SERFS+1997

SERFS MEETING YATESBURY 1997
This page is a report on the Yatesbury meeting of the Southern England Rocket Flyers (SERFS) during September 1997. Myself (Dave Thosmon), Shaun O'Niel and my Farther (Dave Thomson) attended the meeting by kind invitation from John Harvey of SERFS.


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Above is shown myself at the SERFS Yatesbury meeting in September 1997. The rocket is a 1/3 scale model of a US Army Patriot missile. The motors are 2xG80-7W Areotech motors for the first stage and 2xG40-4 Areotech motors (air started ) for the second stage. The rocket has an inertia timer (built by myself) that arms the system on launch and then fires the second stage after 1 to 10 seconds (adjustable by potentiometer on board). Unfortunately for the first flight i forgot to turn on the arm switch for the second stage.



The rocket flew fine on the two G80T motors and deployment was OK also. But the hard griund of the site did some damage to the nosecone and one of the fins. G80T motors sure give a good kick off the pad but the G40W is a much nicer motor for scale flight.

Left is shown the motors wired up and ready to go! The wiring to the stage/timer for the 2xG40-4W Areotech motors (single use) goes up the side of the rocket through a conduit to the nose cone containing the timer/stager. The ignitors are Black Sky Reasearch (Scott Bartell). These ignite easily using a small 9V battery for the supply. Above images show the rocket being loaded onto the pad and the launch on the two G80t motors. G40W are better as you get more flame and a longer burn.

I also launched my camera rocket on 4xG40 Areotech motors. The Camera was loaded and the countdown given. Everbody watched as the rocket rose majestically into the sky. The altitude was not that high at around 1000 feet but still not bad considering it weighs 11lbs! The rocket did suffer some damage on landing due to one of the parachutes getting tangled and I have had to rebuild the main airfrme section.

The camera also did not work corrcetly. I got lots of pictures of my parachutes unfolding and some nice blue sky. But no rear view ground shots at take off. Try again I suppose. This time the inertia wsitch will be set a little more sensitively. Above image shows Sean and two other SERFS members talking rockets.

Above images show the launch of the rocket on the 4xG40W motors

Above iamges show the results of the camera. Unfortunately no shots down the airframe of the rocket taking off.
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Sean launched both his Estes Phoenix and Thunderhawk rockets. The Phoenix does not like the wind and instead of weather cocking into wind it will have a tendancy to go DOWN wind! Luckly no damage during this flight as this is a great flyer in calm weather. Sean is at present making a 2.5X upsclae version to fly on 38mm RMS I211 motor.

Sean's Thunderhwak always flys great and also very high even on a C6 motor. The wind had little effect on the flight as it has such great speed off the pad. Sean had to walk quite a way though to retrieve it. Sean has now completed an upscale version on the Thunderhawk to initial be flown on 29mm single use F25 motors.

Other notable launches where a VERY VERY long rocket by a SERFS member. I think this was on a 'I' Blue Thunder RMS motor. These guy's must invest in a new launch rail. The rocket was wobbling all over the place in the breeze and had to be steadyied by hand just before ignition. The Burn was very short but the rocket coasted for ages stright up. Recovery was perfect at appogee also. A very impressive launch.

My 2inch silver rocket also was launched but had I had many problems with the ignitors. Those Aerotech copper heads do not seem to be very reliable. When the rocket did go the delay for ejection was much longer than it should have been and the nose cone and parachute got tangled during deployment. The rocket came down a few hundred yards away with the top section of the rocket requireing to be replaced. The beeper also was damaged and was silenced during the crash.

SERFS are a great bunch and are always willing to help out. We look forward to the next meeting. Pity it is so far away otherwise we would be there for every launch.