The Navy shipboard heavy-capacity twin-rail "4K" (for early Terrier SAMs, I think) launcher at Poker Flat, which was stolen with the full knowledge and blessing of the U.S. Navy (from a surplus equipment boneyard in California; the launcher had no surplus system designation, so--because it was logistically much easier than doing it "by the book"--the guard there stood up and turned around at an agreed-upon time for an agreed-upon interval--when he turned back, the launcher was gone :-) ), was also used for an unexpected purpose by range staff members:

Once when some NASA officials came up here to visit, they were surprised to see dressed caribou (or maybe moose; it was a long time ago, and I wasn't here then--the former launch officer told me about these "capers") hanging from the 4K launcher's two rails. Also, the late Dr. T. Neil Davis at the University of Alaska Fairbank's Geophysical Institute (the T. Neil Davis Science Center, on a hilltop overlooking the rangehead area [where the launch pads and tracking radar are located; telemetry reception dish antennas are on the hill's summit], is named after him--it has an atmospheric lidar, ionosphere-probing radar, and other auroral phenomena-probing active scanner and passive sensor instruments) gave his sounding rocket payloads names that NASA kept rejecting (for much the same reason they didn't like Gus Grissom's choice of "Molly Brown" for Gemini 3). His payload acronym OOSIK was finally deemed acceptable, although strange--and only much later, after the mission flew, did NASA learn that "oosik" (see: https://www.google.com/search?q=oos...sclient=gws-wiz ) is a Native Alaskan word for the "male member" bone of a walrus...

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

You're right. The rocket parts are quite difficult to find on purpose. An example of *how* difficult is provided by the Test Rockets:

These military surplus 2.75" diameter FFARs (Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets, fired from jet fighters [before air-to-air missiles came into being in the later 1950s] and ground attack jets, as well as from helicopter gunships; when I was there, NASA-supplied U.S. Army surplus Mk. 40 FFARs with shortened fins [from the Army's Project MASSTER] were being used). The Test Rockets were used to test the tracking radar--and the readiness of the radar tracking crews, who used a binocular "sighter," to whose movements the radar dish was slaved. Now:

These Test Rockets were--and probably still are--launched from a fixed, single-tube launcher near the blockhouse. They were always fired due North at a QE (angle of elevation) of 75°, and they were fitted with NASA-supplied, flare-containing steel cylinder/cone (with a radiused tip) payloads that were threaded to fit the FFAR rocket motors, and:

Between 1969 (when the range opened, as an [intended] temporary launch site) and 1999 (the last year I worked there), hundreds of Test Rockets had been fired (all to that same direction and elevation, the former launch officer told me). Yet despite this, he said that they had never found even *one* of the fallen Test Rockets--either at the computed impact point, or anywhere in the "impact ellipse" in which they could fall (due to winds, varying motor performance, etc.). They once conducted such a search, while they were out in that general area to "clean up" spent fallen rocket motors from Loki-Dart and Super Loki-Dart meteorological rockets. (It's possible that the heavy FFARs buried themselves nose-first upon impact, as they fell stably while the Loki and Super Loki motor cases were unstable after dart separation, and tumbled during descent; they found many of those out in the woods, which they stacked up in the range's boneyard.)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Oosik should be the nickname of the New Shepard...


Bill

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It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

Beautiful weather in East Texas, Louisiana and Alabama right now, If I could walk good all I would need is a hunting license and my trusty 870 Wingmaster Remington. With a Deer-slugger barrel and 3" Slugs it will take care of any game you come across in these States.

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Neal Miller
Master Blaster NAR# 58296

I hate slugs. Boring ammo in boring guns. Shotguns are for BIRDS.
My 458 Lott throws a 500 gr projectile. Heavier than a 1oz 12ga shotgun slug and a LOT MORE energy/range.
Thankfully Michigan has opened up the previous Shotgun/Handgun deer zone to RIFLES now !

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Never was a fan of slugs in shotguns either. Seemed like a crude approach to a need that had been solved by rifles.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Way back in my youth, I was shopping for a rifle to hunt with. I had a pocket full of money burning a hole in my pocket. I went with a friend if mine to Gell's Sporting goods and was looking at rifles, and there it was A Weatherby MK-V in 460 Weatherby magnum. My friend looked at me and said YOUR NUTS. Are you going hunting in Africa? I said no, he said look at this:
1 Box of Weatherby 460 magnum shells= $49.00 + for 20 rounds. the rifle it self was: $1900.00 .
So I bought a Remington Md.700 chambered in 30-06, I have had it ever since and have taken at least 10 deer with it. It still looks like new and will be passed on to my grandson.
Oh I also bought an AR15 A-1 and a Colt Gold Cup 1911, some Ammo and still had money left over.

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Neal Miller
Master Blaster NAR# 58296

Don't do this at a range: Ever bust clay pigeons with 12ga slugs?

They vaporize.....

Mike

A buddy of mine has a pair of Original Weatherby Mark V Lazermark rifles.
One in 300 Weatherby Mag and the other in 460 Weatherby Mag.
That 460 is the only rifle I have ever fired that I never wanted to fire again.

The factory loaded ammo for my 458 Lott is ridiculous. $140.00 for 20rds.
I can handload a box for about $30.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

I own two Weatherby guns: a MK V in 7mm Weatherby Magnum and a Weatherby Athena over/under 12 GA upland bird gun. Both have Curcasian(?) walnut stocks. The Athena is coin engraved. Both are works of art, but I use them as if they were not.

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Never trust an atom. They make up everything.

4 out of 3 people struggle with math.

Chemically, alcohol IS a solution.

NAR# 94042
SAM# 0078