Who are your rocketry idols?

tomsteve said:

this lil guy. his enthusiasm and excitement every time we launch and every flight is awesome.
plus he helps set up and tear down without being asked.


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Absolute BEST response in this entire thread.

+1 to that!

There definitely a few that I look up to in Rocketry. Very cool guys that are approachable and have accomplished some very cool things in Hobby Rocketry.

Gus Piepenburg
Eric Cayemberg
Tim Lehr
Jim Hendrickson
Mike Crupe from MAC Performance
John Olevich
Gary Kawabata
Jim Jarvis

Mightyrocketman said:

Pat Gordzelik

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Pat does a lot of work with young people and various competitions.
I gave him a hand one time when he had all the 7th and 8th graders in Cross Plains build and launch.

I live in a area where I might as well live on the moon as far as meeting anyone associated with model rocketry.
Saying that, Estes and my mail man (my Father) have to be my hero's.
Gene Kranz is my idol. Through all the Apollo missions, the success's, the failures, he kept the ground crew focused on getting our men home alive.
He never lost a man on his watch. He would be the one man I would like to meet and shake his hand and thank him for his contributions.

My rocketry idol is Dick Stafford because he flew an Ekranoplan named the Chesapeake Bay Sea Monster with 8 motors up front and three motors canted in the middle. No motors in back where they should be. Made Ekranoplan flying fun and easy for the entire family. The Rocket Dungeon is also a fun place to visit.

Daddyisabar said:

My rocketry idol is Dick Stafford because he flew an Ekranoplan named the Chesapeake Bay Sea Monster with 8 motors up front and three motors canted in the middle. No motors in back where they should be. Made Ekranoplan flying fun and easy for the entire family. The Rocket Dungeon is also a fun place to visit.

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Wow, I'm flattered. The ekranoplan would never had existed if it wasn't for your fleet of airplane rockets! The realization of forward mounted motors opens such a range of options on oddrocs

Richard Nakka. Few have done as much for the amateur community in such a detailed engineering approach.

Daniel J. Petrie. His enthusiasm is infectious and his dedication second to none...and...he's only been at this for a couple of years! :clap:

John Coker


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Fred Williams, Randall Redd, these guys have inspired me with their work and creativity.

Orville Carlisle
G. Harry Stine
Vern Estes

(About a dozen-way tie for that fourth statue.)

Carl McLawthorn, Leroy Piester, Mike Dorffler, Jim Flis, Peter Alway to lead off with just a few. Vern would insist Gleda must be among the 'founding parents' and indeed she should.

I would like to add Bill Spadafora and Tony Vincent to the the list of people that I looked up to in addition to those previously named.

First, I'm humbled to appear on some of these lists. Thank you.

My short list would include:
Howard Kuhn
Dick Nelson (Pearl River fame)
Bill Spadafora
And, of course, Gleda and Vern Estes

Outside of model rocketry:
Robert Goddard
Gene Cernan


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Wow, this thread has been around four years and this is the first I've seen of it!

My idols would definitely be G. Harry Stine, Vern and Gleda, and Lee Piester, on the top level. And after that, Dr. Jerry Gregorek, Dr. Jim Barrowman, Doug Malewicki, and Mike Dorffler. I've met all in person but Mike. I bought his CD set, and had a testy PM conversation with him on YORF (he had taken offense to something I'd said, but didn't mean the way he took it). I only met Harry once, and didn't really talk with him, at NARAM 13, when I was a shy 14 year old . I did exchange messages with him on Bix in the early 90's.

In a different way, Forrest Mims was an inspiration, not in rocketry, but in computers! His Radio Shack books made the light come on in my head about how computer programs actually affected computers. And I only picked up his books because I recognized his name from his articles in Model Rocketry Magazine.

I would have to say Mr. Nett, my principal industrial arts teacher in high school, who was my biggest rocket inspiration. He awarded me a lot of extra credit for the isometric drawings of my model rocket ideas in mechanical drawing class as well as credit for building my own launch pad in wood shop; cutting out custom fins I had designed in mechanical drawing class out of 1/8" plywood veneer; constructing a launch circuit complete with an interlocking fail-safe mechanism, audible alarm, internal voltage meter and a capacitor circuit triggered by a SCR transistor in electronics & electricity class, and finally for finishing my creations in auto body and paint shop. I later learned that Mr. Nett was awarded the CMH during the Philippine Liberation for heroism and personal gallantry against the Japanese. When you met the man he came across as a very humble, mild mannered gentleman who loved to teach shop class and was very good at it; not a WWII hero. In fact the entire town did not know of his exploits during the war and posthumously name a street in his honor when he passed in 2008. Thank you Mr. Nett for your tutelage, inspiration and unwavering patients. You were a shining example of the "greatest generation".




Citation: "Lieutenant Natt commanded Company E in an attack against a reinforced enemy battalion which had held up the American advance for two days from its entrenched positions around a three-story concrete building. With another infantry company and armored vehicles, Company E advanced against heavy machinegun and other automatic weapons fire with Lieutenant Nett spearheading the assault against the strong point. During the fierce hand-to-hand encounter which ensued, he vanquished seven deeply entrenched Japanese defenders with his rifle and bayonet and, although seriously wounded, gallantly continued to lead his men forward, refusing to relinquish his command. Again he was severely wounded, but, still unwilling to retire, pressed ahead with his troops to assure the capture of the objective. Wounded once more in the final assault, he calmly made all arrangements for the resumption of the advance, turned over his command to another officer, and then walked unaided to the rear for medical treatment. By his remarkable personal courage in continuing forward through sheer determination despite successive wounds, Lieutenant Nett provided an inspiring example for his men and was instrumental in the capture of a vital strongpoint."

GRIFFIN said:

Crazy Jim, one of the nicest guys you could meet at a launch. Full of great stories, great advice and all around great guy.

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There are three guys who I look up to in this hobby. I know there will be more over the future years but these are my favorites right now.
Tim Lear, Jim Hendriksen, and Jason Griffin. Thanks guys!

For me Lee Piester of Centuri, Wayne Kellner who designed the Estes Interceptor my all time favorite model rocket, Daddyisabar for his ability to take on and fly pretty much anything, and sodmeister for his outstanding attention to detail and great build threads. Gary Fillible for his pioneering highpower rocketry activities, vast knowledge and willingness to share or help anyone out.

Frank

For me, it's those folks who are behind the scenes and often forgotten. Guys & gals who have given money, time, blood, sweat, and tears to keep the hobby going. People who do so much; most rocketeers will never know how much. Those who stepped up to the plate to run the organizations that keep our hobby running, safe, and legal.

Ken Good. Tom Blazanin. Francis Graham. Trip Barber. David Wilkins. And all the others who gave freely of their time and effort, often receiving criticism while doing their best.

Terry

prfesser said:

For me, it's those folks who are behind the scenes and often forgotten. Guys & gals who have given money, time, blood, sweat, and tears to keep the hobby going. People who do so much; most rocketeers will never know how much. Those who stepped up to the plate to run the organizations that keep our hobby running, safe, and legal.

Ken Good. Tom Blazanin. Francis Graham. Trip Barber. David Wilkins. And all the others who gave freely of their time and effort, often receiving criticism while doing their best.

Terry

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Concur... there are thousands of nameless faces who toil behind the scenes in many endeavors who get little if no credit, all the grief but mountains of satisfaction for their labors of love. To all of you wherever you are thanks a million and well done!

My former next-door neighbor, Tom. He worked on the Stardust project. He got me started using linux way back in the early 90's (Slack for the win!). He now works at Ball Aerospace designing/programming star tracker systems.

Also John Paul Stapp; "fastest man alive". Even though his rockets never left the earth, he had a set of big ones to do what he did.

In no particular order . . . ( BTW - There is a "connection" among many of the names, for those astute enough to recognize it ) . . . And the "rest is history", as they say !

Lonnie Reese
Doug Pratt
Mark Mahyle
Rick Boyette
Chris Pearson
Korey Kline
Marc "Moose" Lavigne
Jim Tucci
David Risner
Richard DePina
Bill Barber
Jerry Irvine
Robert "Hap" Turner
David Flink
Dave Triano
Greg Browning
Scott Dixon
Gary Rosenfield
Herb Desind
Mark Webber
Larry Broadbent
Scott Pearce
Irv Waite
Many more, "blurred by time"

Dave F.

Ez2cDave said:

In no particular order . . . ( BTW - There is a "connection" among many of the names, for those astute enough to recognize it ) . . . And the "rest is history", as they say !

Lonnie Reese
Doug Pratt
Mark Mahyle
Rick Boyette
Chris Pearson
Korey Kline
Marc "Moose" Lavigne
Jim Tucci
David Risner
Richard DePina
Bill Barber
Jerry Irvine
Robert "Hap" Turner
David Flink
Dave Triano
Greg Browning
Scott Dixon
Gary Rosenfield
Herb Desind
Mark Webber
Larry Broadbent
Scott Pearce
Irv Waite
Many more, "blurred by time"

Dave F.

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Can’t forget Ky Michaelson, The Rocketman, but I may be slightly biased.

TangoJuliet said:

Tom Hoelle from Summit City Aerospace Modelers (SCAM), Ft. Wayne, IN, was a bit of a mentor to me back in the early/mid 80's. I was a pre-teen/teen at the time but got to watch and learn some competition techniques from him, and he was a champion scale modeler. I don't think that club exists anymore, and I don't know what ever happened to Tom. George Gassaway also appeared at many of our "Mad Anthony" Regional meets (The MAR Strikes Back; Return of the MAR) back then.

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I will also put in a vote for Tom. Even though I never met him in person, I had a lot of letter correspondence with him, as well as several phone conversations. Tom appointed me as NAR Mountain States Regional Manager back in '79, a post which I held into the early '80s.

milehigh said:

I will also put in a vote for Tom. Even though I never met him in person, I had a lot of letter correspondence with him, as well as several phone conversations. Tom appointed me as NAR Mountain States Regional Manager back in '79, a post which I held into the early '80s.

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Tom Hoelle got married and his wife had different ideas on how he should spend his time. So he retired from rocketry, probably at the best time. I attended some of his contests, I even won a Mad Anthony Regional (flying solo for the Dual Egglofters Team), and roomed with him at one NARAM.

As for my idols, I would have to say anyone who had technical articles published in the MR literature (particularly MRM) B.C. (Before I went to College in '74). There were several, but I would particularly mention Doug Malewicki since I have not seen his name mentioned.

Alan

The ultimate rocket designer / scratch builder: Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun

And my Mother... who didn't say "NO" when I got inspired and wanted to spend my allowance to buy rockets as a kid in the late 1960's.

Pat Gordzelik,

I hope I spelled his name right

I just get up every morning and say "mirror mirror on the wall....." I'm my own best friend too

burkefj said:

I just get up every morning and say "mirror mirror on the wall....." I'm my own best friend too

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So your a Mog?.....

Exactly....

rharshberger said:

So your a Mog?.....
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