Baby Bertha Fest

Coming in September.... Baby Bertha Drag Races! I've asked all my rocket building friends to build a Baby Bertha kit. Then in Sept. we are all going to get together for a launch day and spend it solely on the Berthas. I think we have enough pads to do a 4+ drag race as well as other fun things. So if you are in the Broomfield area and want to join in, start building.

Saturday's launch report

IMG_1685
Originally uploaded by ActiveOptics

Several people joined me early Saturday morning to do some low-power flights. Justin, Kevin, Jeremiah, Andy and his son all made it out. We flew a lot with several great flights and recoveries. I'll have a nice photo of all the spent motors up later tonight that gives some indication of the flights we did.

I tested The Outsider (seen at the right), the first flight went decent, the second flight I jumped from one A8-3 to a C6-5 and 2 A8-3 motors. The C6-5 was just too powerful and caused all kinds of problems. Both boosters ripped up early, then it sustainer took off horizontal and slammed into a concrete step across the field. The sustainer was destroyed, the boosters are re-usable with a little work.


Overall we had a great time and all the new launch electronics, etc. worked very well. If you'd like to see all the photos from our little launch day please visit my Flickr Page.

I ended up flying:
The Outsider x2 (1 failure)
Eulogy x1 solid recovery... in a tree.
36 D Squared x1 great boost on two E's, recovery failure, undamaged
The Patient x1 on a C11-3, great flight to 450'
Vanishing x1 on a E9-6, flight to 2053' but the ejection charge fried the body tube
Blue Streak x1/2 shredded on an Aerotech D21
Big Daddy x2 the Aerotech E30 blew out the baffle, I flew it again on a C11-3, perfect low altitude flight with ejection right at apogee.