NOVEL AIR PROJECT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21258, 11 August 1932, Page 6

NOVEL AIR PROJECT

TASMAN ROCKET TRIP

EXPLOSION INTERVENES

/ FANTASTIC EFFORT DELAYED [FROM OUIt OWN CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY, Aug. 4 Two Svdney men, who have conceived ft/ fantastic plan of crossing the Tasman from Sydney to New Zealand by means of a rocket, have suffered a grave disappointment. While they were carrying out certain experiments on Tuesday night the acetylene cylinder to the welding plant exploded, and their model i was destroyed. They were fortunate enough to avoid injury, and when they escaped from the garage in which the explosion occurred, they discovered that their clothes had been singed, but nothing .worse than that had befallen them. The men are sad in the knowledge that they have been delayed six months at least for their model rocket, built to their own particular design, had been destroyed. Now they must start at the beginning again, but they express confidence that they will be able to devise a rocket that will carry them across the Tasman at the rate of about 800 miles an hour, jfhey say they intend to carry on. The men concerned in this ambitious { plan are Kenneth Forman and Ernest Frazer, and for a number of years they iiave been experimenting on explosive propulsion. Now they are working in conjunction with the science master at one !*. of the high schools in the country. They jtf have studied the achievements of Herr Opel, the German inventor of rocketdriven cars, and their idea is to construct a strange craft that will hurtle at a tremendous speed through the stratosphere, or the rarefied air, at a height of 60,000 feet (between 11 and 12 miles). The occupant of the special chamber would breathe from special air containers, and through thick plate-glass .windows he would be able to see his destination not long after leaving Sydney. The landing would seem to present great difficulties, but these two young men have an idea worked out in detail. When close enough to the land, say about 100 / miles off, the rocket would be deflected downward and the propelling mixture reduced. At the height of 10,000 feet the pilot would bail out and descend by means pf a parachute. However, the rocket, which would be of considerable value, Would not be allowed to go to destruction. Time mechanism would release another and larger parachute, and this would assist the steel rocket to land gently on New Zealand soil. / ' Forman says that ho and his companion made their first model in 1930. It was small and crude, but it behaved very gatisfactorily. It was fired from a certain point with the idea that it should land at a given spot three and a-lialf miles away. It landed within 6ft. of the spot. They then went ahead with the building of a larger model and it was this larger model, which was nearing completion, that was destroyed. It was hoped that aviation officials ;would havo seen this rocket shoot over a distance of 100 miles to a set point. The two enthusiasts would then have gone ahead with the construction of a rocket with a range of 1200 miles. The explosive to be used is the invention of an Australian, and it is claimed for it that it possesses all the advantages of /liquid air without any of its dangers.