Russ;
I've had that thing for years-- I bought it at the salvage yard in Redstone
Arsenal, Huntsville AL. That place was fantastic-- 20 cents a pound! There
were all sorts of electronic and missile stuff there. One guy even had a
collection of German V-2 parts that he had bought there over a period of
time.
This rocket engine looks new-- it certainly was never fired. Why it wound up
in the salvage yard is a mystery but there was lots of stuff there like
that. Actually, unless somebody really, really wanted it and was going to
use it, I'd just like to keep it as a souvenior.
The Nike Ajax was the earlier, smaller anti-aircraft missile with a
liquid-fueled sustainer engine. The later Nike-Hercules was a bigger,
improved solid-fuel version that obsoleted the Ajax. There was a Nike- Zeus
& Nike-X in development but that program was terminated.
The Ajax used a pressurized N2 tank as I recall instead of a turbopump-- the
oxidizer was red fuming nitric acid (RFNA) and the fuel was kerosene or
JP-4. A slug of furfural alcohol or UDMH was used for starting, similat to
our Corporal missile. Here is what one looks like:
http://www.ed-thelen.org/missiles-motor-ebay.html
Actually, fooling around with a liquid- propellant rocket motor is probably
not a good idea. It is dangerous in so many ways that it just isn't worth
it!
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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