A young teenager in September 1978, I entered the 6th Swiss Modellraketen-Flugtag, a model rocket competition organized by the Technorama science museum in Winterthur. It was the first of only two such events I would ever enter. The competition was held at Allmend Frauenfeld, concurrently military training grounds and recreational area just north of the town of Frauenfeld. Altitude determination capability was provided by Contraves AG, Zurich, the company that built the payload fairings for the European Ariane launch vehicle.
The rocket I entered was pretentiously named HIAC-38 Radial and constructed from Centuri parts. It was designed for 18 mm motors and measured 390 mm in length. Radial performed well, ranging near the top of the recorded altitude results. The second of the two required flights resulted in a disqualification, however, due to the separation of the recovery system at ejection.
Nonetheless, I still received a performance certificate. A restored version is reproduced above; the original is significantly damaged by scorch marks due to the unexpected combustion of solid rocket motor fuel during ill-advised experiments at my home, later that year.
Incidentally, Dave Sharma and I became aware of one competitor whose motors emitted an unusual sound while his rockets attained stellar altitudes. We reported our suspicion of tampering to the competition leaders, and it was subsequently revealed that the individual in question had clandestinely drilled a bore into the Estes motors he was supplied with by the competition authorities, in order to increase their performance.
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