I'm sure you're right. Stapp was one of the pioneers. The photos from
Life Magazine were pretty impressive. I don't know if the acceleration and
deceleration G's were less than what the driver of a top fuel dragster of
funny car experiences though. Apparently when they used the two miles of
track there they shot the parachute and load off the edge of the mesa. That
could have been an interesting sight.
Wes
on 10/4/04 10:44 AM, Albaugh, Neil at albaugh_neil@ti.com wrote:
> Wes;
>
> Wasn't Col. John Stapp the first person to ride a rocket sled? The "G"
> forces must be tremendous!
>
> Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of James Tone
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 6:50 AM
> To: W S Potter; glen barrett; land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: RE: Hurricane Mesa
>
> My father was a wind tunnel model maker at his machine shop. Up till his
> untimely death in 1963 he made many different model tail and wing
> surfaces for the Aircraft companies. One of his models was a rocket
> sled. I know somewhere in my mothers archives are pictures of it. My
> great uncle, a cabinate maker by trade, built a beautiful box for it.
> That was the only time I ever say him do something like that for one of
> his clients. I remember how differet the model was than the
> wings I looked at. I wish I knew where it is now. Rocket sleds were
> really cool, especially the ones on the Discovery channel and Wings we
> get to see today. Those tests were awesome.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: W S Potter [mailto:wester6935@comcast.net]
> Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 9:26 PM
> To: glen barrett; land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: Hurricane Mesa
>
>
> They are using the rocket sled track up there to test parachute ejection
> systems.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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