Civilian Rocketry by William Colburn
- Product Code: LIT25
- Availability: In Stock
Price:$40.00
The latest book in the Colburn Series dealing
with technical, semi-technical and historical subjects
relating to rocket propulsion; it is a rich read for
the hobbiest and professional alike.
In 154 pages, Colburn outlines the history of 21
rocket societies, some briefly, some very extensively.
These groups, primarily from 1942 to the present, have
served as the breeding grounds for thousands of
engineers and scientists. Not only in rocket
propulsion but in many technical fields.
The ingenuity and wide-spread interests of these
groups are outlined in this volume with narrative,
photographs, charts, tables, reports and notes.
Descriptions of early launches and tests abound.
Civilian Rocketry is a unique look into the past of amateur rocketry,
Colburn has used his acquaintance with many early
workers to flesh out this manuscript. His personal
experience of over 50 years in rocket propulsion is
well evident.
What a great gift for a rocket enthusiast, history
buff, or young person about to invest their
intelligence in a technical field.
Or gift yourself with this most excellent read.
Coming Soon: Bill Colburn's Aerospace Pyrotechnics
| Table of Contents | |||
| Preface | 6 | Project VEDRIM | 49 |
| Rocket Science Basics | 8 | Semicon | 49 |
| Now the narrative… | 12 | Project Hijump | 49 |
| Origin- | 12 | Last Touch of Amateur Rocketry | 52 |
| Pre-Pubescent Rocketry- | 16 | What Happened to the Members? | 53 |
| Potassium Nitrate & Sugar TF-1 | 16 | Resurgence of Civil Experimental Rocketry | 53 |
| Early Thrust Measurements | 17 | The SORAC Project | 54 |
| Whoosh-Oops | 18 | The SORAC Four-Port Grain | 58 |
| Cast TF-1 | 18 | The Daisy Grain | 60 |
| Zinc/Sulfur Micrograin Propellant | 19 | The Flight Computer | 61 |
| Ram Jets | 20 | The SORAC Flight Termination System | 62 |
| RMRS Standard Igniter | 21 | SORAC Fin Assemblies-A short history of each vehicle | 63 |
| Carnegie Library | 21 | SORAC the Facilities | 68 |
| Jim Boudreau and the Black Powder Cannon | 21 | The HAH Series | 69 |
| The “Real” Aluminum Rocket | 22 | The Millenium Launch | 70 |
| Busted | 22 | The SORAC Project Addendum | 72 |
| Fin Test Vehicles | 22 | SORAC Accomplishments | 76 |
| Fuse Motor Parts | 23 | SORAC H5 Launch Vehicle Avionics Packages | 79 |
| Herb Praskey Gets Stuck | 23 | Attitude Sensor/Flight Termination System (AS/FTS) | 82 |
| Bill Colburn Gets Stuck | 23 | Typical SORAC Scheduling | 84 |
| Rodeo Static Tests | 24 | Photographs from the Rocket Motor Research Society Archives 1954-1960 | 87 |
| Creativity at Dirk’s Lab | 24 | Fin and Wing Construction in the Rocket Motor Research Society | 88 |
| Manual Arts Award | 25 | The Satellite Project of the Rocket Motor Research Society | 89 |
| Entry in the County Fair | 26 | First Telemetered Rocket of the RMRS | 90 |
| Forest Pool Pulse Jets | 26 | Cantilever Load Cell | 91 |
| The Centrifuge | 26 | Hydraulic Load Cell | 92 |
| The Petznick Rocket Lab | 27 | The RMRS NALR a Seven Foot | 93 |
| Injector Tests at Don Snyder’s | 27 | Bi-Propellant Rocket Vehicle | 93 |
| The Creamery | 27 | The Ram Jet Test Vehicles | 94 |
| The Blow-out Plug vehicle | 27 | RMRS Fin Test Vehicle | 95 |
| Closet Rocketeers | 28 | Three Stage Micrograin Record Vehicle | 96 |
| First Liquid Motor | 29 | The UHF Downlink for the NALR Vehicle | 97 |
| Pulse Liquid Motor | 29 | The Solid Propellant Aerospike Motor | 98 |
| Liquid Motor Tests at Trabing’s Ranch | 29 | Sub-Sonic Ram Jet test Vehicle | 99 |
| Propellant Nomenclature | 31 | Micrograin Delta Glider | 100 |
| Miss Pogue | 31 | The Vorpal Sword Ram Jet Vehicle | 101 |
| We Adopt a Motto | 32 | Addendum Excerpts from the | 102 |
| Launchers of the RMRS | 32 | Original Ardent Youth | 102 |
| The Most Hazardous Operation | 32 | Herb Praskey working on a Firing Box | 133 |
| Successful TF-1 End-Burner | 33 | RMRS TF-1 Standard Motor Description | 135 |
| Asphalt-Perchlorate Propellant (GALCIT) | 33 | Test Stand for RMRS Standard Motors | 138 |
| Later Asphalt | 34 | TF-1 Mass Action Analysis | 139 |
| Static Tests | 34 | Other Early Rocket Societies | 140 |
| Spin Stabilized | 34 | Rocket Society of the American Academy of Sciences | 140 |
| PRS and RRS | 35 | GIRD | 140 |
| Hypergolic Hybrid | 35 | German Rocket Society (Verein fur Raumschiffarhrt VfR) | 140 |
| Ammonium Nitrate Composites | 36 | American Rocket Society | 140 |
| My High School Chemistry Fun | 37 | Cleveland Rocket Society | 141 |
| Hypergol Tests | 37 | The Rocket Research Institute of California | 142 |
| I become a Dissertation | 37 | Reaction Missile Research Society of New Mexico | 142 |
| Two Sacramento Trips | 37 | Sooner Rocket Society of Enid, Oklahoma | 142 |
| The Okha Rocket Kamikaze Plane | 38 | Reaction Research Associates of New Mexico | 142 |
| The Walther H2O2 Engine | 38 | 3S Group of Napa, California | 143 |
| A Lesson In Micrograin | 39 | Arlington Rocket Society of Arlington, Virginia | 143 |
| Central Electric | 39 | San Carlos Rocket Society of San Carlos, California | 144 |
| Hunting-Bye Refrigeration | 39 | San Francisco Rocket Society of San Francisco, California | 144 |
| Ram Jet Booster | 40 | Richard Nakka, Canada | 144 |
| The Last Rocket | 40 | El Cajon Rocket Society of El Cajon, California | 144 |
| The Last Rocket again | 40 | Independent Rocket Society | 144 |
| The Rolled Crimp | 41 | Another El Cajon Rocket Society | 145 |
| The Libyan Launches | 41 | William Colburn’s Current Activities in Brief | 146 |
| North African Justice | 42 | Gelled Propellant Dart Research Vehicle | 147 |
| Project VEDRIM in Africa | 47 | Ablative Boilerplate Bi-Propellant Engine | 148 |
| Maryland Tests | 47 | FerretWorks Hybrid Restart Igniter | 148 |