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50 years of model rocketry
Though my first flight was on July 16, 1968, I was first exposed to model rocketry on November 9, 1967. Here's the story I posted to my Facebook page last week:
"Thursday, November 9, 1967. One of those days when my life pivoted. A few weeks before, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Sunday magazine had an article about the upcoming launch, complete with a cutaway illustration of the rocket. At school we would be having a homeroom science fair, and I decided my project would be on the Saturn V. I was going to make drawings about how each of the phases of the flight would work, but I only got the centerpiece done. My dad had a long roll of white butcher paper left over from our old store. I took a five foot length of it and carefully made a pencil drawing, scaling up from the illustration in the magazine. I carefully rechecked my pencil lines, then overdrew them with a PaperMate Flair pen (the first of the popular felt tip pens). I captioned it with callouts pointing to the various parts of the rocket that I understood (what the heck was an ullage rocket? an RCS quad??) By amazing coincidence, the day of the science fair was the day of the launch. I got up, turned on the Today show. Frank McGee was there (though in hindsight, I really wish I'd turned to CBS and listened to Walter Cronkite). I remember thinking that they way they were talking, there would have to be a fantastic failure somewhere along the way, but at 7am the Saturn lifted off. I could tell it was much bigger than previous rockets I'd seen on TV. The exhaust plume was different, bigger, and got even wider as it climbed into the atmosphere. At staging, what looked like a huge explosion occurred, but it was just a normal staging. Went to school with my project rolled up. That was all it was, a drawing on a sheet of paper. Other kids had other stuff: actual projects like plants, physical things built from Erector sets, racks of test tubes, books and photos showing progress and supporting their hypotheses. I found a spot on the wall large enough to hold my drawing. The size of it attracted a couple of kids to inspect it; they'd also seen the launch. Another kid, a Czech immigrant named Elrich (or was it Ulrich?), set up his project next to mine. On it was a small tripod stand with a slim wire in the center, a box with switches and lights and and electrical wire, and a couple of what he said were "model rockets." "They really fly!" he said. While the other kids were looking at my drawing, I was mesmerized by Elrich's rockets. He handed me a couple of small books. They were catalogs from the two companies that made the products in his project, "Centuri and Estet" (yes, that's how he pronounced "Estes". Never knew if it was some Czech language thing). He said I could keep the catalogs over the weekend and bring them back Monday. Imagine. Real rockets! Real fire and smoke. Unimaginable (at least for a kid back then) altitudes. I'd been building flying model airplanes for a couple of years, but could never keep the engines running; couldn't get them in the air long enough to crash! Maybe rockets were the way to go. I knew what I wanted for Christmas, but couldn't convince my parents to get such dangerous things! Instead, they got me a fancy water rocket set from the Sears Catalog. It was fun, and I played with them all day Christmas, though it was 45 degrees outside. The set lasted all of three days. Eventually, the 'rents relented, though it took a few months. My lifelong hobby took off in the spring of '68, but the genesis of it was November 9, 1967." And here are the two articles about the Apollo 4 launch that the story above linked to... "And then on launch day it worked" Part 1 --- Part 2
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Roy nar12605 |
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Great story Roy, thanks for sharing.
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Paul If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane - Jimmy Buffett NAR #87246 www.wooshrocketry.org |
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Roy!
Thanks for a great retrospective and congratulations on your half century of activity and service to the hobby we love. All the best for your next 50 years of rocket flying! Pat
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National Collection Images: G. Harry Stine Collection/The Museum of Flight. |
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50 Years of model rocketry
Wow - after seeing this I realized that I passed the 50 year mark back in June/July '17. First order was for a Skyhook, Scout, 6 engines, a few bottles of Dope, sanding sealer, a paint brush, sandpaper, 'Utility Knife' and a free Gyroc kit. Not that that memory is burned into my brain or anything. Took 10 days from mailbox to doorstep.
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SAM #0031 |
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Same here. I spent $5.50 for an Alpha, 1 pkg of A.8-3, 1 pkg of B.8-4, and an 12V launch control system. It took only 4 weeks for them to ship to the cosmopolitan city of Garden City, Tx. All this was abck in May 1967. I built my own launch pad out of one of Dad's 1/8" welding rods and a 6" piece of 1X6. |
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I spoke to a total rocketry newbie yesterday about the free rockets I offered her for her kids. She asked how safe they were. I said there were over 500,000,000 launchings with no injuries. She was flabbergasted. I had to restate the claim before she could wrap her head around it.
Might be time for some TV commercials. Jerry I started in 2-66. Alpha B6-4. |
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Unfortunately there HAVE been injuries thru the decades.
And one fatality from a rocket that streamed in with no recovery. That is not including the many incidents thru the years by those who have been killed or injured trying to recover rockets (Such as electrocution trying to get models off of power lines, about one every year or two). Flying-wise, still VERY safe. But can't claim zero injuries, that's a lie. Many years ago, as a comparison of risks in hobbies, Doug Pratt mentioned there were several people a year killed by home fish aquariums. Broken aquarium glass causing massive bleeding. Tried to google for that statistic but can't find it. But wow, you'd never think of having a fish aquarium as something that could kill you. Wonder how many parents who would not let their kids fly rockets, lets them ride a bike without wearing a helmet.....
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Contest flying, Sport flying, it's all good..... NAR# 18723 NAR.org GeorgesRockets.com Georges'CancerGoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-geo...ay-fight-cancer |
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or play U.S. football, or regular football (soccer). Or for that matter, baseball. I love baseball, but I try to avoid getting a seat around either dugout.
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Roy nar12605 |
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Great post Roy, I started tinkering with rockets in 61/62 (think Homer Hickam, my Dad was missing a lot of shotgun shells). Dad owned a barber shop so there were many magazines to flip through. One day I came across an ad for Estes in a Popular Science/Mechanics.....and it was on.
Last edited by JohnNGA : 11-13-2017 at 12:08 PM. |
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Another small coincidence, though I can no longer prove it because the drawing was accidently tossed a few years ago while cleaning out my parents' house to be sold...
The drawing ended up being 1/100th scale , though it took me until 1972 to notice. I got the drawing out and laid my Centuri Saturn V on it just for grins, and it fit! The most I missed a major dimension was 0.15". Some details were off by 1/4"
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Roy nar12605 |
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