A landmark of 100 flights

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viney266

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My first Bertha has made 100 flights as of today. I decided to look up notable bits on mine.

A few facts from my logbook (started in the 7th grade rocketry club).
  1. The only things original are the body tube and 1 fin.
  2. she has been on fire twice (paper patch and a length trim)
  3. on her 9th parachute (nylon)
  4. 9 fins total
  5. the engine mount has been replaced twice
  6. She went swimming twice
  7. has been tree recovered 5 times.
  8. Has crashed with no chute 6 times (various repairs)
  9. She is more glue and paint than anything else and she is quite heavy these days. I promised I would list everything for flight 100. Any questions just ask. He first flight was 1978.
 

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Fantastic milestone! Got any pics of the rocket you can share? My Big Bertha is also my most flown rocket, but it only has 35 flights. The motor mount was replaced after 32 flights.
 
Just as most of your cells have been replaced since the 7th grade, so has most of the rocket. Yet there is a continuity that preserves the essence. Congratulations on making it this far. Both have earned their colorful stories.
 
I managed to find two pics of this Bertha. One is at about 85 flights after the body was extended again, but you can see the deformed body tube was she was on fire and papered over.
The other image you can see the original fin and how many times it has been repaired. It's fun keeping her flying.
 

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My first Bertha has made 100 flights as of today. I decided to look up notable bits on mine.

Awesome that you made it to a 100 flights. Some people don't make it to 3. Others have so many rockets that they can't possibly fly them all on a regular basis.

My goal has been to fly every build rocket at least once a year. That wasn't an issue from 2018-2020. In fact in 2020 I flew almost every rocket twice. Only missed the mark by 26 rockets. Unfortunately my work load in 2021 got to the point where I wasn't able to get out nearly as much as I liked and I've added about 15 new rockets to the collection so it's going to be harder and harder to meet that goal.
 
My first Bertha has made 100 flights as of today. I decided to look up notable bits on mine.

A few facts from my logbook (started in the 7th grade rocketry club).
  1. The only things original are the body tube and 1 fin.
  2. she has been on fire twice (paper patch and a length trim)
  3. on her 9th parachute (nylon)
  4. 9 fins total
  5. the engine mount has been replaced twice
  6. She went swimming twice
  7. has been tree recovered 5 times.
  8. Has crashed with no chute 6 times (various repairs)
  9. She is more glue and paint than anything else and she is quite heavy these days. I promised I would list everything for flight 100. Any questions just ask. He first flight was 1978.
Volvo gives out placards and stickers for 100,000, 200,000 miles, etc. Estes should maybe give out a decal, or range box stickers, commemorating 100 flights. Congratulations!
 
Yes-sir-e I bought this ax twenty years ago and it is still going strong. I've replaced the head twice and the handle three times.
Wish I had the original my Dad and I built almost 50 years ago. Long tossed out by my sister, and/or Mom. We also had the Aerobee 300. That really was a golden era for Estes. Probably had 20 launches, tops. But would love to see our craftmanship, half a century later.
 
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