JATO (N.A.C. whatsoever . . . )

[Beatty, Robert]

hehehh yea its not that hard to make the propellant... my boss who worked at
edwards testing the rocket motors was present when they would be mixing
fuel... He said they mix it in big bowl mixers and the scuttlebutt was if
this certain old timer wasnt to be found nearby, then get the hell out of
the building as he knew what was safe and what wasnt.  At Vandenberg, with
all the solid rockets that have blown up over the years there, its not to
hard to find pieces of solid rocket motor fuel lying around.  However, since
rocket fuel by definition cant be put out... its rather dangerous to play
with.  The old barracks had a hole burnt all the way through it from a
couple of young airmen playing with a piece on the 2nd floor :) 

I dont miss California that much, but i certainly do miss the late night
Peacekeeper and Minuteman III launches and being on the launch crew for
them.  Like a great big firework taking off.  Course the best is the Titan
IV and when they blow up, WOW is it a huge explosion.

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Arman [mailto:armanmik at n-jcenter.com]

Now that I am a little older, and hopefully a little wiser, I realize that
making it disappear promptly was probably a good move on his part. I have
since, however, found the actual formula for the propellant that goes into
JATO bottles. It isn't complicated, but I think I won't try it because I
really do like living.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman