Totally enjoying this thread – it is taking me back sooooo many years ago. I started building / flying rockets in the early 60’s - probably around 1963.
First rocket was an Estes Alpha, but the first flight was nearly a disaster. My buddy and I did not have the financial resources to buy a real launch pad at the time, but I did have an Erector set and thought “How hard could this be?” With little appreciation for such concepts as minimal lengths for a launch rod, we used the longest rod in the building set which only extended a few inches above the top of the launch lug. Bottom line – first launch of that first rocket went immediately horizontal and we both quickly hit the dirt as the Alpha skitter past us. Surviving that potential disaster was the beginning of probably a six year phase of building and flying rockets together. That first Alpha probably ended up in a tree or a neighbor's roof since we launched most of our rockets from our front lawn.
A few years back though, and after becoming a BAR, happened to find my old Rocketeer’s binder in with some items my Mother had kept stored away for decades. This cloth-bound binder with the ‘iron-on’ patches on each cover was where I started organizing my rocket documents in earnest. As you can see in the pictures below it contains some real oldies such as a signed copy of Vern Estes first Technical Report, A Rocketeer’s Guide to Avoid SUICIDE!” (which I should have had
before that first launch), my first copies of Estes Model Rocket News, my first copy of NAR By-Laws (heck I never even remembered that I was a NAR member way back then), and lots of plans for rockets that I someday wanted to build.
So, don’t have that first rocket, but I do have other pieces of those early Rocketeer days from long ago!
Really would like to borrow ATJOE1972’s time machine if he finds one…
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