To be honest, I thought there would be a lot more mornings like this once I retired, but I didn't factor in things like honey-do lists and general stuff around the house showing their heads. That said, there have been some days where I just farted around in the house and missed a perfect launch window. I had read the forecast for this day, and everything was ready and waiting in the hall to motivate me to get out and fly. For a change that was exactly what I did.
I'd actually started this batch of rockets a few days before but only managed two flights before the flies drew enough blood to make me shut down. In the time since I picked up a can of Off to keep in the trunk with my launch equipment. I arrived at 9:10 to find the field it newly cut and actually in the process of being finished. There was an uncut swath of tall grass and weeds from the infield down the left field line. A flock of geese were in the tall stuff, looking nervous about the threats from two directions, and they took to the skies between the time I made the walk out to set up the pad and returned to the car for the rocket tote.
I had set up on one of the few spots that weren't covered with freshly cut weeds and grass and hosed my exposed self with bug spray, then grabbed the Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter from the top of the tote. I'd had this kit since 1996 or so, but one thing or another kept me from flying it. Today would be the day. Finally.
I had loaded it with a B6-2, bent the flaps into a more or less "up" position, and checked for parachute. (No, I don't always check.) I was set up in deep center and the rod was angled toward left. The F-22 left the pad heading toward left field and seemed to be struggling for altitude, but not fatally so. The flight topped out at 167' and the two second delay seemed quick, but everything worked as hoped. The booster continued heading left while the glider disengaged and turned somewhat with the breeze. The glide was halting, but mostly steady and it settled into a quick glide back to the field, landing in the mowed grass of straightaway left field. The booster landed in short left without damage. Not bad for a geezer.
It was about this point when it hit me. The heat. Despite the early hour it was still brutal on the field, mostly because of the humidity. My shirt was already well on the way to being soaked through and after resting my forearms on my khaki shorts while I picked out the next rocket on the pad, I noticed that they left a noticeable dark spot on the fabric. Much of me would melt into my socks by the end of the morning. The Red River Stratos would be the second off the pad this day.
This would be the first ever Stratos flight in full livery. It had been ready to go at B6-4 Field, but the conditions were never right for me to risk the OOP bird, even on an A8-3. Today that wouldn't be a consideration and it was loaded with a B6-4. The pad was angled slightly right, but the flight was almost dead straight to 549'. There must have been the slightest of breezes because it came back to the left of the pad and settled to the ground about ten feet where it had started.
The Centuri Python Fighter was one of the kits that were made using Estes parts in the waning days of Centuri. Seriously waning. It was a 1983 only kit, which puts it right at the end. I picked up the nose cone in a late night eBay Buy It Now deal and got decals from Gordon at Excelsior. It was one of several I cloned when I realized that the companies shared parts in the late 70's/early 80's.
This would be flight #4 in 14 years for the Python Fighter, so it's obviously not a frequent flyer. This flight would be on a B6-4 with the rod pointing straight up. That mattered little as the PF left the pad heading right and behind me at a fairly sharp angle. It was heading in the direction of Rt. 8, but never quite reached the road. The flight topped out at 427', popped the chute as it was sideways and came back to the field in short center field behind where I stood. A stovepipe flight.
The fourth flight of the day would be the Estes Citation Patriot that was part of a large eBay lot a few years ago. For some unknown reason it had been painted a red-orange color and flew that way several times over the years. I recently noticed that the nose cone is a two-piece cone with an actual screw eye, not the molded cone that typifies a normal blow-molded PNC-60AH, so I decided to give it some restoration work and a fresh paint job just because it's likely a fairly early production Patriot.
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To be honest, the flight could have been better. The Patriot left the pad on a B6-4 heading right as had the Python Fighter. The flight topped out at 348' and it had tipped over when the ejection charge fired. Up to that point, everythiong had looked great, but the Patriot body flew directly into the parachute at ejection. It didn't come out on film, but it was very clear from where I was watching on the ground. The Patriot immediately began falling in one mass lump, clearly not in danger of parachute deployment. It hit the field hard, directly in front of me in a pile of clippings. At first I thought the clippings had cushioned the impact, but when I picked up the rocket, the black fin was dangling. So much for the classy new paint job.
Next up would be the Estes Vagabond. (The Vagabond, not the Vagabond.) It is one of many "Hey, I've got the parts to build that" birds in my fleet. They are usually the product of a rained out launch. At some point I made a note that this is the Estes version of the Centuri Astro-1. Not sure where I heard that, but it seems viable.
This would be my first A8-3 flight on the day, likely because I had it previously loaded for duty at B6-4 Field. After the countdown, the Vagabond sat on the pad for a long beat before finally igniting. That only happened because I kept my finger in it, which could be a sign that this round of batteries has run the course and needs to be replaced before the next launch. The flight was dead straight to 246', then showed the Patriot how it was done with a perfect recovery to withing 20' of the pad. It even had the good grace to land in one of the truly cleared sections of the field. (I should also mention that they were stopping traffic on Rt. 8 for construction and had it stopped well past the entrance to The Grove. Someone in line honked their horn as the Vagabond was leaving the pad. It reminded me of when the kids at Woodfill did a countdown for me a couple of years back.)
Flight #6 would be a fire and forget rocket, the Estes Firehawk. (The Firehawk, not the Firehawk.) It was a Hobby Lobby clearance years ago and I picked it up on the cheap to keep in my range box as a giveaway. That opportunity never came, so I eventually built it myself. It's an underwhelming little bird, but I can fly it on an A10 or A3 without worry.
There wasn't much to this flight. Like I said, fire and forget, but unlike the Mosquito or the Quark, this one is large enough to keep in sight through the flight. Like several flights before it, this one was largely straight to 562'. You could make out the ejection, but good luck following it down with a camera. I had to slow things way down to find it in the frame and only did that by finding a flicker of the streamer. So much for keeping it in sight through the flight. It landed in an area of the field just cleared by the mower, but he stopped and let me recover it even though I waved him on. Fairly good chance I was the first person he'd seen on the field in weeks based on the looks of things.
The Semroc Moon Glo and I have a history complicated by me never having a successful flight with a Moon Glo. This would be just the third flight in the thirteen years that I've been flying it, mostly because it refuses to eject the recovery device, in this case a streamer, and instead it pops the motor casing no matter how tightly I wedge it in with tape. The history can be clearly seen in the crumpled area at the top of the tube in the photo below.
The upward portion of this A8-3 flight was like most on the afternoon, straight and high to 582'. I didn't see the ejection event, but I heard it. I saw something heading back down to the field, then a second something. It quickly became apparent that the first something was the expended A8-3 casing. It landed about fifteen feet from the pad, followed quickly by the Moon Glo, which landed five feet away from that. No real new damage was noted as it hit in the grass clippings, but that doesn't make me excited about the idea of bringing it out to the field again. Wonder if I could staple the motor in place?
With the halfway point now passed, flight #8 would be the Estes Sequoia, another mini engine powered bird that is long enough that it doesn't qualify as fire and forget. Still, it is a fairly decent performer on an A10. This is an interesting kit in that I don't remember where I got it, but I've always liked the design and how well it turned out.
Much like the Vagabond did for the Citation Patriot, the Sequoia did for the Moon Glo. The A10-3 flight took the Sequoia to 492' and after a flight that leaned slightly right, popped the top as it was still ascending. The ends swapped on the way down and the landing occurred fifteen feet behind where I'd launched from. I might just try flying the Moon Glo on a mini engine with an adapter next time or convert it full time to take advantage of the engine hook.
My second Red River rocket of the morning would be the USS Prometheus on a B6-4. This is another rocket that has been ready for flight on multiple occasions, but was brought home unflown for no reason other than running out of time. This would be flight #9 on the day and it was the heat rather than the bugs that was making me wonder how long I had left. The Off seemed to have quelled the bloodlust for the local flies, but it's like taking a shower in motor oil.
If you compare this Prometheus side-by-side with another, you'll notice that I didn't do such a hot job getting everything lined up. As I remember, I got the fins on one side, then did the other side to match. Once it was dry, I started to notice the difference, but it flew fine, so I let it be. I now claim that I meant to do that. Today the Prometheus at first seemed to be reluctant to make the flight, but I kept squeezing the launch button and eventually won the battle of wills. "Took ya long enough," I said when it finally launched. Seven seconds, by my count. The flight was perfectly normal to 517'. It ejected as forward motion stopped and recovered just out from the pad in deep left center. It meant to do that.
One of my collection of Estes Mini Maxes was next. I'm sure I've told it before, but I have so many because for a while it was what I did. I'd visit Hobby Lobby with a coupon on my iPad that my daughter e-mailed to me and more often than not I'd buy a Mini Max. Or motors. Depends on how low I was on them. I painted them red, pink, yellow, green, gold and purple and only quit because Hobby Lobby stopped stocking them. (Estes discontinued them.) This would be the Mini Lemon Max on an A10-3.
As was the custom of the day, this flight was almost dead straight off the rail, so much so that I had trouble keeping the camera on it. (I was a catcher as a kid, so you'd think I'd have grown out of that by now.) The flight topped out at 317', and I managed to keep things in view. Still, I didn't manage to catch anything usable of the flight until it was about 100' up. Quick up and down with the streamer and it wound up 15' from where I stood.
The next flight was another experiment to see if a big bird could possibly be able to fly in The Grove on an 18mm C6-3 rather than a D12. That was before I realized that the Centuri Bulldog AGM-83A was originally kitted as an 18mm bird and I just went with 24mm power based on what I'd read. The Bulldog is inching up in the paint booth, and after this flight it will likely move up in the queue.
The C6-3 had plenty to get this piggy flying. The Bulldog left the pad heading right and initially looked to be heading for Rt. 8, but the power gave out before it could get into trouble. It topped out at 372' and looked to have little trouble doing it. No altitude record, but a good, solid flight. It landed about 3/4 of the way out toward Rt. 8 and was my longest walk of the day.
The Estes Condor was my first "big" rocket back in 1977, at least until I got the Andromeda for my birthday that September. My brother-in-law and I stumbled onto the JimZ site in early 2001 and the Condor was the first kit I looked up. The next day we went to a hobby shop that had a selection of Estes parts and I was shocked to find out how much smaller the Condor was than I remembered. In my mind it was more like the BT-55 version that I eventually cloned.
It had been a while since I flew any of my Condor fleet, so I was looking forward to this flight all day. I'd been looking forward to it the last time I was here, but I hadn't barfed it up and didn't bring extra that day. Today I still hadn't barfed it up, but such were the winds at The Grove that there were several clumps close to me sitting on top of the newly mown grass. The B6-4 flight was fairly low level, leaving the pad heading right and topping out at 249'. Unfortunately, the rocket was almost horizontal at ejection and the body of the Condor flew into the parachute as it was about to deploy. The chute worked fine, but the Condor glider got caught up in the shroud lines. Other than that, recovery was as expected and it landed just behind me to the right.
I caught a second wind about this time, and with just three rockets left in my tote I thought I had a decent shot of finishing them off. Lucky #13 would be the Logix Explorer, the kit from the Logix Science Fair Aeronautical Lab set that I got for Christmas in 1977 like a lot of kids, based on how frequently they come up for auction.
I picked this set up off of eBay in the interest of "unfinished business". I never managed to fly the kit that came in my set back then, so building and finally flying one seemed like the thing to do. This would be an A8-3 flight, but the previous flight was a B6-6, albeit on a much larger field. The Explorer was straight up off the pad to 384', popped the streamer as it tipped to the left, then recovered in deep left. A perfectly executed aeronautical experiment. The Science Fair can be proud.
My second wind was short lived. At this point I thought about packing it in, but I didn't want to stop with an unlucky 13 on the day. I had two birds left in the box, the Estes Mini Lime Max or the FRW Spirochete. I wasn't in the mood to hunt for the Spirochete, so the Mini Lime Max got to be flight #14.
You can hear in my voice as I counted down that this launch session was done. If you crank the volume, you can probably hear the sweat running off me in rivers. The Max headed to the right off the pad and topped out at 331'. It began riding the breeze back toward me and landed under streamer in straightaway center.
I really, REALLY thought about grabbing the Spirochete and sending it, but at this point my arms were leaving spots on my khaki shorts when they brushed against my legs. There was an iced tea calling from in the car and the idea of driving home with the windows down and the breeze blowing through the car while I drank my tea was WAY too good to ignore. The trip home was going to be long because my normal way involved a possible wait in the sun and nothing about sitting in the sun sounded good at that point. Since this launch the weather has changed and I'm hoping the temps for my next visit to The Grove will be 70's instead of 90's. At least I know the Spirochete is ready to lead off when the opportunity presents itself.
