FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

152 SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT
LIQUID OXYGEN
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COMBUSTION SPACE
FIGURE 15.—Design for the Wyld liquid-propellant rocket
motor, the first successful regenerative motor of its type, and
culmination of the American Rocket Society's long series of
experiments aimed at developing an efficient, burnoutresistant
rocket motor. From Astronautics, no. 40 (April 1938),
p. 11.
dent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
28 and by Nathan Carver, a long time member
of the Society. 29 Active experimentation by the Society
and its Experimental Committee as a group
ceased after the 1 August 1941 tests. A photograph
of the Wyld motor in operation during this last
test series is shown in Figure 20.
During the experimental period, several other
rockets and motors were built and tested as well by
members individually, including Pierce, Constantine
P. Lent, and others. 30 On 2 February 1936 a
well-publicized "mail rocket" shot occurred at
Greenwood Lake, a small body of water which lies
on the border of the states of New York and New
Jersey. The project, sponsored by F. W. Kessler, a
Brooklyn philatelist, was designed by Dr. Alexander
Klemin, of the Guggenheim School for Aeronautics
at New York University, and a group of associates
including Pierce, Carver, and Ley. 31 Two rockets—
actually small gliders equipped with liquid-propellant
rocket motors—were prepared for the shot.
The excessive power of the motors, and other
mechanical problems, caused the gliders to perform
erratically, but one craft nevertheless succeeded in
crossing the ice of the lake from one state to the
other, thus validating the regular postage and
special rockets stamps on the mail they carried.
Reaction Motors, Inc., continued its successful
development of the Wyld motor, at first with the aid
of the Society's second proving stand, borrowed
from the ARS for that purpose. The Society later
formally presented the stand to RMI's historical
museum, and in 1965 RMI in turn presented it to
the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution, in Washington, D.C.
FIGURE 16.—The American Rocket Society's second proving
stand for tests of liquid-propellant motors. Larger, sturdier,
and with a larger propellant capacity than the first, it was
constructed by John Shesta, aided by several other members
of the ARS Experimental Committee. The series, date and
run were chalked on the blackened board at the right (date
of this test was 10 December 1938). The dials registered
pressure in the propellant tanks and motor, thrust, time in
seconds, and other data, all preserved on motion picture for
later study. From left, Shesta (behind the stand), Louis
Goodman, and Alfred Africano. Photo from Pendray Collection,
Princeton University Library.
The end of active rocket experimentation on the
part of the Society was brought about principally
by the imminence of World War II; the development
of renewed interest by the United States military
authorities in rockets, particularly solid propellant
rockets; and the realization by most of us
that small-scale development and testing such as
could be done by the Society, with the resources
available to it, had been carried about as far as was
FIGURE 19.—MIT motor of Robertson Youngquist during test.