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."
Here's yet another gem I found at China Lake Alumni. 1970 gallery. It's called the HAP Sidewinder. HAP stands for High Altitude Project. The limited research I found indicates that it was created by combining a Sparrow rocket motor with the front end of an AIM-9L. Some test flights were performed, but the project was soon cancelled.
I've never been a big Sidewinder fan and the proliferation of variants has always made the study of them a bit bewildering. Having admitted that, I must say; I LIKE THIS!
I can look up the 2 diameters and easily scale a drawing from there.I have an Estes Python nosecone which will serve for the Sidewinder seeker section, or I can turn one, as well as turning the transition section. Sigh... just add it to an already long list of unstarted and semi-started projects
3d by Dick Stafford Photo KeithAlanK Photo KeithAlanK Photo John Lee
I can appreciate a clever euphemism. The USAF nuclear arsenal is typically modular in nature. A sensible approach when technology is progressing rapidly. The nuclear explosive is a seperable unit from it's carrier body, either a missile or a gravity bomb. In the case of a gravity bomb, the body is referred to as a drop-shape. Cute, I like that.
This it the DS-3r; Drop Shape, 3"dia, rear ejection. This is also the 3rd DS that I've built over the years. Won't be the last either. I had been sketching and dreaming this particular design for a couple years already, and when Giant Leap introduced it's 3", 5:1 plastic nosecone, I knew the time had come. I turned an upscale Cherokee cone for a rocket buddy in trade for the Giant Leap cone.
I always thought the slo-mo vidclips of gravity bombs with retard packages looked cool. The small close coupled chute ejecting out the rear to slow the bombs down. For a low altitude drop, this gives the aircraft a lead over the slowing bombs so that they don't explode directly under the aircraft. Nukes often are configured the same way for the same reason, despite much higher release altitudes. The DS-3r has the internal space to do this well. The motor mount tube extends well into the nose. The ejection gasses must 1st go forward, then return through the baffled centering rings to eject the tail cap and the chute which is packed around the motor. This utilizes the entire internal volume of cool air to push the chute out before any hot gasses can even reach it. Another trick I pulled is that by removing the nose cone, the entire motor mount/baffle assembly slides right out for servicing or for chute replacement.
When the DS-3r was nearing completion, I decided that It needed to be run through RocSim. I've used it a time or two, but don't have it. I still use Barrowman CP calc on paper, and did it this time, though knowing that it has trouble with rockets this stubby. I contacted Dick Stafford of Dick's Rocket Dungeon fame and he helped me out. After tweaking the mass and balance in line with the the real model, he found that only one ounce of nose weight would be required, I added 1 1/2oz. RocSim Barrowman CP agreed with paper Barrowman CP, and RocSim CP was indeed a bit further back. The wedge airfoil fins [which RocSim as yet doesn't handle] actually moves the CP still further back a bit. The performance sim crosses Estes motors and the 24mm Blackjacks right off the list, too slow off the rail. E18W is good for 800ft, the F39T goes to 1200ft. Just about perfect upper range, and I may work my way down the motor list over time. That new Aerotech E20W looks nice too.
Here's another pic I found at China Lake Alumni. The very first pic in the 1962 gallery. I haven't seen one of these in at least 20 years. I do know what it is. Do you?
Sometimes it pays to repeat a search from time to time. Previously, when I Googled Monocopter I'd get some of the usual scattering of model vidclips and discussion, and a whole lot of that Euro turbofan jetpak, which may be mono, but aint no copter. This time around the photo below popped out at me. Quite a find. It was at the China Lake Alumni website, in the photo gallery page for 1963. China Lake is home to the US Navy weapons test facilities. The site search engine, unfortunately, yielded no other photos or info. I kept the original file name on the pic; Monocopter perch 16AUG63 CLK SL-027985
I am able to infer a few things from the pic. Foremost is that the protuberance on the far side of the hub is not the same as the wing on this side, so I believe this really is a monocopter. The wing is mounted to the hub at the center of lift, therefore is probably capable of changing pitch in flight, likely in response to control inputs to the elevon at the wingtip. If the hub isn't made from actual truck hubcaps I'll be surprised as hell. If it's heavy enough the disk hub will stabilize a rotor despite the lack of a proper flybar. I had already designed a monocopter using a ring shaped hub, although the ring on mine is proportionately larger in relation to the wing since it'll have no extra internal mass.
Two things are puzzling. Obviously; what is the powerplant? The other is the source of the 1/2 round shadow directly below the hub? You can see that the sun is to the left and the shadows are stretching to the right, therefore the hub's actual shadow is to the right as well.
Today, while surfing the web for something completely different, I ran across another version of Low Flight, this time written by and for helicopter pilots. I previously posted the original High Flight, and then Low Flight written for Phantom II crews earlier this year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Low Flight
Oh, I've slipped the surly bonds of earth And hovered out of ground effect on semi-rigid blades; Earthward I've auto'ed and met the rising brush of non-paved terrain And done a thousand things you would never care to Skidded and dropped and flared Low in the heat soaked roar. Confined there, I've chased the earthbound traffic And lost the race to insignificant headwinds; Forward and up a little in ground effect I've topped the General's hedge with drooping turns Where never Skyhawk or even Phantom flew. Shaking and pulling collective, I've lumbered the low untresspassed halls of victor airways, Put out my hand and touched a tree. -Anonymous
