blackshire
06-27-2010, 08:52 PM
Hello All,
In addition to powering the Falstaff vehicles (see: http://fuseurop.univ-perp.fr/falsta_e.htm ), the 36" diameter Stonechat rocket motor--the largest plastic propellant motor and possibly the largest solid motor of any kind ever produced by the British--was also proposed for use in several designed-but-never-built variants of the BAe (British Aerospace) Skylark sounding rocket. These designs (please see below for more information) would make good Future/Fiction Scale model rockets.
An artist's illustration of the proposed Skylark 17 in a late-1990s British Aerospace Skylark Sounding Rockets marketing booklet that I have shows it with the same fins and even the same paint scheme (white overall with two thin black circumferential stripes on the motor and a thin black spiral stripe between the other two stripes) as the operational Falstaff vehicles. The 36" constant-diameter Skylark 17 in the illustration has a rounded-tip, short conical nose cone like the ones in the Estes Yankee and Centuri X-24 Bug kits. I have e-mailed the successors to British Aerospace and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) for more material on these Skylark variants and on the Falstaff vehicles. The Stonechat-powered Skylark versions were as follows:
The Skylark 8, 9, 16, and 17 would all have used the 36" diameter Stonechat rocket motor as the first stage, either with or without upper stages depending on the version. The Encyclopedia Astronautica article on the Skylark rocket series (see: www.astronautix.com/lvs/skylark.htm ) briefly describes the Skylark 8, 9, 16, and 17 thusly (the relevant article text is reproduced below):
Version: Skylark 8.
Skylark version with Stonechat booster and Waxwing second stage motor. Never built.
Version: Skylark 9.
Skylark single-stage version with Stonechat motor. This would make it similar to the Falstaff test version. Never built.
Version: Skylark 16.
Skylark version with shortened Stonechat motor. Never built.
Version: Skylark 17.
Skylark version with Stonechat booster and Mage 2 second stage motor. Never built.
In addition to powering the Falstaff vehicles (see: http://fuseurop.univ-perp.fr/falsta_e.htm ), the 36" diameter Stonechat rocket motor--the largest plastic propellant motor and possibly the largest solid motor of any kind ever produced by the British--was also proposed for use in several designed-but-never-built variants of the BAe (British Aerospace) Skylark sounding rocket. These designs (please see below for more information) would make good Future/Fiction Scale model rockets.
An artist's illustration of the proposed Skylark 17 in a late-1990s British Aerospace Skylark Sounding Rockets marketing booklet that I have shows it with the same fins and even the same paint scheme (white overall with two thin black circumferential stripes on the motor and a thin black spiral stripe between the other two stripes) as the operational Falstaff vehicles. The 36" constant-diameter Skylark 17 in the illustration has a rounded-tip, short conical nose cone like the ones in the Estes Yankee and Centuri X-24 Bug kits. I have e-mailed the successors to British Aerospace and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) for more material on these Skylark variants and on the Falstaff vehicles. The Stonechat-powered Skylark versions were as follows:
The Skylark 8, 9, 16, and 17 would all have used the 36" diameter Stonechat rocket motor as the first stage, either with or without upper stages depending on the version. The Encyclopedia Astronautica article on the Skylark rocket series (see: www.astronautix.com/lvs/skylark.htm ) briefly describes the Skylark 8, 9, 16, and 17 thusly (the relevant article text is reproduced below):
Version: Skylark 8.
Skylark version with Stonechat booster and Waxwing second stage motor. Never built.
Version: Skylark 9.
Skylark single-stage version with Stonechat motor. This would make it similar to the Falstaff test version. Never built.
Version: Skylark 16.
Skylark version with shortened Stonechat motor. Never built.
Version: Skylark 17.
Skylark version with Stonechat booster and Mage 2 second stage motor. Never built.