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Sunday July 18, 1999
Durham, CT
Man, it's HOT out here! Temperature in the 90s and very high humidity. Sunny but hazy, and nearly calm in the morning. A slight breeze out of the west made it a little tricky to land near the Open Spot Landing target, which was located southwest of the launch pads. Winners are listed below.
Thanks to A2Z Hobbies and Rogue Aerospace for donating prizes to this month's contest.
The theme of this launch was "Man in Space", in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 (This is the complement of the Missiles of May launch, which honors military rockets). This month we saw a wide assortment of manned and unmanned space vehicles, and the scientific sounding rockets that made space travel a possibility.
Here are a few examples:
Arcas/ Aerotech/ E30T/ Chris Adams
IQSY Tomahawk/ A.S.P./ A3-4T/ Cody Calvert
Mercury Redstone/ Centuri/ C6-3/ Jay Calvert
SR-71 Blackbird/ Quest/ MicroMaxx/ Jay Calvert
WAC Corporal/ A.S.P./ C6-3/ Jay Calvert
SR-71 Blackbird/ Estes/ C6-3/ Dale Murdock
Black Brant II/ Estes/ E15-7W/ Bill Piedra
Black Brant X/ scratchbuilt/ 3xC6-0 to D12-7/ Bill Piedra
Mercury Redstone/ Estes/ C6-3/ Bill Piedra
Mercury Atlas/ Estes/ D12-5/ Jon Stevenson
Space Shuttle/ Estes/ C6-3/ Jon Stevenson
SR-71 Blackbird/ Estes/ C6-5/ Jon Stevenson
The other big event was the official Connecticut state flight of the 40th anniversary Estes Alpha pair (old and new), thanks to John Hogan!
(photo#1) John Hogan launches the original Estes Alpha kit on it's official Connecticut launch. This rocket and the 40th anniversary Alpha will be shipped around the country and launched in all 50 states (and many foreign countries) this year. More info on the 40th Anniversary Alpha Project can be found here. The engine was an A8-3.
(photo#2) Here she comes under canopy. Perfect flight. Jay Calvert's WAC Corporal (ASP) can be seen on pad Blue 4.
(photo#3) Lud launches Jay's WAC on a C6-5. On the right is Matt Murdock's Mean Machine, and on the left is the new 40th anniversary Estes Alpha.
(photo#4)There goes Matt's Mean Machine on a D12-3!
(photo#5)And there goes the 40th anniversary Alpha! Like its older bother, this Alpha logged a perfect flight on an A8-3. Now it's time for John to pack them up an send them on to their next state (Ohio, I think).
(photo#6)That blur is Keith Smith's Tse Tse powered by a D12-5. This new kit from Rogue Aerospace is a scaleup of their little 13mm Gnat. On the right is Jay Calvert's WAC Corporal, this time in the 2 stage configuration with the Tiny Tim booster. To the right of that is "Red", a scratchbuilt rocket by Matt Murdock that flew 5 successful flights on C6-5 and C6-3 engines. On the left is Sean Hogan's 3x Mosquito (C6-5), Dale Murdock's SR-71 (C6-3), and Jim Robinson's "Red Alarm" (D12-7).
(photo#7) This is the first of two great launches of Peter Lawall's stretched LOC Forte. The motor is a G80-7T. Both flights used a tiny homemade altimeter for 2-stage recovery (drogue at apogee, main chute at (240 feet). the altimeter also worked well in a much smaller rocket on an E18-10W. Peter plans on selling these little gems in the near future, either assembled (low cost) or as a kit (even lower cost). In the foreground is Matt Murdock's Mean Machine again.
(photo#8) Here are Peter and Jeannine Lawall. Peter's stretched Forte is on the left. I think that's Jeannine's rocket "The Hobbit" on the right (a stretched Onyx)?
(photo#9)There goes The Hobbit on an F14-6J.
(photo#10)And there goes Peter's Forte on a G40-10W with altimeter on board.
(photo#11) In the foreground is Jay Calvert's slightly hardened Estes Mean Machine. It is a veteran of many flights that Tim "Tool Time" Taylor would have been proud of, including CHAD-staged D12s, E6T, E11J, E15W, E18W, and F12J. Today the beast is about to be pushed to the limit, on an Aerotech F39-12T.I expected one of two things to happen:
(1) It would hold up to the stress and exceed 450 mph on its way up to 1700 feet, or (2) It would crimp in half at MaxQ.; It did neither (see below) (Hint: you may be able to detect a very slight bow in the rocket as it sits on the pad, due to uneven heating in the sun).
Meanwhile, we can see Sean Hogan's 3x Mosquito (C6-5), Julie Connery-Smith's Free Fall (B6-2), and Jim Robinson's Custom Bullet (D12-7). Behind that is Russell Taragah loading a Big Bertha (C6-3) onto the pad, and behind that are the Lawall's.
(photo#12) Well, this has got to be one of the strangest flight profiles I've seen. You can see how the bow in the Mean Machine has increased already. During the next second or so, it followed the bow around and nearly completed a full loop under power. The angle of attack was not so off that the rocket became unstable. It simply made a very rapid, stable,circular flight. When the thrust suddenly stopped the rocket was starting to head slightly upward again. It stalled out and did a slow belly flop onto the grass, then ejected.It never really crimped, although there were stress lines in the airframe after the flight that will need to be reinforced..
(photo#13) Jay Calvert's Mercury Redstone on a C6-3, next to Murdocks' Mean Machine and Red. On the left, Marc Smith's Deep Surface Probeby Rogue Aerospace can be seen with it's distinctive stabilization cone.
(photo#14) This is Jay Calvert's "Twisted Sisters". Last month it flew great on a pair of D12-3s, for its maiden flight. This time the thrust was provided by an E15-7W and an F12-5J. As you can see by the contrails, both motors fired on cue. The white smoke starts out on the left, and is on the right when the photo was snapped - therefore the sisters have completed a half twist.
(photo#15) Interesting... After reaching a certain spin rate the sisters suddenly shifted from a lazy wobble, which left a black and white double helix, to a very straight trajectory which left a "candy cane" single contrail. There was a very noticeable increase in velocity when this happened.
After a very successful boost, things began to go terribly wrong for the Twisted Sisters. Both ejection charges fired, but they were too much for the recovery and motor retention systems (which were designed with D12s in mind). Both shock cords snapped, taking both nose cones and nylon chutes (one was last seen in a thermal at about 1000 feet and a mile downwind...). Both friction-fit motors kicked out the back, as well. One was single use, but the other was a 24/40 can (ouch). (photo#16) Cody Calvert examines the broken bodies of the ill-fated sisters.
(photo#17) Keith Smith and rockets.
(photo#18)Jake Howe and Alien Space Probe.
(photo#19) Cody Calvert, a rocket scientist from the "Wild Wild West".
(photo#20) One of the President's duties is to participate in all tailgate parties. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!
HIGHLIGHTS:
- A couple of the Aerotech non-standard G25 White Lightning motors were burned. Jay Calvert flew one in his THOY Jaeger, and Russell Taragah used one to boost his LOC Graduator. If you have a light weight rocket (<2 lb.) with a 29mm mount, try one. The 5 second burn is impressive.
- Chris Adams fashioned a nice booster stage for his Mean Machine, which logged a great flight on a D12-0 -> D12-7 combo.
- Bill Piedra's scratchbuilt Black Brant X demonstrated the proper way to do gap staging. Three C6-0s in the booster stage successfully funneled their propellant particles into the nozzle of a D12-7 in the sustainer. For a brief moment, the booster stage appeared to actually pass the upper stage before the D12 kicked into high gear.
FLIGHT STATS:
- We had 23 registered flyers.
- We logged 148 flights.
- We burned 156 motors.
| Micro Maxx | 1 |
| 1/4A | 3 |
| 1/2A | 4 |
| A | 11 |
| B | 26 |
| C | 56 |
| D | 23 |
| E | 11 |
| F | 13 |
| G | 8 |
| H | 0 |
| TOTAL | 156 |
- Top 10 Hot Shots:
| Peter/ Jeannine Lawall | 499 NS | G80T, G40W, F25W, F14J, E18W, E15W, E11J |
| Russell Taragah | 449 NS | G25W, 2xF50T, F25W, E30T, E15W, C6 |
| Dave Sousa | 386 NS | 2xG64W, F52T, 3xD12, C6, B4, A8 |
| Jason Foster | 337 NS | G80T, 2xF50T, 3xC6, 6xB6 |
| Jay/ Cody Calvert | 317 NS | G25W, F39T, F12J, E15W, D12, 2xC6, A8, A3, MicroMaxx |
| Chris Adams | 252 NS | G80T, E30T, 3xD12, 4xC6, B6 |
| Les Kurz | 175 NS | F40W, E15W, E11J, C5, B6, B4 |
| Sean/ Ian Hogan | 157 NS | F39T, 2xD12, 7xC6, B6, 2xA10 |
| Bill Piedra | 122 NS | E15W, 2xD12, 5xC6, A10 |
| John Hogan | 121 NS | F40W, D12, 2xC6, 2xA8, 1/2A3 |
Total impulse for the day = 3377 Newton-Seconds, equivalent to an "L" motor.
| DISTANCE FROM TARGET | NAME | PRIZE |
| 49'11" | Joe Lalli | Estes Saturn V from A2Z Hobbies |
| 59'0" | Matt Murdock | Standard ARM 45 from Rogue Aerospace |
| 60'9" | Matt Murdock | Estes Meanie from A2Z Hobbies |
| 62'6" | Dave Sousa | - |
| 66'0" | Sean Hogan | - |
(photo #21) Joe Lalli with his winning entry in the Open Spot Landing contest, (Astrocam on a C6-3) and his 1st place prize!
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