Vehicle 22 Redux

The evolved version of the original Vehicle 22 payload model rocket, Vehicle 22 B, while being prepared for launch from my metal theodolite launcher at Allmend Frauenfeld, Switzerland, on Saturday, April 26, 1986.

Vehicle 22 B flew with a Flight Systems Inc. 21 mm black powder D or E motor. And while my flight data sheet of that day indicates a very good deployment of the parachute and a perfect post-flight condition of the rocket, the flight itself is described by means of a brief, wry remark: "stability deficiencies".

Photography by Martin Kyburz.

Rocket Fleet, 1989

Scans of two regrettably very deficient analog photos taken at my former home in Nürensdorf, Switzerland, in autumn of 1989, depicting part of what was then my rocket fleet as well as some designs under construction at the time.

Top photo shows, from left: Vehicle 59, built from Flight Systems and Centuri parts and designed to fly with Flight Systems E black powder motors. Vehicle 59 measured 886 mm in length (including a payload section of 456 mm length). The rocket in the center is my scratch-built Honest John semi scale model (still lacking any finer details), while the model on the right is Vehicle 51 B Enigma II, a development of the earlier Vehicle 39 A Enigma. Vehicle 51 B was constructed using Estes, Centuri, and CMR components and intended to be flown with Flight Systems E and F motors. It measured 896 mm in length and featured a payload section of 158 mm usable space. The lower and upper sections of the rocket were recovered by means of two separate parachutes.

Lower photo, from left: Vehicle 32, a cluster design utilizing three 18 mm motors and featuring a payload section. Next to it are Vehicle 23, a 24 mm experimental design with ultra thin, high aspect-ratio plywood fins, and Vehicle 22 B, also using three high aspect-ratio plywood fins that were strengthened with an epoxy coating. The rocket line-up is completed by Vehicle 48 A Heracles (designed for 21 mm and 24 mm D motors), Vehicle 39 A Enigma, and Vehicle 44 A Rhea (a sport model with payload section, built specifically for Flight Systems D18 motors).

Rocket Fleet, 1986

Part of my active fleet, photographed on the occasion of our morning to afternoon launch at Allmend Frauenfeld, Switzerland, on Saturday, April 26, 1986. It was a beautiful, clear day with only low wind and a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. Incidentally, this was also the day the Chernobyl nuclear disaster took place.

Lower photo shows, from left: the black Vehicle 31 (featuring self adhesive Mylar foil on payload section), the white and black Vehicle 39 A Enigma, (flown for the first time during this launch), and the black Vehicle 28 A (with white fin and nose cone), a rocket built specifically to fly with Flight Systems E and F black powder motors. The flights of Vehicle 28 A revealed stability deficiencies which subsequently led to a redesign.

Next are the two prototypes of Vehicle 30; #8230 B is on top and #8230 A at bottom. I was about to lose the latter that day. Then the silver/black/red Vehicle 44 Rhea, a payload carrier built from CMR components. To the right of Vehicle 44 are my Estes Bandit (repaired from its previous motor failure) and my trusty Centuri Starfire. Then, the newly completed silver/white/black Vehicle 48 A Heracles (bottom) and the red/white Vehicle 36 B sport model, built from Centuri parts (top).

This is followed by the silver/white/black Vehicle 22 B payload model with its high aspect-ratio fins, my Centuri Excalibur 2, and my Estes Titan II ICBM. The line-up is completed by Vehicle 33, a delta-wing boost glider loosely inspired by Estes' legendary Astron Skydart. Vehicle 33 was scratch-built in 1981, using Flight Systems and Estes components.

In addition to all of these rockets, the top photo also shows one of my Estes Astron Alphas (far right), frequently used to open a launch and determine the wind conditions.

Photography by Martin Kyburz.

[Entry amended October 17, 2016.]

Vehicle 22 Evolution

Evolution of a design. Vehicle 22 was created in autumn of 1980 to fly with minimum thickness, high aspect-ratio fins; its 41.4 mm diameter payload compartment was originally intended to carry a CMR Foxmitter transmitter. The rocket was first flown on April 16, 1986, powered by a Flight Systems D18-3 black powder motor (top photo, taken by Marco Schenker). The flight revealed design deficiencies, however, and the recovery system became detached at ejection.

The design was thus revised later that same month, increasing airframe length from 582 mm to 686 mm and using slightly stronger fins. The resulting Vehicle 22 B was photographed three years later, in summer of 1989, in the backyard of what was then my home in Nürensdorf, Switzerland (lower photo).

Having made its maiden flight on April 26, 1986, at a launch at Allmend Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Vehicle 22 B's flight characteristics still proved dissatisfying. Unfortunately, the rocket suffered irreparable damage during a subsequent relocation.

[Entry amended June 3, 2016.]