PLEASANT UNITY, Pennsylvania USA — For about 30 years, one day of the Westmoreland Fair shows the rockets glare and that day was Tuesday as the 4-H Model Rocket Flight Test took place.

"Model rockets have been a long part of 4-H Engineering," said Neil LeJeune, a superintendent for the Westmoreland Fair.

LeJeune said the rockets, which can be designed model rockets or bottle rockets, are first judged on how they look.

He added that the rockets are also designed for scientific accuracy and even historic accuracy.

"A lot of kids put a lot of effort into making them," LeJeune said. "The next step is to launch and recover them."
The flight test consists of the 4-H members, with adult assistance and supervision, hooking electric wires into either an A3 or D12 charge, standing 10 feet back, counting down to five, pressing the trigger and watching their rockets fly high into the air or wherever else they may go.

The idea is to calibrate the rocket to land as close to a cone as possible for accuracy and to also see how high the rocket can go. Someone is positioned on a hill to measure the altitude with a measuring device.

LeJeune said 30 4-H members participated in the program this year, which is actually a low number. Fewer 4-H members are involved with the fair this year, he said.

"It runs in cycles," LeJeune said. "In years past, we had so many rockets that there was no room for them."

One of yesterday's "rocketeers" was John Smerkar, 14, of Greensburg.

Smerkar has been in 4-H for six years and all through those six years, he's been involved with the rocket program.

Smerkar said that building the rocket is the most difficult part of the process. The fins and/or wings have to be straight for the body to fly and possibly soar. But that's not what he likes best about the rocket program.

"I like watching people's rockets getting destroyed," Smerkar said.

The favorite part of the experience for Billy Schaechte, 14, of Ligonier, is shooting off the rockets as well as making them. He agrees that getting the wings just right is the most difficult part of building the rockets.

"There are all sorts of measurements and protracting," Schaechte said. "It's fun."

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