Regrettably, the 38 years that have passed since these photos were taken have caused me to fail to recall the designation of this vaguely Scout-inspired rocket. It had been designed by my best friend, Dave Sharma, a tremendously skilled rocket builder. The rocket was built from Centuri parts; it measured in excess of 1000 mm in length and approximately 35 mm in diameter, and it contained an extended payload compartment.
I either acquired or traded the rocket from Dave and flew it successfully a number of times, launched from a Centuri Power Tower launch pad. It was damaged, however, on the day these photos were taken in northeast Switzerland, in July of 1978. The pleasing aesthetics of the design and its fantastic flight performance left their mark with me, and I subsequently designed and built an upscaled version of it, named Vehicle 39 Enigma. Vehicle 39 became one my main rockets and is still a part of my collection to this day.
Photography by Hans Hofer.
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