Of the things that makes hobby rocketry unique, one of the most fascinating and enjoyable aspects of the hobby are the events that are held around the country at various times of the year.  While everyone wants to attend the larger national events like LDRS and BALLS, the real beauty of the hobby is best witnessed at the regional level, where you see clubs and members come together and basically function as miniature national bodies.

The Maryland Delaware Rocketry Association (MDRA) is one of, if not the, pre-eminent regional rocketry associations in the United States, and their events are always well-organized, well planned and generate a lot of activity.  This past October 20-22, 2006, rocketeers from all over the East Coast descended on the Higgs Dairy Farm in Price, Maryland to attend the event called "Red Glare," gleaned from a phrase in "The Star-Spangled Banner" and now one of the nation's largest regional high power rocketry events.  Nearly four hundred flights from A through O impulse took to the skies during the launch.

ROCKETS Magazine RedGlare DVD Click to enlarge

I didn't have the pleasure of attending the event personally, but when I got the opportunity to review the Red Glare 2006 DVD set from ROCKETS Magazine and Liberty Launch Systems, I was looking forward to it because I always enjoy seeing how things get done in other parts of the country.  One thing I have learned about East Coast rocketeers is that they have become experts at dual-deployment because they have these big rocket-eating monsters that always hover just off the boundaries of their launch sites called TREES!

Dan Michael's N2000 Patriot.

Kevin Mitchell's N-Sane.

Phil Stein's K2000 CATO.

Look at those great fins!

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

The Red Glare 2006 DVD set consists of two discs, with just over two hours of launch coverage as well as bonus footage from MDRA's November launch of projects that didn't get to fly at the Red Glare event.  The photo gallery has over 700 still photos taken by a variety of noted names from MDRA and other East Coast locales.

Higgs Dairy Farm is a great looking place to launch by East Coast standards, and from what I could tell on the video, the launch was taking place after the annual corn harvest.  Corn is a wonderful plant that is used for all kinds of things from a rocketeer's perspective.  Ears of corn make great launch platform standoffs if you forget or don't have one.  Just ask Jerry O'Sullivan!  Corn husk fodder makes great dry tender, and is easily set on fire by the least of the sparky motors, as the launch participants find out. 

Corn husk fodder also makes a good focal perspective addition to pad-cams, providing great visuals when it, along with large clumps of Maryland mud, goes flying by the camera lens as an O motor takes off.  Unless you are Phil Stein, who doesn't need corn fodder to sling at the pad-cam — he is much more satisfied slinging burning K motor grains instead. I might add though that Stein's central M6000 more than adequately lifted the rocket, with power to spare, as if those pesky K's weren't even there. You'll notice in the screen shot to the right, the rocket is l-o-o-o-n-g gone.

But the video is full of other fascinating, enjoyable things than just sparky motors, cato'ing motors and flying propellant grains.  For example, if no one has ever seen Chuck Rudy's "Blueprint for Disaster" monocopter, complete with a hybrid motor no less, then this alone is worth the price of the DVD.  Built from carbon fiber cloth and tubes, the monocopter houses an I20 hybrid motor built with a Loki Research motor case and a Sky Ripper-style grain, nozzle and bulkhead.  The I20's burn time is around 14 seconds, so the best way to describe it would be to imagine the blade on your Snapper riding mower coming off and staying airborne for almost a quarter of a minute.  Truly rocket science at its best, although one may not understand the mustache and toupé stuff.

The winner of the spot-landing contest in my book goes to Tim and Andew Wilsey, for landing their N4000-powered "Sumo" directly on the field sprinkler equipment.  Ivan Galysh gets the skywriter award with his "Supersonic Gas" L1222-powered fight. Unfortunately, Chuck Rudy was asleep and missed the whole thing.  From 50 feet away!  For those of you who don't know Chuck, he is a first class comedian who also enjoys high power rocketry, especially hybrid motors.  They should probably charge extra for Chuck's comedy, but as I understand he doesn't charge very much, so it all ends up a wash.

Other notable flights on the video are: Kevin Mitchell's "N-Sane," which flew on a central N2900 and six J240s.  Weighing 210lbs and standing 13 feet tall, it had the corn fodder blowing in the wind. Wow!  Those six Loki Research sparky J's made for a great flight. 

Dennis Lappert, Jerry O'Sullivan and Tim Wilsey teamed up to fly Jerry's beautiful Sandhawk on an O3000.  This was Dennis' first 6 inch motor, and Tim made the motor case, nozzle & enclosure.  It weighed 140 pounds at launch, using what Dennis termed "Purple Nebula" propellant and headed for 14,000 feet.  Wow.

I have to say something about Douglas Cameron's great Aerobee 350.  This rocket featured four 54mm motors: two L1100's and two J820's.  It was done in such painstaking scale detail, built at 1/27 scale and weighing 53 pounds, it took him a year to build.  The crazy thing is that he built the whole rocket in his apartment in Manhattan, New York!  His neighbors must have thought he was nuts.  And I still am amazed at the wide-eyed horror I felt when I watched the flight.  Douglas, I am so sorry.

There was Dan Michael's 3/4 scale Patriot Missile with a central N2000 and four K700's. Fred Schumacher's "Nike Joke" on an O4500, all 202 pounds of it. Tim and Andrew Wilsey sacrificed a Tomahawk to the tree gods. And John Ritz, you are just plain hilarious!

Red Glare 2006 was a great event, and after watching the DVD, I feel like I was there as well.

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