War is hell. Here is the carnage from NSL. The Lancaster Mark Two had a great take off and flight, went into the wind after the power leveled off. The wind was a bit high but still OK I thought when she launched, this is the NSL by golly! One of the out board motors lit a bit late and professional take off photos are coming that will show that. All eight did light and she instantly straightened up just after leaving the rail and flew up like a rocket should. She then went a bit airplane on me, just can't figure out why a rocket like this should want to fly like an airplane in the wind. . . maybe I need to actually read up on some good rocket science in a book rather than just looking at the pictures.
Everything seemed OK until the ejection charges started to go off. Bang, one chute rips off, BANG-BANG chutes number two and three rip off, BANG, chute number four deploys and holds on. OMG! One chute is not enough for this weighty bird. She went well over the flight line but I knew she came in hard, at least no one was hurt or any property damaged. The chutes ripping off looked a bit like flak bursts in flight. When I walked up to the crash site I was actually quite pleased with the results. The thin walled tube had broken cleanly in front of the wing and one rudder had popped off. Walking back in a straight line there were three nose cones and chutes lined up. Did my high end Estes plastic chutes fail? No. Had my cheap Hobby Lobby elastic shock cords failed? No. Just a long piece of Kevlar all frayed at the end were it had attached under the nose cone. The heat from the Might D ejection charges had done them in on the fast deploying speed of the second flight. My faith in bullet proof Kevlar was shattered. Time to wipe off all the soot and repair, thinking of a new, more durable recovery system. Some epoxy and Popsicle sticks will strengthen up the nose reattachment. The burn on the tail and rear cockpit has been solved with the MK II's flight, and it still looked good!
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The Lanc and DO 217 are repairable. However, the AR 234 ist Kaput. The higher winds of NSL did in these finicky war birds in on deployment, but did I learn anything on those subsequent launches? Heck no. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I saw some awesome in flight photos people took, maybe they will post. The rocket smoke trails look just like con trails in flight and the photos have an almost eerie realness to them.
,flight worthiness explanation; :blush: ,pad assignment; 
,heads up call and countdown; :y: ,launch; :jaw: ,flight and recovery; :surprised:
