First is one of my own since it goes well with the title pic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"These safety glasses are being worn for your protection, not mine"
-KenKzak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right, a single experiment can prove me wrong."
-Albert Einstein re; Theory of Relativity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
-Leonardo daVinci ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Logic is an organized system of thought that enables you to be wrong with confidence."
-Charles F. Kettering ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Can't ya see, you're not making Christianity better, you're making Rock'n'Roll worse!"
-Hank Hill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard"
-Jean Juvénal des Ursins on Henry V's firing of Meaux in 1421 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis."
- Henry Ford ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
- unknown ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."
-Wernher von Braun ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
--Frank Zappa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot confirm their validity."
Ace was a kit [plus occasional motors] manufacturer from sometime in the '70's through the '80's. Ace was owned by Korey Kline who is better known these days for pioneering the Hypertek hobby hybrid motors and the Hyperion hybrid sounding rocket flights at Wallops Island.
The ACE 4" 4:1 nose cone was the first plastic hipower nose cone available, and has been used by many kit makers and custom builders, and is doubtless still being produced.
The Ace Sonic, of course, uses 2 of these cones to make a very streamlined 4" rocket under 3 feet long. The stock kit had a 29mm motor mount, I built mine with a 38mm motor mount so it's a bit shorter, and a lot faster. It also means that it has a tendency to whip a 1/4" launch rod hard, then thunder off on a random vector. What Fun!!
Over the years I've' flown it on exotics and extremes like; G210, G300, H242, I250, I357 and G160 & H220 black powder Silver Streaks as shown above, plus many others. In order to accomodate the longer motors, the motor mount tube extends up to the back of the nose cone. The recovery system packs around it. Due to it's compact yet visible design it has traveled to [and returned from] more flying sites than any other single hi-pwr rocket I own. This includes 2 trips in private aircraft and twice on my motorcycle. I'm pleased to say that it's rod whipping days are over. It took a wee bit of enginuity, but it's now equiped with rail buttons instead of a lug. The front button is attached to the nosecone just above the shoulder, the rear is at the bottom of the parachute well, half way down the airframe, with a standoff. It would've been nice to keep the launch lug for versatility, but low-drag philosophy will out.
I just finished reading; The Flight of the Calliope! by W.D.Nagel. I'm also in the middle of the 2nd story from; Tales of the Brass Griffin by C.B.Ash. These are online Steampunk novellas. They're both full of airships, steam power, odd uses for electricity, strange weapons, monsters, air pirates, and the occasional robot by any other name. In The Flight of the Calliope! they're collectively called Brassbugs. I don't much like the idea of reading books online. I spend way too much time in front of the computer as it is, and I still prefer paper reading materials that I can carry around and fold the page to save my place. It was nice being able to edit the occasional annoying typo though.
BTW; I haven't been suffering from writers block lately, it's actually posters block. I have plenty of material typed, I'm just having trouble declaring stuff finished, and deciding what order to post it in.
It was a week after I posted High Flight, about 1 or 2am as usual, and an info-mercial comes on. Yawn. It starts off with something like ;"Do you remember when your TV did this after midnight?" and the TV shows the American flag and starts up the National Anthem. I'm weirding out by then. It goes on to say; "Then on bla/bla/1972 it did this!" Scenes start scrolling from Midnight Special. Wow Man, I was there. Serious, I saw the 1st show, and a bunch more after. It was a turning point for broadcast TV and the night-owls amongst us.
That's right, they're selling DVDs of Midnight Special. It's a subscription service not a library, and the types of music are mixed together like the original shows. There's extra unbroadcast footage too. The live shows had some of the great comedians of the day in between the music acts. These were'nt part of the TV shows but are included on the DVDs. Some good news, some not as good some great! I wish it was an archive where I could order my choices and they'd burn me a DVD and send it. You hear that MTV? Where's my credit card? www.midnightspecial.com
This is Low Flight. A poem written by pilots or flight crews unknown, of the F4 Phantom II. during the Vietnam War. I love pilot humor, I grew up with it. Dry wit, best served with a tall cold one, or three. This is not parody, it was not written to mock High Flight. I don't believe any pilot would. Of course, they would mock their own aircraft, other aircraft, or the pilots of other aircraft. Most Air Force songs [or poems] are written to existing music. The original words often provide inspiration for the new. Why does the Phantom have a flat belly?
Low Flight
Oh, I have slipped through swirling clouds of dust, a few feet from the dirt. I've flown the F4 low enough, to make my bottom hurt. I've flown in the desert, hills and valleys, mountains too. Frolicked in the trees, where only flying squirrels flew.
Chased the frightened cows along, disturbed the ram and ewe, and done a hundred other things, that you'd not care to do. I've smacked the tiny sparrow, bluebird, robin, all the rest. I've ingested baby eagles, simply sucked them from their nest.
I've streaked through total darkness, just the other guys and me, and spent the night in terror of things I could not see. I turned my eyes to heaven, as I sweated through the flight, put out my hand and touched, the Fire Warning Light.
