Vehicle 79 (Redux)

Vehicle 79 Dominator III ranks among my favourite rockets in my fleet. It is an uncomplicated rocket to fly, and its simple design provides a consistently impressive performance on F and G composite motors. Vehicle 79 was constructed from a variety of US Rockets and Aerotech components, featuring through-the-wall plywood fins, a custom-made aluminium baffle unit, and a payload section with a length of 315 mm. Top photo was taken at my former workshop in Thalwil, Switzerland, on November 22, 2010.

Lower photo shows Vehicle 79 on a friend's aluminium launch pad, on the occasion of our "last launch of the century", held on December 22, 1999, in northeast Switzerland. We flew our rockets from 2 to 5:30 pm; the temperature fluctuated around the freezing point. This was our seventh flight that day and thus our last flight of the launch and of the century. Vehicle 79 was powered by an Aerotech 29mm F20-7W Econojet motor. The payload flown consisted of a Missile Works RRC2 altimeter and a custom 9V piezo sonic locator. The flight was perfect and loud, and the RRC2 indicated an altitude of 1274 ft.

Last Launch Of The Century

Preparing an Aerotech G40-10W 29 mm composite motor for Vehicle 98 before the rocket's first flight in the afternoon of December 22, 1999, during what we termed the "last launch of the century" (top). We launched seven flights that day; this was the second.

Vehicle 98 measured 1063 mm in length and 57 mm in diameter. The rocket carried a Missile Works RRC2 altimeter, but it unfortunately failed to log the altitude on this flight due to a loose contact between battery and altimeter.

The boost phase of the flight was flawless. The drogue parachute deployed perfectly, the US Rockets standard main parachute was shredded upon deployment, however. Nonetheless, the combination of drogue and damaged main chutes ensured that the rocket sustained only very minor damage to its nose cone in spite of the hard landing (bottom).