OUR INSPIRATION!!!  Mom, Ty and I at Cape Canaveral, FL.

Like a lot of young boys my Brother Tyler and I (Ages 15 and 12) were into rocketry.  We usually were left alone for days on end to construct the model rockets and then accompanied by an adult when we would walk to the the harvested corn field to light them off.  Well.....There is a gray area in between those two reference points that we need to talk about.

For those who have never dabbled in this arena here is a little intro to rocket engine size and power.  You have a range of engines that start with the smallest AAA engines and move up in power and length of burn time to D’s.  Kind of like the options you have with battery sizes.  We didn’t grab the AAA’s to run this experiment, we swung for the fence with the D size!

  OUR REALITY!!!  Ty and I at 15 and 12. in the corn field with Dad helping.

On a late Saturday afternoon in August 87-88 we had the “bright” idea of lighting off an engine without it being inside a rocket tube!  I remember this like it was yesterday.  My Cousin Collette was there to vouch for what I’m about to say along with my Brother.  While my Dad was distracted with a phone call he had to take the 3 of us walked over to the middle of the gravel driveway, I placed a palm-sized flat rock on the driveway and I helped my Brother point the rocket up at a 30 degree angle and rotate it in the direction to where the flight path would take it to the right of the end of the driveway (Away) from the house that was across the street to the left of the driveway. 

Our driveway a few years after the deed was done.  What you should notice is the complete lack of intelligence that any of these people have in the picture!  From left to right...Me, Tyler in front, Cousin Josh in middle, Collette turned around and her sister Shannon in front of her.  Also, you should notice the window sill just to the right of my head...that's the bullseye!

A good look at the house a few years before the incident.  House isn't stained brown but you can see the gravel driveway though....look not even a garage yet!  The house across the street is over to the right of the two of us.

Calculating all our measurements carefully, which really meant that once we had it stabilized on the edge of the rock with the ignition match inserted, we just looked at each other and said, “That looks good.  Come on, let’s light it off and see what it does!”  My Brother attached the alligator clip leads to the two metal ends of the ignition match, grabbed the 9 volt battery, held one end on the positive lead and then counted down for liftoff....3.....2....1....IGNITION simultaneously touching the negative lead to the 9 volt battery and off she went.  WHOOOOSH!!!  Our eyes lit up as the flame shot out the back about 2 feet blowing gravel back and shifting the direction of flight instantly TOWARDS THE HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET!  For a moment we where all standing there with happy anticipation when it lifted off and then it turned to immediate thoughts of, “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!”  The rocket engine seemed to have a mind of its own and headed not only for the house but directly toward the left bedroom window.  We could see the weeks of being grounded coming as it neared the fragile pane of glass that would never stand up to the rocket’s seemingly supersonic power!  But wait, there is a God...or so we thought.  The rocket changed direction about 3’ before it hit the window and started heading straight back at the 3 of us standing with our mouths agape in the driveway.  “No way!”, We all thought at that moment and felt a rush of relief come over us as we thought the misadventure was over.  Unfortunately for us, the rocket had another idea on how to teach us a lesson.  As it flew directly back towards us at about 10‘ off the ground I could feel an eerie sense that we were still in for a grounding.  We all just stood there kind of in a shock and didn’t compute whether to continue to stand there or run for cover.  When the rocket engine got above my Cousin Collette’s head it did three 5‘ diameter circles, when it was done it flew over my Brother’s head and did another three circles and when it was done cursing him it flew over my head and did it’s final three circles.  Here is where the fun begins...It changed course one last time and shot directly into the side window of our house.  It stayed within the framework of the glass by lodging itself in the corner of the frame and proceeded to put the (very flammable) white oil-based stained window frame completely on fire!  For a few seconds we just stood there in amazement not knowing what to do.  We were completely in shock!  Then our feeble minds kicked into gear and we ran inside to blow the fire out with our little lungs.  All we actually did was increase the oxygen flow to the area and made it burn hotter and increase in size.  I hear in the background my father, who is still at this time on the phone, say, “I gotta letcha go, my stupid kids just shot a rocket through my window and my house is on fire!”  He ran and got the fire extinguisher from under the sink and a huge catastrophe was avoided just in time.  

That night we had to give up our match books, all rocketing material and paraphernalia, Cousin Collette had to go home, we had to go to bed early and we got a huge scolding from him.  Grounding came later the next day!

I have heard from other adults who have children say to me that what you did as a kid will come back 3 fold to you when you have your own.  I am completely expecting my kids to have a short lifespan...maybe not even make it to adulthood if that holds true!  

P.S.  To the future Mother of my children.....I hope you’re a Saint in order for us to balance out the crazy stuff I’ll be bringing to the table.

JC