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 Rocketry Club: Skywatchers/ROMAR

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day Part 7: The Original Griffin (2017-10-25)

Earlier in the day, I posted a new-build clone of one of my old fleet designs - the Griffin-2. This evening I found the only existing photo of the original Griffin rocket.... This pic was ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part #10: Launching Model Rockets From A Broom Closet! (2018-04-05)

    This post is an account of a demonstration launch that occurred back in the summer of 1976 in Limon, Colorado.   I had posted this same story on a previous version of this ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 11 - A Tracking Scope Revelation (2018-04-18)

Last night I happened to be perusing through my collection of Model Rocketry Magazine issues , looking for some rocket plans I had recalled seeing. I happened upon the October 1969 issue which ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 11A (2018-04-19)

That title kind of rhymes.... After writing yesterday's post, I seemed to recall something about the ROMAR section having those scopes stolen from us. A quick check of my old back issues ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 3 - The OddRoc Master Himself (2018-08-06)

While making another circuit of the meeting room floor early in the event, I came across one of the display tables on which some new items had appeared....   And I knew exactly who ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 7 - Vintage Launch Controllers (2018-08-08)

Reunion attendee Jeff Jenkins (NAR 46879) brought along a very nice collection of vintage model rocket launch controllers for display.  Most of them were from Centuri Engineering, and also ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: The Winter Blues (2019-03-01)

I'm suffering from a really bad case. As far as model rocketry goes, I'm strictly a fair-weather flier.  That wasn't the case back in my old fleet days.  Back then I didn't mind heading ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 16 - More Cartoons (2019-03-04)

Back in my 'old fleet days' (1973-1984), I was on-and-off editor of the ROMAR club news letter, as well as a frequent contributor of material to the same.  That included ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 17 - More Cartoons By ME! (2019-03-25)

In thumbing through some more issues of ROMAR's Cosmic Steppingstone news- letter, I ran across some more sketches which I rendered.  These are all attached to information/invitation & ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 18 - A Little Colorado Rocketry History (2019-04-08)

Because my build series on the Steampunk Protostar is creeping along appallingly slowly, and I haven't had any recent launch sessions to write about, I deem it necessary to come up with ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 19 - ...And Then There Was 'Skywatchers'.... (2019-04-22)

The genesis of the Skywatchers / ROMAR model rocket club in Colorado Springs is largely shrouded in mystery - at least as far as yours truly is concerned.  The organization was already in ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 20 - The Birth of ROMAR (2019-05-01)

The January, 1974 meeting of the Skywatchers Model Rocket Club was different in that we were now an officially chartered section of the NAR - The Rocky Mountain Association of Rocketry (ROMAR), ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 21 - ROMAR in 1974. 'Twas A Very Good Year. (2019-05-03)

ROMAR's first year as a section of the National Association of Rocketry was a very busy one. One of the major watershed events early in the year was the occasion on which NAR pioneer Bill Roe stopped ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 22 - The Skywatchers Club - 1975-1979 (2019-05-07)

At the end of 1974, Skywatchers/ROMAR was no longer a section of the NAR, as a few of the early members had left, and the club no longer had the required ten NAR license carriers. But ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 23, More Skywatchers Photos 1975-1979 (2019-05-10)

This is a continuation of the last post in this series.  Here are some more pics..... Unidentified Skywatchers member hooks up a new Estes Stiletto, 1979 ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 24 - Managing The Mountains (2019-05-16)

Warning:   The following account contains a wee bit of ‘The Tootin’ Of Me Own Horn’.   It’s not really an attempt at self-aggrandizement, but the story related ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 26 - A Little More HOTROC-1 Stuff (2019-06-10)

Much to my chagrin, I have found I do not have any photographs to present here from HOTROC-1. Nor do I have any recorded contest results.  The reason for this is, somewhere back in time, ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 27 - ROMAR Resurrected! (2019-06-12)

Following the resounding success of the HOTROC-1 Open Meet in Colorado Springs, the Mountain Region virtually took off. ROMAR was able to renew its NAR charter, since the number of members by then ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 30 - HOTROC-2 (2020-07-22)

On August 22-23, 1981, 15 NAR rocketeers from around the Mountain States converged on Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete in the second annual Heart Of The Rockies model rocket contest. ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Burning natural gas sinkhole (2011-05-16)

"Darvaza, Turkmenistan - While drilling in 1971, geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Retro-amateur rocketry abroad (2013-11-13)

Earlier today, Flickr user Morbius19 , sent me a couple of links regarding the Manchester Interplanetary Society's rocketry activities circa the 1930's. The main site, Harry Turner's Footnotes to ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: BAR Fleet #126 EAC Viper B (2020-07-05)

Source:   Estes Industries #0820   Type:   Sport Model Stages: Single Engine Type:   13mm Recovery:   Parachute Length:   35.5cm Diameter:   24.8mm Weight Empty: ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 32 - The Old Fleet Wasp (2020-09-08)

 Having just finished a build of a Wasp boost/glider, I decide to dust off the large binder containing the ancient archives of my 'old fleet' days. A Wasp was one of my earlier glider models, ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 33 - A Very Funky Citation Patriot (2020-09-24)

 As I was writing yesterday's post about the newly built Citation Patriot, I was reminded that, somewhere in my photo files, I had a picture of one of the original Patriots that a Skyw ... [Read More]

Blast From The Past: Back In The Day, Part 34 - The Ru-Jan Demos. (2020-10-27)

 The Rocky Mountain Association of Rocketry/Skywatchers Rocket Club of Colorado Springs was featured in a series of annual Spring demonstration launches that spanned the group's entire eleven ... [Read More]

Rocketeer's Corner: Getting rocket altitudes was tough in the old days... (2020-10-31)

Ed Mitton left a very interesting comment on my last post about tracking rockets with theodolites... In addition to trying to see a pretty small rocket at apogee, he reminded me of the need for ... [Read More]