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Members of the Pittsburgh
Space Command, NAR Section #473,
would like to extend a warm wel-
come to all those attending NARAM
51. We sincerely hope that you have
a great time while participating in all
the activities.
This NARAM 51 edition of
Team Pittsburgh provides a small
sampling of our newsletter. We hope
you enjoy it.
NEW
SLETTER
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AUGUST 2009
NARAM 51
SPECIAL EDITION
Warning: front and back cover ink is not water friendly.
WELCOME TO NARAM 51 !
BOTH Photos by Alan Freed
AUGUST 8 - 14, 2009
JOHNSTOWN, PA
PSC Officials and Contributors to Team Pittsburgh
Mort Binstock
TEAM PITTSBURGH
is published bimonthly by the
Pittsburgh Space Command
NAR Section # 473
Uncopyrighted material appearing
in TEAM PITTSBURGH may be
reprinted provided proper credit is
given to the author and to
TEAM PITTSBURGH.
AD SPACE in TEAM PITTSBURGH is
available free to members in good
standing.
PSC Yearly dues:
17 & under --- $6.00
18 & over & family-$14.00
(Membership includes
newsletter subscription)
Send PSC dues to:
Jerry Kraus
301 Stoneybrooke Drive
Cheswick, Pa 15024
NOTE: Make Checks payable to
Pittsburgh Space Command
PSC OFFICERS for 2009
President John Pace
Vice President
Treasurer Jerry Kraus
Section Advisor Rod Schafer
TP Editor Art Nestor
Webmaster John Sarosi
Website http://www.psc473.org
Submit articles for publication to:
Art Nestor
230 Arthur Street
Zelienople, Pa 16063
Email: artpeg@hotmail.com
The Pittsburgh Space Command
Is dedicated to the advancement
of safe model rocketry.
07/12/09—58
Webmaster John Sarosi Editor Art Nestor Treasurer Jerry Kraus
Advisor Rod Schafer PSC Prez John Pace NARAM CD Steve Foster
John Brohm Francis Graham
TEAM PITTSBURGH NO. 147 2
3 NARAM 51 SPECIAL EDIT ION NO. 147
I developed an interest in model building when
I was about 8 years old. Most of the models I built were
either plastic or balsa airplane models; we didn’t have
ready access to model rockets in the part of Canada
where I grew up. I remember sending away for both an
Estes and Centuri catalog (this would have been around
1972 or so) and I clearly recall the rocket lust that pos-
sessed me as I thumbed through those first catalogs.
This enthusiasm eventually led to my first model rock-
et, the Estes Sky Hook. Anyone familiar with the Sky
Hook will know that it’s a fairly unremarkable model,
yet this particularly not so special model still holds a
special place with me.
I took my degree in Electrical Engineering at
Queen’s University, Kingston. I was sure when I gradu-
ated that I was going to be a control systems circuit
designer, because I really enjoyed circuit design and
construction. Boy did I get that wrong. After graduating
I joined a firm that developed solutions for automating
the control of subway and people mover trains, and I
started my career as a Systems Engineer. But after just
a few years in the design and analysis trenches, circum-
stances pushed me onto a management track which is
where I find myself today some twenty years later (and
still with the same company, I might add).
Modeling called me back in the mid-eighties,
around the time my son was born, and of all my model-
ing interests I found that rocketry had the strongest
pull. I think it was because that as a kid, rocketry was
the greatest interest least fulfilled. So Matthew and I
started buying and building some kits from the local
hobby store and I’ve remained on this path ever since.
Matthew’s in college now, and so he’s naturally fo-
cused on a set of priorities that leaves little room for
rockets. But on occasion he’ll still come out to a PSC
launch if he happens to be home.
While living in Moraga, California, (a town in
the East Bay area of San Francisco), our house had a
garage that included a great old workbench. This, plus
some overhead storage cabinets at the end of the gar-
age, afforded me a great place to work, and kept the
various evils of the hobby out of the house (facilitating
the general peace and tranquility of all the dwellers in
our household). After my assignment in San Francisco
ended we took a brief detour back to Toronto, where
for modeling purposes I made do in our house there
MY ROCKET WORKSHOP
By John Brohm
NAR #78048
My start in rocketry was a rather gradual affair
and it began, as it has for so many of us in this hobby,
with a developing interest in math, science and science
fiction at a time that coincided with the burgeoning space
race. As a kid I read everything I could find on the space
program, and my friends and I would often spend our
time after school sketching out designs for rocket vehi-
cles that we hoped to build one day. Later, when I was
older, my Mom gave me an old back issue of National
Geographic that carried a wonderful story on the prepara-
tions for manned spaceflight. It was the July 1960 issue,
the story was called “Space Pioneers of NASA”, and it
especially featured the Mercury program. I still have that
old back issue and I still get quite a spark from the article
when I re-read it.
with a pair of collapsible tables I had built. In the sum-
mer of 1999 we moved to Pittsburgh, and while plan-
ning the finishing of the basement in our new home,
my wife graciously offered up the rear corner space of
the basement for a shop. This gave me a dedicated area
20’ x 8’ to set up shop, and one of the first things I did
was build in a work bench across the one end of the
room.
The work bench has a 4’ power strip built in
along the rear which provides ample power connections
when needed, and I built in a set of drawers to help
store a lot of the bits and pieces one always ends up
with in a shop.
The other thing I did was lay out a peg board
across the rear wall; I’m the kind of person that has to
have my tools in front of me or I’ll never find them. A
couple of Christmases ago, the family bought me a
small television for the shop, and I’ve since added a
DVD player to the setup. I like to put on an LDRS
DVD or perhaps one of my old science fiction movies
(like Rocket Ship X-M, a classic!) while I’m doing
something not so exciting like filling body tube seams.
While the shop area was being finished, I had a
ventilation fan installed in the ceiling on the notion that
I would be painting in my shop and the fan would help
ventilate the room. As things have turned out, I don’t
paint in the shop anymore as the painting process just
generates way too much dust that gets all over every-
thing. The painting gets done in the garage now. The
fan works great though, and I run it while doping fins.
4 TEAM PITTSBURGH NO. 147
Hobbyists are a little like a gas; they tend to fill
the available space, and I’m no exception. I’m always
struggling with storage space (or more precisely, the lack
of it), and so I’ve added a variety of cabinets and shelves
along the walls to help keep things organized. I use the
storage cabinets to store all of the surplus small parts and
hardware; things like nose cones, centering rings, mount-
ing hardware, engine hooks and so forth, and all of the
drawers are labeled to make it easy for me to find the var-
ious parts I’m looking for while building. There’s a desk
that my brother built for me some years ago that I’ve lo-
cated at the other end of the shop. The desk provides me
with a separate clean area for finishing and decal work; it
also comes in handy when I have folks over for building
sessions. I also have a small drill press and scroll saw set
up in my shop; the drill press is about 10 years old and
has emerged as the most important “heavy” tool that I
use. Down the road I hope to replace it with a larger,
floor standing model.
NO. 147 TEAM PITTSBURGH 6
And that, I suppose, is the most telling remark
about my rocketry experience so far. I’ve found that join-
ing and participating in PSC has had a profound impact
on my enjoyment of the hobby as well as my develop-
ment as a modeler. I remember well the time I called Art
in the summer of 2000 to find out about PSC; I equally
remember the warm reception I received from Rod and
Steve the first time my family and I showed up at Luther-
lyn. PSC is blessed with an enthusiastic group of diverse,
yet devoted rocketeers, always willing to help and share
with any issue, or problem, or experience. This tradition
of help and support starts right at the top with our present
and past club presidents, and is aptly mirrored by the
membership. Add to this the excellent work Art (and be-
fore him, Dick) does with the newsletter, Christine with
the website, and the great support PSC gets from Harry
and his team at Hobby Express, and it’s evident we have
one of the best sections in the NAR.
I’m not sure what all lies ahead for me in this
hobby, but I do know that I’ve not built my best model
yet, that there’s a panoply of subjects I’d still like to try,
and that I need (?) at least a few more kits for the collec-
tion. A broad field of fertile rocketry ground to till, and I
look forward to doing exactly that in my shop and with
PSC.
This article was originally presented in Team
Pittsburgh # 122.
****************
One of the other aspects of the hobby I enjoy is
collecting old kits and related paraphernalia. Due to my
storage limitations, I have the majority of my kit collec-
tion stored in sealed plastic containers which I’ve
stacked in a corner of the garage. This still gives me
good access to the old kits which comes in handy when
I’m researching some old rocket I’m interested in. I have
about 700 kits in my collection now, virtually all of
which are sealed originals. I hope I don’t have to move
any time soon!
I have all of the Estes catalogs running back to
1964, and I’ve managed to pick up a couple of classic
rocketry books as well. The catalogs are great for remi-
niscing about what once was, and the texts are great for
exploring the first principles of the hobby.
Most of my present interests reside in scratch
building, construction and finishing. I’m constantly look-
ing for ways to improve my paint finishes although the
trees at Lutherlyn often compel one to re-think the effort
that goes into this aspect of modeling. On the competi-
tion side, thanks to the great help and support of the
many top competitors in our club, I’ve had the oppor-
tunity to be exposed to a completely different aspect of
the hobby, an aspect I don’t think I would have consid-
ered without the impetus of Rod, Steve, John and others.
Competition very much revolves around a different way
of thinking about rocket models, the material choices, the
construction techniques, and if part of your enjoyment in
this hobby comes from learning something new, then you
really ought to give competition a try. I can tell you from
first hand experience that our guys would only be too
happy to show you the ropes.
NARAM 51 SPECIAL EDIT ION
G. Harry Stine’s experiments with
Electric rockets !
whole story. What about amps?
On average, the atmosphere has a resistance of
0.15 kiloohms. This means the current between the Earth
and sky is 2000 amps. I-squared-r , the total power, is
thus 600 megawatts, or the output of a big city power
plant. This is a very tempting power source to utilize,
and one understands why inventors can’t help themselves
to try. The big disadvantage is that it is spread out over
the whole Earth’s surface area, thus, is about 1 watt per
square kilometer!
Levitation in the Earth’s electrostatic field is also
a tempting option. Using Coulomb’s law for the electric
field,
E = (1/4π ε o) Q/ r 2
Where r is the radius (for the Earth, 6,371,000
meters) and Q is the charge ( 500,000 coulombs) , and the
entire factor (1/4π ε o) equals nine billion, we find an
electric field of 110 newtons/coulomb at the surface.
This means, that if I charged up something to -1 cou-
lomb, and it weighed 11.2 kilograms, it would support its
own weight and float.
You can see why this was a tempting idea. The
difficulty is charging up a small mass like 11.2 kilo-
grams, or 24.7 pounds, to a coulomb. Typical static
electric charges from rubbing balloons are in microcou-
lombs; the best is usually a few millicoulombs. A small
coulomb-charged object loses its cohesiveness and tends
to fly apart.
Enter Horace C. Dudley, physicist. Dudley real-
ized that it is impossible to get an object charged enough
so that it would rise exceeding its own weight. But Dud-
ley’s project was more modest: the electrostatic charge
on the rocket would help it rise and augment the thrust.
Higher altitudes with existing motors were thus possible,
Dudley thought, and proceeded to develop an experi-
mental program. He used model rockets such that were
available in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, called
Rock-a-Chute model rockets. He also used the plastic
Scientific Products Company “Alpha I” rockets which
were cold-powered. One of these was shown by Rod
Shafer at the Seven Fields Launch in December, 1997
and is discussed in an article in Rocket Mail , Vol. 6 No.
8, February 25, 1998.
7
ROCKETS BEYOND STRANGE
PART VII.
By Prof. Francis G. Graham
Founder of the
Tripoli Rocketry Association
During the Manhattan
project, some counter-
intelligence official decid-
ed that the presence of so
many scientists in the Ala-
mogordo area required a
false cover story. So they
picked a real stupid one
and told the scientists to
visit local cafes and talk
about electric rockets. The
scientists duly did so; but if
there were any spies, they
sure didn’t seem to pay any
attention. Actually of
course Hitler did not much
care (fascists, by their very nature, look backward in their
thinking, not forward, and Hitler was no exception), and
Stalin already knew about the development of the atomic
bomb and had spies in place already within the project. It
seems, a year earlier, a Russian scientist noted that Amer-
icans had stopped writing about fission in their journals;
he telephoned Stalin, who personally took the call, and
very soon thereafter had spies within.
But strangely enough, or what is even beyond
strange, there were people thinking about electric rockets.
You see, the Earth has a total negative electric charge of
over a quadrillion electrostatic units; or about 500,000
coulombs. The atmosphere has approximately the same
positive charge, so the entire planet is electrically neutral.
A voltmeter shows a difference of 100 V/m near the
ground, but this falls off, and the average for the atmos-
phere is 6 volts per meter. Up to 30-50 km, where most
of the positive charge is, the total potential is 300,000
volts. That is impressive. But volts do not count for the
Prof. Francis Graham
NO. 147
Dudley erroneously assumed the charge of the
Earth was positive, and I think that was a standard as-
sumption then. It is now known to be negative. So he
charged his rockets positive so they would get repelled
by the Earth (he thought) and claimed to get “in the
best conditions” 400 feet extra altitude from them. He
published these results in a national magazine (1).
Wrote Dudley:
“From 200 firings carried out by the author,
the following general facts emerge. (a) Both high hu-
midity and high temperatures decrease the rise of a
rocket so constructed as to be an accelerating, charged
body. (b) Conversely, low temperature and low humid-
ity greatly favor the rise of a rocket so constructed as to
retain its charge during acceleration. (c) A completely
non-conducting rocket shows erratic flight characteris-
tics in cold, dry weather. (d) An accelerating, conduct-
ing rocket becomes a moving charge in an electric field
and thus establishes concentric magnetic lines of force.
These lines of force couple with the magnetic flux of
the earth, stabilizing the flight of the rocket. This effect
causes the rocket to resist changes in its vertical path,
such as the force of crosswinds might induce. (e) Un-
der optimum conditions the electrostatic field of the
earth may be utilized to aid the thrust of a rocket mo-
tor.”
NO. 147 TEAM PITTSBURGH 8
I have to hand it to Dr. Dudley. Mort Binstock
and Joseph Peklicz have been advocates of small-scale
experimentation for years, as have I. Dudley is a man
after my own heart. Dudley went on to patent his idea
(2) in 1963. But there the trail vanishes. I have no idea
what results he had further.
However, his article prompted further experi-
ments. G. Harry Stine read the article and decided to re-
peat Dudley’s experiments the best he could. In princi-
ple, of course, and with the right sign of charge, the
charged rocket should help. But how significant would it
be? G. Harry Stine wanted to know. He wrote:
“When Dr H.C. Dudley’s article on the Electric
Field Rocket appeared in these pages in the November
1960 issue, his investigations aroused a great deal of in-
terest among the model rocketeers of the National Asso-
ciation of Rocketry. There was only one way to settle the
question once and for all: perform Dudley’s experiment
with model rockets. If Dudley were right, the experiment
would be a true predictable one and would duplicate his
findings. This is in the finest tradition of science. No
amount of discussion will settle the question; it must be
settled by checking the theory with experiment. The re-
sults must then be published.
Figure 1. Horace Dudley’s method of charging up
the shell of electrostatic rockets. U.S. Patent draw-
ing. Figure 2. Ascent of electric rocket based on errone-
ous assumption (but in vogue in 1957) of net positive
charge of Earth’s surface. In fact, the ionosphere is
positive and the Earth’s surface is negative. U.S. Pa-
tent drawing.
Wrote Stine: “In any event, it was time to make a
report. To date, members of the NAR have not confirmed
the results of Dr. Dudley’s rocket tests. We invite you to
come to your own conclusions.”
Stine did not address the matter of enhanced stabi-
lization of the rocket by induced magnetic field via Lenz’
law.
Also, it was pointed out, Dudley’s article was writ-
ten in such a way that it is not absolutely clear whether he
is reporting results which were found or that by calculation
should be found. We will be charitable and admit to this
latter possibility. Stine’s results were also published (3),
and, if the Dudley results were hypothetical, Stine’s experi-
ments were the first ones done with electric rockets. He
also stated that he would be repeating the tests at lower ele-
vation, on Long Island, the following summer, and would
publish the results of those tests if they were at variance.
Since he did not, we may assume the results were the same.
One might, knowing in geophysical hindsight the
true charge of the Earth, reverse the charge and re-do Dud-
ley’s and Stine’s experiments, but that is not likely to be
any more successful. You see, if the charged mattered, and
the experimenters had charged the rockets in the wrong
polarity, then the rockets would be attracted to the Earth
and an altitude decrease of statistical significance would
have been reported. As it was, it went neither way.
What’s the problem? Why didn’t Stine see a differ-
ence? Again, the problem is that it is difficult to develop a
high charge on a small object like a model rocket and keep
it there. For example, we suppose a 28 gram rocket has a
charge of + 1 millicoulomb. That gives us, in a 110 new-
“The NAR was in a unique position to carry
out the model rocketry experiments of Dudley. Since
1957, the NAR has developed in-flight optical tracking
systems for model rockets that have reasonable accura-
cy. Model rocket engine manufacturers can supply pro-
pulsion systems of very close tolerance. Many NAR
members are expert model makers capable of building
very fine rockets.”
“The Peak City Section of the NAR in Colora-
do Springs, Colo. was perfectly situated to carry out the
tests. Their rocket range is the most extensive and well-
equipped in the country, consisting of 40 acres of flat
prairie at an elevation of 6380 feet. There are clear
skies most of the year, and the climate meets the Dud-
ley specifications beautifully --- high altitude, clear
skies, low humidity.”
G. Harry Stine’s tests in Colorado Springs, su-
pervised by Bill Roe, used A8-4s and B8-4s on
charged and uncharged rockets. The rockets’ altitudes
charged or uncharged were not substantially different
than the variation expected from engine manufacturing.
There was no statistical significance in the altitudes G.
Harry Stine found! Thus it seems Dr. Dudley’s results
are misleading and erroneous.
NARAM 51 SPECIAL EDIT ION NO. 147
Figure 3. Electrostatically charged rockets. U.S. Pa-
tent drawing.
Above: G. Harry Stine photo taken in the mid
1990’s. NAR photo. Photographer unknown.
9
ton per coulomb electric field, a “thrust” (up or down,
depending on charge) of 0.11 newtons, not even
enough to lift its weight of 0.27 newtons. If it was in
the wrong polarity, if would pull down with 0.3 new-
tons. But an old-fashioned A8-4 had a thrust of about
0.8 pounds, or 3.56 newtons. Thus the “thrust aug-
mentation” would be plus or minus 3%. One might ar-
gue that rocket motors whose performance are guaran-
teed to small tolerances might just barely measure the
effect.
In reality it is less than that! Besides the ten-
dency to spontaneously break apart, 1 millicoulomb in
the free atmosphere on a small object of several hun-
dred square centimeters area is difficult to sustain; it
would quickly come nearer to neutrality, e.g., typically
1 microcoulomb.
There are also interesting effects when a highly
charged vehicle goes supersonic, but I digress.
So the sad conclusion is that Dudley’s scheme
probably will not work, falling short of practicality by
about an order of 10.
Dr. Horace C. Dudley (1909-1994) was a radi-
ation physicist at the University of Illinois Medical
Center. During the Second World War, he was a Lt.
Commander in the U.S. Navy and was sent to Hiroshi-
ma and Nagasaki immediately after the attacks to help
assess damage and effects. He later wrote many arti-
cles, including one on the fears atomic scientists had at
the time of igniting the atmosphere and destroying the
biosphere of the Earth, one of the first to comprehen-
sively investigate that pre-Trinity worry (4). He also
wrote The Morality of Nuclear Planning (1976). When
Dr. Dudley was in Hiroshima, one of the members of
his team was a young sailor who could type well,
named Miller Jurscevich. Miller became a chiropractor,
changed his name for professional reasons to Dr. Rob-
ert Miller, and for a time (1966-1977) was married to
my mother (they divorced). I have a picture of Hiroshi-
ma that he gave to me that he snapped there in 1945. I
never met Dr. Dudley, but I was a friend of his associ-
ate, the late Dr. David Griffard , formerly of the Com-
munity College of Allegheny County.
G. Harry Stine (1928-1997) is well known to
model rocketeers. The author of Handbook of Model
Rocketry , he organized the entire hobby of model rock-
etry and started the National Association of Rocketry,
and served as its president for some time. Working as
an engineer at the White Sands Missile Range in the
1950’s, Stine became concerned with the dangers of
10 NO. 147 TEAM PITTSBURGH
poorly supervised amateur rocketry experimentation and
wrote an article in 1957 in Mechanix Illustrated extolling
safe model rocketry, which had just been invented. I met
and chatted with Harry Stine first at the Model Rocket Con-
ventions held by the Steel City Section NAR at the
Shadyside Academy in 1967-1970. He wrote 42 books,
including, perhaps inspired by his experience with the Dud-
ley claims, On The Frontiers of Science: Strange Machines
You Can Build (1985).
Thanks to Katherine Najacht of the Browne Popu-
lar Culture Library of Bowling Green State University for
help digging out these articles, to my mother Marlene Perry
for her recollections of Dr. Robert Miller.
References
1. Dudley, Horace C. “The Electric Field Rocket” , Analog
Science Fact and Fiction 66,3 Nov. 1960, p. 83-94.
2. Dudley, Horace C. U.S. Patent # 3,095,167. “Apparatus
for the Promotion and Control of Vehicular Flight.” June
25, 1963.
3. Stine, G. Harry, “Time for Tom Swift” Analog Science
Fact and Fiction, 66, 5 January, 1961 p. 83-101
4. Dudley, Horace C. “The Ultimate Catastrophe” Kronos
1,2 (August, 1976).
5. I also acknowledge the kind help of Robert Nelson of
Rex Research.
This article was originally presented in
Team Pittsburgh #130,
November — December 2006.
Historian’s note: G. Harry Stine made references to these
electric rocket experiments in the following issues of The
Model Rocketeer:
Volume 2 #12 page 2 October, 1960
Volume 3 #3 page 2 January, 1961
****************
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ALSO THIS ISSUE:
What do you do?
“When Good Rockets Go Bad”?
12 Tips to Liven Up Your Launch Life
My Parents Never Knew:
“I was a Teenage Rocketeer”!
PSC Rocket Collides With UFO
Aliens Retaliate!
Shocking Untold Story:
The Real Reason PSC Left the Z Field
Launch Site —
It Was Home to Bigfoot!
United States
Space Command to BATF:
“Lay Off Our Little Brother in
Pittsburgh —- Or ELSE !!!”
Patterson Air Force Base Goes on
Alert !!!!
Better Than Ammonium Perchlorate:
Rocket Fuel Made From Dirt!
New From the NAR:
Micro Maxx Jelly Bean Lofting !
PSC officials have just concluded a
deal that will put us on national television
every week as part of a new reality show on
NBC. We had almost signed a deal with Fox
Entertainment for another show tentatively
called Celebrity Rocketeer. “But the money
just wasn’t there” according to PSC Presi-
dent John Pace. Both offers came on the
heels of our Section’s appearance on the hit
TV show “America’s Got Thrust’. In Stars,
teams will compete to set a new record in an
official NAR event. Each team will be com-
prised of a PSC member and a celebrity.
Every week one of the three lowest scoring
teams will be voted off.
April 01, 2009
Pittsburgh Space Command to Host reality show
“launching with the stars”
Here We Go Again! BATF seeks to Impose speed limits on
rockets. Wants judge to force State Po-
lice to conduct random radar gun checks
at every launch. Page 23.
****************
But We Know It’s True! Famous model rocket competitor insists -
“I never took steroids or human growth
hormones”. We’ll tell you his name on
page 46!
****************
From Oprah’s Book Club
“The Core Sampler”
A heartbreaking short story about a man
and his rocket. “I didn’t even have a
shovel” he cried! The shocking truth
about Sudden Earth Impact. Page 56.
****************
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
NEW ESTES “K” MOTOR DELAYED . . 5
BUILDING A GREENER ROCKET . . . . 6
YOU THINK IT’S EASY COMING UP
WITH THIS STUFF ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
WELL IT AIN’T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
LAUNCH DOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 April Fun Cover!
11
TEAM PITTSBURGH
The 7th annual
October sky festival, coalwood, wv
Originally
presented in
Team Pittsburgh
#124
By Art Nestor
The October Sky
Festival celebrates
the story of “the
rocket boys” of
Coalwood, West
Virginia. The story
made famous by the
book Rocket Boys,
a Memoir by Homer
Hickam was subse-
quently made into
the movie October
Sky. This year’s
Festival was held
on October 1st.
Peg and I traveled
approximately 357
miles to join this
year’s celebration.
We made the trip a 3
day affair, staying
two nights in Blue-
field, WV about 40
miles from Coal-
wood. Our plan was
to drive down on
Fr iday fo r a
“scouting mission”,
attend the festival on
Saturday and drive
home on Sunday.
Our plan and a little
luck provided us a
wonderful time.
Story on page 4.
Above: Four of the rocket boys today! Left to right: Roy Lee Cooke,
Billy Rose, Homer Hickam and Jimmy O’Dell Carroll.
Below: Homer Hickam and Art and Peg Nestor at The Marquee Cine-
mas in Welch, WV.
NO. 147 12
Peg and I left Zelienople about 7:45 Friday
morning. A considerably later start than I had anticipated
since I had been getting up for work at 5:10 for many
weeks. However, we still made it a leisurely drive mak-
ing a couple stops along the way. We checked in to the
Bluefield Econo Lodge at 2 p.m. and arrived in Coal-
wood around 3:30. The route from Bluefield to Coal-
wood took us through Welch, a town mentioned in both
the book and film. That last leg of the trip from Welch to
Coalwood is like riding the “Wildmouse” ride at an
amusement park. Buckle your seat belts and check your
brakes. No exaggeration!
Coalwood today is a depressed town in the de-
pressed county of McDowell. I had once read that adja-
cent Mingo County was one of the poorest areas of the
U.S. The October Sky Festival is another way the local
residents are trying to bring the area back to life both
economically and literally. By car there is only one way
in and out of Coalwood. The road with a double yellow
line running through the center of town ends in a cul de
sac. It is a dead end. The mining company which built
the entire town shut down long ago. To top it off, a bad
flood hit Coalwood a couple of years ago. Some large
coal company buildings still stand but are in deep disre-
pair. But in stark contrast to this dark picture the people
there sparkle.
Our “scouting mission” included a visit to Cape
Coalwood, the rocket boy’s launch site. You won’t fully
grasp the power of their rockets unless you read the
book but these rockets were between 2 and 6 feet long
and up to 2.25 inches in diameter. Not so threatening
until you realize they were first constructed out of alumi-
num and then steel. The rockets were then packed the
13 NO. 147
entire length with a solid composite fuel. No recovery
device of any kind. Extremely dangerous. Extremely
foolish.
As we prepared to leave town, Peg directed me to
four women sitting on the church sidewalk to get more
information. After answering our questions, one woman
informed us of a special screening of the October Sky
movie to be held at the new cinema in Welch tonight at
9:30. The first one hundred attendees would receive an
autographed poster.
As we drove to Welch, Peg and I debated wheth-
er to stay that late for the movie. (We later found out that
all tickets had long ago been bought up by the locals.) In
Welch, as we started walking the streets, Peg decided she
wanted to get to the cinema NOW. The small theater is a
bright spot on a very dreary street. But we were thrilled
as we entered it. Right time. Right place. A female news-
caster from channel 59 was only minutes away from tap-
ing an interview with Homer!
The lobby was nearly deserted. A camera man,
newscaster, two theater managers and 5 relatives and a
friend along with Homer. We silently slipped in and sat
on a bench hoping no one would notice. After a few
minutes a woman approached and asked if she could sit
with us. It was Homer’s mother in law Sue Terry. We
quickly struck up a conversation only stopping for the
taping which we were close enough to hear. Soon her
husband Walt joined us. Then Homer’s wife, Linda. Then
Peggy Blevins organizer of the Festival and unofficial
mayor of Coalwood. They shared with us inside stories
and things we should know on our visit. Finally, Linda
asked if we had met Homer. No we hadn’t. She called
him over and he graciously answered my questions and
posed for photos. Then Homer went outside to autograph
a poster that was inside one of the cinema’s big glass dis-
play cases.
On Saturday, the Festival was to start with a pa-
rade in Coalwood around 10 a.m. We found a good park-
ing spot when we arrived at 9:30. The short parade ended
with the arrival of Homer accompanied by Peggy Blevins
in a convertible.
The activities in town are only about one good
city block long and not entirely on both sides of the
street. But what a fun time it was while both taped and
live music played the entire time. Booths were also set up
on both sides of the walkway leading up to the front of
The 2005 October sky festival By Art Nestor
NARAM 51 SPECIAL EDITION
NO. 147 NARAM 51 SPECIAL EDIT ION 15
point out to us little known Coalwood facts.
Finally ready to call it a day at about 3 p.m., we
took a scenic drive back to our motel through War, WV
to stop at Big Creek High School. Like other mountain
communities, War and the high school were laid out
unique to the area. The football field sits directly in front
of the school. The name of the football team is the Owls
and we were amused by the large sign that read “Caution,
you are now at War with the Owls”.
If you haven’t watched the movie October Sky,
then it is one of the best movies you’ve never seen. If
you’ve seen the movie, then you need to read the book
that inspired it, Rocket Boys. I read it the week after we
got back. A very easy, entertaining read with a wealth of
background information.
To get more information on Coalwood, the Octo-
ber Sky Festival, many of the real life characters, and on
the life of Homer Hickam, visit his website at
www.homerhickam.com.
the church where the rocket boys were signing books and
things. Here you could purchase books written by Homer
and Festival memorabilia like t-shirts, mouse pads, key
chains and hats. Books purchased in Coalwood are spe-
cially stamped as such. Peg purchased a copy of the
Rocket Boys and had it signed along with her pink V-2
(already signed by Gleda Estes). She got it signed by
three rocket boys and Bill Bolt, one of the machinists.
Close by, you could purchase Big Creek High
School sweatshirts etc. This is the last year for the school
that Homer attended and where many of the events in the
story actually took place. It is to be closed because of
consolidations.
An inflatable playground for children, a NASA
display, several people selling various other merchandise
and about a half dozen food vendors rounded out the
main area. Hint: Get the crazy fries! Here also in this area
is the machine shop and other coal company buildings,
mostly closed up. A look in the machine shop windows
revealed an empty but muddied interior. You could get a
hayride to Cape Coalwood for $1.00.
We realized after awhile that we hadn’t taken any
photos of Cape Coalwood and since the hay wagon was-
n’t around we decided to walk. It was further than we
remembered and we were tired when we reached it. NAR
Section #564 - WVSOAR out of Charleston was conduct-
ing building sessions. They have a nice website at
www.wvsoar.org.
With the hay wagon that was returning to Coal-
wood full, we again decided to walk. But after a short
distance we were offered a ride by rocket boy Jim O’Dell
Carroll. We sat in the back with his father Red. You
could tell O’Dell was loving every minute of the lime-
light he was in. He continually joked with us and fre-
quently stopped the car to joke with complete strangers or
Key to photos previous page
1. Channel 59 prepares to tape an interview with
Homer.
2. Homer and the rocket boys autographed books and
other memorabilia at the top of the church steps.
3. The Hickam’s house where “the boys” blew up El-
sie’s wooden fence.
4. Peg Nestor and Sue Terry and talk at Marquee Cine-
ma.
5. Linda Hickam and Peggy Blevins on the clubhouse
porch where opening ceremonies and live music
were conducted.
Your editor at the Cape Coalwood pavilion.
The clubhouse in Coalwood (boarded up)
NO. 147 TEAM PITTSBURGH
The Rest of the Story! By Art Nestor
Top Left: The original preliminary design.
Middle Left: An AB Emblem artist’s varia-
tion of my design. I couldn’t reject it fast
enough!
Bottom Left: ERROR patch. Did someone
say NAR Auction? When the patch design
was first submitted to AB Emblems for finali-
zation, the artist assigned the wrong thread
color number for the NARAM lettering. The
error was never caught until after all 225
patches were manufactured and delivered to
me. The orange and blue threads were also
changed to slightly brighter colors when the
patches were remade.
Above: Rejected alternate design.
16
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