Very cool, Jerry. If you had a .45 Cal. revolver on your hip you'd have looked like Billy the Kid!

BTW...belated Happy Birthday!

Cool info and pics, Jerry.
Keep 'em coming at us.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Great stuff, Jerry! Keep posting photos and the narratives.

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Enjoy life, it has an expiration date.

More, more,more!

Thanks Jerry.

BTW, The white rocket facing down on the table, is that a Gyroc?

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If it flies, I can crash it!

I think it is a Centuri Jayhawk.

Oh, yes I have more as well as a couple of treasures perfect for this site.

The first two photos are an Estes Cherokee modified to accept 29mm F motors, with an Enerjet F67-14. This was flown by Eric Ferm. His favorite rocket on steroids. The Centuri wick igniter smoke can be seen in this photo. I will have more commentary on the photo down below. The second photo is the Cherokee F67 after liftoff. We were using 3/16" rods on the out pads. This setup is typical of the CRS torture rack system used until I started hosting Fest launches at Lucerne starting in 1985 with Misfire Alley. CRS had 3 such 6-pads and out pads for another 24 rockets, and often used them all!

The next two photos are of Rocket Car. This was an untethered run with I believe a D12 motor by Vince Palmire, who is now a research physician in Florida. The preparation is overseen by RSO Eric Ferm (orange hat). Launch results in a certain amount of ducking because at no time was remote distance considered as a safety method.

The first photo shows a wide range of interesting details. To the left is the City of Claremont truck we checked out for this trip. We needed something to haul all that equipment and supplies! On the out pad is a Nike-Ram with F67-14 motor about to fly. The tables and chairs are actually equipment borrowed from Taylor Hall in Claremont. This photo clearly shows the pad, how it's wired and the rotating and tilting fixtures for each pad. One rod even has a clothes pin. The guy on the far right is my dad, Bob Irvine, an Electronics Technology Professor at Cal Poly Pomona (RIP).

Circa 1970.

Jerry

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Now I have a treat for YORF. Actual photos of an Enerjet 2250 in flight with 3 FSI F100-10. Circa 1970.

Jerry Irvine brings an Enerjet 2250 rocket (Larry Brown, Lee Piester) to the pad at the Claremont Rocket Society Lucerne launch. It is powered by three Flight Systems Incorporated (Larry and Lonnie Reese) 28mm paper case, black powder propellant core-burning F100-10 motors ignited by three FSI electric matches. The rocket has three thick wall 29mm tubes projecting out of the rear of the 2.25" ID 2.34" OD main tube which has a payload tube (black and silver) and a balsa nose cone. The rocket uses wedge attach balsa fins. It was flown from a 3/8" rod as a 1/2" rod would be too tight for the supplied BT-5 handlebar (long) launch lug. Pretty sure that is a Plymouth Duster and a Rocket Car in the background.

The Enerjet 2250 is on the pad which is a launch rod stuck into the dirt, with no blast deflector to promote dust on ignition for a better photo. The intrepid recovery crew is in the background. Recovery is by 24" silk parachute (not friggin' nylon). It takes a while to single deploy recover from a full delay coast flight of 3 F100-10 motors, but by flying in the morning when the wind is calm it lands nearby.

Liftoff! Jerry Irvine's Enerjet 2250 lifts off with three F100-10 power and flies straight and true. The rocket was flown in this configuration over a dozen times in its lifetime. Including once at Cahuilla Park in Claremont, the highest power flight ever in Claremont, then or since. That flight was used as a test case for a three station optical tracking system. The data from that test has since been lost to time.

The Enerjet 2250 is unique in that the three 1.14" ID tubes do not slide fit into the 2.25" ID main tube. The ends of the motor tubes must be crushed to slide into the rear of the main tube which substantially reduces the frontal area for a 3 cluster 29mm rocket. This process is not well documented in the kit so several suggestions were accepted then I proceeded with the one time step of inserting the tubes. It worked!

One of the two Centuri Sky Track trackers is shown in this image of the CRS Claremont launch control area set-up. The utility box contained the motors, wadding, and smaller replacement electronics like clips. The three station tracking system added a custom tracker using an MIT plan, possibly the one by Trip Barber? We used those Sky Tracks at every sanctioned contest, records trials and even Lucerne R&D launches right through 1992 when they were "retained" by Charles E. Rogers, then subsequently "stolen" by "unknown persons" from their Lucerne Test Range set spots during a post-Jerry TRA launch. Oops. Last known photo.

Historical Jerry

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I have a special treat for you guys. CRS (NAR Section #193 Polaris) held a sanctioned NAR Open launch where several notables attended including Gary Rosenfield who submitted this Enerjet 2650 (uprated to two stage) you will recognize from drawings he has sold for decades. He submitted the drawings and the rocket itself as his scale data for his sub-scale model of the same rocket.

Here Vince Palmire displays the historical artifact with a quite serious gaze. The location is Claremont High School adjacent to Cahuilla Park in Claremont. In the background of that photo is a building called Taylor Hall. Circa 1970.

Jerry

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Jerry, looks like you forgot to post the photos referred to here. Keep 'em coming! Great stuff!

Joe

7 cluster 29mm rocket which in practical terms at that time really meant 28mm FSI E and F motors. This rocket uses Estes BT-101 and a V-2 nose cone as well as balsa cluster rings and thick balsa fins to accept a seven cluster of 29mm motors. I do not have a clear recollection of what flights it actually made. Circa 1970.

Enerjet included BT-5 for launch lugs in its larger rockets. I noticed a lot of mid-westerners also followed that, which made 3/8" rods popular. But a proper 1/2" launch lug was manufactured by U.S. Rockets starting in about 1986 which fit with the proper clearance on a 1/2" rod and were made from the same material as a traditional 1/8" launch lug from Estes or Centuri. This allowed much straighter flights for heavier more powerful rockets until rails became the thing in about 1995. Now both are common.

The next rocket is the Irvine 3-3 rocket. It is a cluster of three BT-70, each with a cone, and a three cluster of 24mm with the tubes extending out the rear like an Enerjet 2650. This is the first flight of the rocket with all D12-7 motors. This image shows the CRS launch site set-up, pads, controller, and that's me pushing the button. "The harder you push, the higher it goes." In the lower left is the extended launch button which lets a kid launch their own rocket even with a LCO controlling the safety until the countdown commences. Highly recommended.

This photo of the guy who acted as LCO for the first documented G motor launch in California, who's name escapes me right now, is holding his Estes Scrambler and was an active member of CRS including helping with set-up on many occasions.

Jerry

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