e42
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- Feb 2, 2009
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Not quite sure where to post this on TRF. Since it uses LPR motors I will start here. Please enjoy.
"Flight of a Rocket"
The outlook wasn't brilliant for this scratch built rocket on this day,
the bird had only been built the night before and surly it would stray.
With no plans to work form, only thoughts in someones mind,
a design like this would truly be something flying blind.
The rocket was to be a three stager,
conceived by my son who still happens to be a teenager.
He thought, "if only I could launch a rocket high.
It would be a thing of beauty to be seen up in the sky."
For fins he cut and butchered from a Baby Bertha kit,
which really seemed to work well, to this I will admit.
With a motor mount and nose cone which were purchased at a store,
all the remaining parts were in a box sitting on the floor.
The main body tube was thin and long as one might suspect,
which split in two so that a streamer could eject.
The first sustainer was fairly short, with the second much the same.
Once all were connected, he had his final airframe.
With this rocket being built within 24 hours from hitting the pad,
it needed lots paint so that it was not launched unclad.
Priming, sanding, and painting lasted late into the night,
with the colors he had chosen which were baby blue, black, and white.
The day had come to fly the rocket into the sky so blue.
We could only hope that on this day that it would not say adieu.
And when, I asked him what he called his rocket during that launch hour,
he turned and smiled with a grin, and said Of course it is the Jack Bauer.
For those of you who are confused by his clever name,
on the TV show 24, this character gets all the fame.
So when his rocket was completed in a time that I call quick,
the name fit like a glove and to this I got a kick.
The Jack Bauer now sits on the pad with three motors loaded, ready to go,
and then the countdown starts Three Two...One Zero.
The first engine ignites lifting the rocket high into the air.
But the second engine does not light to all of our despair.
Now one would think that it should be hurtling toward the ground,
but it was horizontal and spinning slowly, to which I am dumbfound.
The descent was slow and easy so there was no rocket damage.
We reloaded the Jack Bauer with another engine package.
From the launch pad now black with powder, there went up a muffled roar.
The Jack Bauer was on its way for what now was a second soar.
Just as it started to lift and climb there came a great wind gust,
which pushed it sideways, now flying parallel to the earths dust.
At 200 feet in the air this rocket was astray,
and the second motor did ignite taking it farther away .
Sure enough there goes the third roaring to new fire,
It was flying fast and far from us, too distant to admire.
As we started chasing the Jack Bauer down I heard a spectator say,
Youll need a car if you want to retrieve that rocket on this day.
We chose to walk and follow what was left from the smoke trail,
hoping to find all the parts in a line that would faithfully prevail .
Oh, somewhere in fields of green do lost rockets hide.
Forever lost somewhere, after a wild and crazy ride.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,
indeed there should be cause for joy the Jack Bauer was found 1000 yards out.
--- Ron
Some text borrowed from "Casey at the Bat"
"Flight of a Rocket"
The outlook wasn't brilliant for this scratch built rocket on this day,
the bird had only been built the night before and surly it would stray.
With no plans to work form, only thoughts in someones mind,
a design like this would truly be something flying blind.
The rocket was to be a three stager,
conceived by my son who still happens to be a teenager.
He thought, "if only I could launch a rocket high.
It would be a thing of beauty to be seen up in the sky."
For fins he cut and butchered from a Baby Bertha kit,
which really seemed to work well, to this I will admit.
With a motor mount and nose cone which were purchased at a store,
all the remaining parts were in a box sitting on the floor.
The main body tube was thin and long as one might suspect,
which split in two so that a streamer could eject.
The first sustainer was fairly short, with the second much the same.
Once all were connected, he had his final airframe.
With this rocket being built within 24 hours from hitting the pad,
it needed lots paint so that it was not launched unclad.
Priming, sanding, and painting lasted late into the night,
with the colors he had chosen which were baby blue, black, and white.
The day had come to fly the rocket into the sky so blue.
We could only hope that on this day that it would not say adieu.
And when, I asked him what he called his rocket during that launch hour,
he turned and smiled with a grin, and said Of course it is the Jack Bauer.
For those of you who are confused by his clever name,
on the TV show 24, this character gets all the fame.
So when his rocket was completed in a time that I call quick,
the name fit like a glove and to this I got a kick.
The Jack Bauer now sits on the pad with three motors loaded, ready to go,
and then the countdown starts Three Two...One Zero.
The first engine ignites lifting the rocket high into the air.
But the second engine does not light to all of our despair.
Now one would think that it should be hurtling toward the ground,
but it was horizontal and spinning slowly, to which I am dumbfound.
The descent was slow and easy so there was no rocket damage.
We reloaded the Jack Bauer with another engine package.
From the launch pad now black with powder, there went up a muffled roar.
The Jack Bauer was on its way for what now was a second soar.
Just as it started to lift and climb there came a great wind gust,
which pushed it sideways, now flying parallel to the earths dust.
At 200 feet in the air this rocket was astray,
and the second motor did ignite taking it farther away .
Sure enough there goes the third roaring to new fire,
It was flying fast and far from us, too distant to admire.
As we started chasing the Jack Bauer down I heard a spectator say,
Youll need a car if you want to retrieve that rocket on this day.
We chose to walk and follow what was left from the smoke trail,
hoping to find all the parts in a line that would faithfully prevail .
Oh, somewhere in fields of green do lost rockets hide.
Forever lost somewhere, after a wild and crazy ride.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,
indeed there should be cause for joy the Jack Bauer was found 1000 yards out.
--- Ron
Some text borrowed from "Casey at the Bat"
