Fall WELD – October 13 and 14, 2007

This weekend we held our semi-annual 2 day Tripoli Research launch at the new field near Bayboro, NC. The weather was as close to perfect as I can remember for any rocket launch that I have ever attended! Golden sunlight, calm winds, temperatures in the 70’s for almost all of both days. No insects, low humidity, just delightful!

In spite of this perfect alignment of great weather and the total absence of corn from the entire field (this is a good time to note that when the corn is down you can really appreciate the vast size of this plot of land) there were not very many flights this weekend. The short version of the launch report is this: Everybody came to see Ed Rowe fly his Nike Smoke on an O motor, and they were not disappointed: It was big, it was LOUD, and all aspects of the flight and recovery were perfectly executed. Nice job Ed!

There were only 10 flights for the whole weekend, so instead of my traditional "motor use summary table", I’m going to tell you about every flight, in narrative format.

On Saturday, Dave Morey got things started with a flight of his camera rocket, the Upscale Hustler, on an H97. The flight was perfect and I hope to see the photos soon. Alan Whitmore then flew the Smooth Green Snake on a 6-grain 38 mm motor made from a low-solids-loading formula called ‘Lo- Octane’. Even with a very tame propellant formula, the rocket found its way up to 5598 feet. This was a total walston recovery, after motor burnout, nothing was heard or seen.

Lionel Overton then flew his PML Blue Lightning on an Aerotech I284W and simply ripped off the fins. Lots of damage, but all of the expensive parts were recovered.

Dave Morey then flew his new 6" diameter rocket, the Starfire, which is an upscale version of some famous model rocket, on an Aerotech J415W. The flight was perfect, including a novel and clever way to bring down a rocket with fins that project behind the body of the rocket in such a way as to not break any of the fins. It worked really well, but the wind was picking up a little by that time, and Dave needed the walston to get his baby back.

Alan Whitmore then flew a new rocket on a new altimeter, and the result was almost total destruction of a brand, new rocket. The Astro*Mollusc II, which was built to replace the famous Astro*Mollusc that made 80 high power flights, flew on a 2-grain 54mm ‘Black Velvet’ motor and the main parachute did not come out, resulting in a lot of damage. Lionel Overton, not easily discouraged, then flew his Horizon 54 on an Aerotech J350W. This was a fabulous flight, and everything was recovered intact.

On Sunday, Elaine Miller got things going with a perfect flight of her Javelin on a 2-grain 76mm motor cast up with a ’79:3’ formula (79% AP oxidizer and 3% aluminum powder). The rocket was a little slow off the pad and then just accelerated like crazy. Fine flight! Alan Whitmore then flew his Generic Four Inch to about 7000 feet on a 5 grain 54mm motor made with another no-catalyst propellant which can be characterized as ’79:4’ according to the previous convention (83% total solids loading). The recovery required a little hike through the soybeans, but Mr. Walston’s system brought home another rocket!

Then, all of us were just gob-smacked by the power and grandeur of Ed Rowe’s O6000 flight in the Nike Smoke. The altitude was about 9000 feet and recovery was right on the money. Alan Whitmore finished off the weekend with another flight of the Smooth Green Snake on a 4-grain 38mm I motor made from one of those tubes of propellant that live on the back of the bench and get filled with the leftover blobs and drips from the casting of other propellant projects.

We had several conversations with the local farmers this weekend, and most of the soybeans will be harvested in 2 weeks. This is one of the finest fields on the east coast, our October 2-day event is coming up on the 27th and 28th and the weather will (probably) still be very nice. You need to call your friends and get them out here. The entire atmosphere at this site is very different from Whitakers and [especially] Battleboro. The launch pads are A LONG WAY from any tree or power line. We can launch rockets in the wind or in the calm, and it just doesn’t matter. This field is huge, and you need to start planning some big project to make use of this stunning resource. I have started mixing some of the biggest motors I have ever made and thinking about big, heavy rockets.

Alan Whitmore, Prefect, Tripoli East NC

photo's by Mark Lloyd