George,

You have my deepest sympathy and I am praying for you . . .

Have you made plans for your rocketry articles, documents, and Scale Data to be preserved online ? I believe that Scott, here on YORF, would be willing and able to make that happen.

It would be a tragedy, if it were "lost to the ages".

Dave F.

So, an INCREDIBLE thing happened Sunday May 14th. Ed LaCroix posted this on the NAR Community forum, message # 11: https://community.nar.org/discussio...ncreatic-cancer


"I want people reading this thread to know that Pat Fitzpatrick of the Museum of Flight in Seattle, made a once in a lifetime experience happen for George. As many of you know, George is a walking encyclopedia of information about the Space Shuttle program. George has built and flow the ONLY RC rocket-boosted complete Shuttle stack for FAI competition. Pat thru his connections with the Museum of Flight, was able to reach out to "Hoot" Gibson, NASA astronaut and Shuttle Commander on STS missions 41-B, 61-C, 27, 47, and 71 and arrange to talk to George via ZOOM call I am hosting as I type this. Thank you Pat for making this connection for George! "



Here is my reply, message #12:

"Much thanks for Pat Fitzpatrick for arranging this. He called me Friday asking about my availability for a Zoom call Sunday afternoon, but was mysterious as to who or what it involved. He said to check my e-mail for the zoom notice. When I opened it and saw a participant named "Hoot", I figured...naw....couldn't be. Then "Gibson" sunk in, and had quite a long "Happy Cry OMG" moment when the realization hit me.

It was quite an honor that Hoot was so gracious to speak with me (for 90 minutes!!!) . We talked shuttle of course, he had some nice stories. But also models. Mine, and his RC models. He has scratchbuilt a D558-2 Skyrocket, and I got to tell him about my X-1 model. He's worked for decades on an XFY-Pogo, which electric power finally made more practical to try but it's still in the tethered hover stage.

I told hm of my shuttle models, of course, and R/C Rocket Boosted Gliders. And as I was describing the size of my Lunar Module Quadcopter (Hoot was quite intrigued by that), Ed popped up an image of me holding it, so he could see the size and detail.

My 1999 contest shuttle, which won NARAM, is of STS-47, as that is the only one I saw launch. and was a Jay Apt flight. Well, Hoot Gibson was the commander of that mission. I will be flying that model on the US Team at the WSMC in Austin TX early July, then donate it Seattle Museum of Flight's Model Rocket museum (as well as my 1988 Sunguidance rocket)

Just a fantastic, fantastic thing that I'll never forget. It was recorded but needs a bit of editing. Sometime down the road it will be posted.

P.S. - Photo of STS-47 launch, with my 1/60 Piggybsck orbiter

__________________
Contest flying, Sport flying, it's all good.....
NAR# 18723 NAR.org
GeorgesRockets.com
Georges'CancerGoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-geo...ay-fight-cancer

What a great opportunity that was, George! Nothing quite like talking with those who have actually ‘been there and done that’! I am glad it all came together for you. Wow, 90 minutes! Very good reflection on Hoot to be so generous and giving of his time.

On the other hand, I suspect after the Zoom call was over, Hoot had found that HE had learned a few things he did not know!

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Thsnks, Earl.

Actuslly, RC plane-wise, for his XFY-Pogo project, I did recommend s modern "Flight Controller" or autopiot that will work WAY better than an old-school model plane "gyro", to assist with the conmtrol issues he's had. In a follow-up e-mail I'm going to send him Bob Psrks' email ad suggest he contsct Bob. Bob may slso know a far more suitsble R/C Vertical Flight guru to suggest to Hoot.



Also, I do need to let him know the correct amount of "Twang" when a shuttle orbiter ignited the SSME's, and the offset thrust caused a swaying motion at the ET tip of 30" (liftoff waited for it to sway back to vertical). He thought the Twang was 15", & the conversation went by too quick to follow up on thst.

This just in, photos of Hoot's XFY Pogo. The engineering for the contrarotatng props is incredible.

__________________
Contest flying, Sport flying, it's all good.....
NAR# 18723 NAR.org
GeorgesRockets.com
Georges'CancerGoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-geo...ay-fight-cancer

It is somewhat comforting to know that even shuttle astronauts who flew on the thing don’t know everything about the vehicle!

Back in the day on NASA’s TV channel ‘NASA Select’, after each shuttle launch they would go back and show ALL the camera views of liftoff around the shuttle pad. There was one camera, up near the top of the tower, that was squarely focused on the tip of the external tank. And wow, what a visible sway of the tip of the External tank at SME ignition! SRB ignition did not occur until that twang rebounded and passed back through the normal vertical orientation of the tip of the External Tank. It was quite, quite noticeable!

I would suspect Hoot would be happy to have any additional help with his RC projects that you are able to provide.

Earl

__________________
Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970