "Safety's the Watchword with the Model Missile Association: The Do-It-Yourself Rocketeers."

4/58 Atlantic City Press publishes article, " Brigantine Is Test Site For Mile-High-Soaring Rocket ; Expert Devises Solid Fuel" Story about Amateur Rocketeer John Rahkonen, future owner of ProDyne.

Some Amateur Rocketry Newpaper Headlines from April 1958:

4/58 LA Times In the San Gabriel Valley, Covina Boys Pool Skills to Build and Launch High-Flying Rockets While they're not aiming for the moon, four Covina High School boys are making a name for themselves by launching homemade rockets

4/58 Washington Post Young Rocketeers Given "Don'ts" by U.S. Experts . Youthful rocket builders should never attempt to build a rocket, mix rocket fuel, load a rocket or attempt to launch it without supervision by an adult expert, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare warned yesterday

4/58 NY Times HOME-MADE ROCKETS HURT 3 JERSEY BOYS; HACKENSACK, N. J., April 4 -- Two New Jersey youngsters were injured severely today in accidents involving home-made rockets. A third youth was recovering from a similar accident yesterday

4/58 Washington Post Children Invited To Rocket Meet

4/58 LA Times High School Gets Rocket License

4/58 NY Times Rocket Blast Kills Four Boys; Four Boys were killed and another seriously injured when they set off an United States Army Rocket they found.


enjoy


terry dean
nar 16158

__________________
"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them.

Cool. A regular monthly column for the rest of '08?

__________________
Paul
If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane - Jimmy Buffett
NAR #87246 www.wooshrocketry.org

Yes that is my intention.

terry dean
nar 16158

__________________
"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them.

Terry, gonna be one hell of a good reading book, yes?? Put me down for a signed copy

__________________
Enjoy life, it has an expiration date.

Were Sutton's motors at that point in time like Carlilse's? I understand he was one of the forces behind Coaster.

__________________
Roy
nar12605

Yes Menford Sutton was the oner/operator of Coaster Corp. along with a Continental Airlines pilot friend, named Gene Dickerson.

Its my understanding from speaking with Mr. Sutton and verifying the content of the conversation with Randy Liebermann, that the original Coaster motors were basiclaly pyrotechnic black powder skyrocket motors.

Orginally they did not have either a delay train or ejection charge'; if you know anything about black powder skyrocket motors, they have above the Core a variable length section called a "heading". This heaidng was made from the same black powder charge as the propellant grain; they were one and the same.

So when the engine core burned out, the heading fucntioned a dual purpose: it acted first as a delay train, and then as an ejection charge, blowing out the parachute.

Orv Carlisle took this basic pyrotechnic BP skyrocket idea, and used a an actual delay train (also make from BP) along with an ejection charge,; now the difference here of course is that the Carlisle delay train/ejection charge was specially formulated Bp to better their inteneded fucntion as a delay train/ejetcion charge.

The major differnce betwen the Coaster and Carlisle/Brown motors was of course the Coasters were Core burning while the Carlisle motors were endburners with a slight core.

In pyrotechnics, there are basically 2 types of rocket motors: the Cored Skyrocket and a lesser know variant called a Driver or Wheel Driver; these were never intended in their original use to propel rockets into the air; instead they were used as "wheel" drivers; ie they rotated pyrotechnic wheels. These Driver's were end burning in nature.

The clay nozzles of both from what I can determine were simple cylindrical nozzles.

The Coasters were retrofitted to use an actual delay train/ejection charge at some point after the Carlisle, Brown manufactured Rock-A-Chutes, were introduced to the market by MMI.

hth

terry dean
nar 16158

__________________
"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them.

Terry, thanks for this ongoing history! It is great to see this preserved.
Back in the early '60's I few about 100 of those Coaster BP motors, they were such a big step up from the Esties A and B motors! We had pretty good results, but I did lose quite a few to CATOs on the pad or in upper stages!!! Seemed like only the ones with the nice paint jobs were destroyed on the first launch! We launched some radios and smoke devices, and managed to get several 50#/30# two stagers to fly.....These were the best we had until we found ProDyn and Flight Systems later on.
Thanks fo r the memories.
Ned

Ned,

What kind of impulse did the Coaster motors have? E? F?

I am quite interested in the early development of model rocketry, and I am so very grateful for all of the effort that Terry has done (and continues to do) to research, track down and document this history. I'll be looking forward to each month's post.

Mark

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SAM # 0011

Mark, I am not sure what the SI was, I'll have to check my old notes and see what we recored back then. As I recall the "50#" motors were similar to F-50 or so, the "20#" motors we a very low F. A 50# booster with a 20# upper stage would take a 2" dia rocket to 3000 ft or so.
Our launch site was along the Delaware River, it was about 30 ft above the river, about 1/4 mile wide and over a mile long - all sand, no trees or brush, and remote, so we were very lucky to be able to build and fly some fairly large rockets with little danger to the public!
I wrote an article about it in the Apogee newsletter last year.
Ned

MAY 1958
Sputnik-3 launched May 15,1958

5/58 Ist MMI Ad (Denver 4,Colorado) in American Modeler magazine; features Aerobee-Hi 001-A for $7.95; 6 pak of motors $2.50


5/58 American Modeler magazine article by G.Harry Stine about MMI Model Missiles Inc the worlds first Model Rocket company titled, "Manufacturing Model Missiles Sounds As Difficult As Turning Out Real "Birds".

http://www.oldrocketplans.com/pubs/...8_AmMod_MMI.pdf

5/58 Vern Estes meets G.Harry Stine for the 1st time in Denver, Colorado. Vern and G. Harry discuss model rocket motor making.

Amateur Rocket Headlines

5/58 "Handling the Amateur Rocketry Problem" (called the Youth Rocketry Problem by G. Harry Stine & the NAR) by NFPA Director Charles S. Morgan; The report is never publicly published (other than in the NFPA's own inhouse magazine "Fire News"), but it finds its way to the ARS. This unpublished paper was presented at Palmer House, Conference: May 19-23, 1958. National Fire Protection Association 62nd annual meeting 1958 .This report will become the basis for the assault on Amateur Rocketry, using inaccurate statistics that are still used to this day.

5/58 There was an also article in the Fire News Quarterly "Supervision of Teen-Age Rocketeers" "...based on an address by Capt. Carroll E. Shaw before the 31st Annual Meeting of the Fire Marshals' Section held in conjunction with the NFPA Annual Meeting in Chicago, May 19-23, 1958"

NOTE: Carroll E. Shaw eventually became the Connecticut State Fire Marshal and he and G. Harry Stine later started the NFPA process for model rocketry.

5/58 NY Times 600 BOYS ATTEND ROCKETRY CLASS; Army Encourages Interest, but Warns of Danger in Booming New Hobby

5/58 LA Times Burbank Teen-age Rocket Builders Test Missiles in Mojave Desert When today's teen-age scientists send one of their pals to find a vacuum, it is something like the old gag of sending an apprentice mechanic to look for a left-handed monkey wrench.

5/58 Chicago Tribune AMATEUR ROCKETS KILL 4, INJURE 86 IN 6 WEEK PERIOD

5/58 LA Times Valley School Officials Act to Prohibit Rocket Firing on Campus; School officials in San Fernando Valley communities are taking firm steps to prohibit teen-age rocket experimentation as a campus activity.

5/58 Washington Post Teachers to Get Rockets Lesson; Fairfax science and mathematics teachers will attend a meeting at the Annandale High School Monday night to hear recent developments in rocketry and rocket safety described by missile experts.

5/58 Christian Science Monitor Teen Rocket Alarm Set

Hope you enjoy sorry its so late I kinda forgot

terry dean

Attached Files

May 1958 MMI Ad.pdf (81.9 KB, 142 views)

__________________
"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them.