BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, Utah USA — Alan Overmoe paused in the midst of assembling his huge rocket: "It's a one-fifth scale of an actual German V2," he said.

The rocket, painted yellow and black and about 9 feet long, was in pieces beneath the crew's canopy of blue and white fabric and heavy tubing. It was the heftiest to be fired on Thursday, the first of four days of rocket blasts sponsored by the Utah Rocket Club. That day, the event had drawn a few dozen early birds from around the West.

Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News

Jack Blair and Jerry Hughes load "Bad Wiring," which its makers hoped would soar 12,000 to 13,000 above the desert floor.

By the time of the regular firings, called the "high power launch" series today through Sunday, hundreds more spectators are likely to be camped on this site a few miles east of Wendover. On Thursday, participants worked under similar open-sided canopies, putting together rockets or chatting in the shade.

They had driven miles from I-80 and were camped in the midst of the vast, sparkling salt flats, as crisply white as a snow field. Through the day the temperature had been building and now it was in the 90s.

Neal Baker, West Jordan, UROC's webmaster and a former president of the club, explained that Thursday was the one day of the four-day launch when the public was not invited. Research day, he said, is dedicated to "big projects that are experimental."

The rest of the weekend, the public can come out. Spectators should wear hats and sunscreen and bring lots of water. A map of the site is posted on UROC's Web site, http://www.uroc.org/, under the "Hellfire 12" tab.

Brad Overmoe, Alan's brother, explained that the V2 was named the Sir Winston Churchill in honor of the British prime minister who led the country during the dark days when German V2s bombarded London. "This is an experimental, a research motor," he said, making quote marks with his finger.

In the next booth, Ron Weigel, Salt Lake City, and several other men and youngsters worked on the sections of a bright red rocket. The tube carried a painting of a bikini-clad blonde holding a cord whose frayed wires were giving a big jolt of electricity, making her hair stand on end. Bracketing the painting were the two words of the rocket's name, "BAD WIRING."

Assuming all went well, Bad Wiring could reach 12,000 or 13,000 feet.

Michael and Diane Loosle, Stansbury Park, were set up on Thursday although Michael's rocket was not scheduled to be launched until today.

Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News

"Bad Wiring" takes flight during the first day at the Hellfire rocket event.

About four years ago, his wife suggested he needed a hobby to relieve work-related stress. Recalling the fun he had with rocketry in Boy Scouts, he bought a small rocket kit and one thing led to another.

It has now led to "Big Thump," his 8-foot-tall rocket. He estimated it might reach 7,500 feet.

The rocket, he said, "was my Christmas present last year."

"Shocking, huh?" laughed Diane Loosle. She said she didn't realize he would get into rocketry in such a big way, but "he always does stuff with gusto. He never does things halfway."

Has Diane Loosle seen anything surprising at a rocket firing? "There was the time when the rocket came down and went through the windshield of a Suburban," she said. That wasn't one of theirs.

Far out on the flats beyond the spectators, Sir Winston's crew was gingerly lifting the rocket off a trailer and through a framework of vertical aluminum bars. The innermost bars were to help guide it during the first few moments of flight.

As they worked, Bad Wiring arrived in the back of a pickup truck, and its crew began the process of readying it for flight. There was a delay while they talked on the telephone with officials getting clearance for what was expected to be a flight that could take it as high as a jet flies.

At the distant line of canopies, vehicles and spectators, a countdown was proceeding, the sound carrying faintly across the salt flats.

The V2 kicked up a small cloud of dust and smoke, then quickly ripped past the scaffolding, flew above the gray mountains and into the blue sky.

Sir Winston arched higher and higher, the smoke dwindling to a narrow stream, and then the rocket was almost invisible, it was so far away. Suddenly two dots emerged in the sky and the crowd began cheering.

After the sections drifted down, the crew raced to the scene in two vehicles. The twin altimeters showed it had reached about 5,600 feet.

"Bad Wiring" did not fare as well. When it was hundreds of feet in the air, a charge blew and it broke apart and tumbled back toward the flats. "Heads up!" yelled a spectator. The smoking rear section and the nose cone sailed back to the ground not connected to their parachutes.

Because it had been launched far from the spectators, the pieces fell harmlessly.