The Range Head

by Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002

PASSING THE TORCH

In the January/February issue of Sport Rocketry, Kevin Wickart had some very interesting thoughts in his "Spare Parts" column about continuity in an organization. He writes:

"The long term health of any structured group relies on passing the torch of knowledge and skill to those who come after. This truth holds for businesses, social groups, political administrations, hobbies, and so forth.

"We got to where we are by following the lead of such notables as G. Harry Stine and Verne Estes. A part of why rocketry is still firm of direction is because many of the venerable rocketeers who shaped the hobby are still alive and active.

"Whether we are aware of it or not, we have a definite sense of living history. These people were, and are, living icons of model rocketry. They got us here by teaching us to benefit from their mistakes, by sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm, by bringing us 'up to the same level of ignorance and confusion' (to quote Stine) that they enjoyed. In short, by making us into their peers.

"These men continue to carry the torch they ignited four decades ago. But who will step forward when they are gone? Who will write the future versions of the Handbook of Model Rocketry? Will anyone devote a significant portion of his or her life to ensure the 'ignorance and confusion' of the rest?"

In a chilling underscore of Kevin's words, Harry Stine died of a stroke one week after Kevin wrote that column and shipped it off to the magazine (both the column and Stine's obituary are in the same issue). Now before you think I'm leading up to some big announcement here, relax. I'm not going anywhere; at least not in the foreseeable future. But I did want to repeat Kevin's thoughts because it's something we all have to think about.

LUNAR celebrated its fifth anniversary last October. That was the night launch which was so successful, but we were all so busy that we forgot to make any kind of formal notice! Most of the original "double aught" members are still active in the club: Mark Weiss (001) is the treasurer, I'm the prez and Warren Massey (007) keeps the equipment running and updated not to mention the thankless job of maintaining our membership list. Lynn Kissel (009) is your esteemed newsletter editor and Eric Kleinschmidt (008) still hauls his monster models out nearly every launch. H. W. "Bear" Neff (005) and Joe Mingoia (006) still belong although their participation has scaled way back due to scheduling demands. Only Kurt Peters (003) and Joe Ciccone (004) have left the club.

We have no formal program for training "replacements" for the current crop of officers. The closest we have is the volunteer positions at the launches. This teaches the basics of our field operations (which Warren has written down, fortunately) and the rest of it is pretty much the standard parliamentary stuff of most clubs. However, I still would like to invite those of you who might have an interest to think about taking on a larger role in the regular operation of the club. Many of you have already and it's a good start, but this is a big club (we're three to four times bigger than the average NAR section) and it always helps to have "understudies" in the wings!

HARRY STINE

Speaking of Harry Stine, as we just were, many of you might remember the poster we had out at the December launch and the January meeting; both of which we dedicated to Harry's memory. I shipped it off to his widow, Barbara, shortly after. Recently I received the following note:

"Dear Jack,

The memorial poster arrived last week. Thank you so much for the poster of the memorial model rocket shoots. I shall treasure it and keep it for our eventual history of the model rocketry museum.

Sincerely,
s/ Barbara K. Stine"

LOST & FOUND

Our first auction to thin out our Lost & Found box was a huge success. We raised over $30 and some folks got some real bargains (like an Aerotech "D Region Tomahawk" for $5). Note that we won't have any auction at this meeting or the next because we only sell of items that have been left more than six months. As I mentioned in the last issue, just threatening to auction off some of the items brought people out of the woodwork and they picked up most of the recent items. Between that and the auction itself, we cleaned out everything up to date. The oldest items in there have a sticker on them saying "Auction 11/98." Christmas is coming...

F/F SCALE CONTEST

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Geoff Canham (right) secures his entries in the F/F scale contest to the display table. (photo by Lynn Kissel)

The first Future/Fiction Scale Contest in May was a lot of fun. It was somewhat lightly entered with only four models (two in competition and two display only) and the weather was nasty/windy, but everyone who stopped by the table was thrilled at the display and excited by the idea of fictional subjects actually flying.

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Jack Hagerty sets up the display for his Myst rocket. (photo by Lynn Kissel)

Here's what we had on display: Lynn Kissel brought out his exquisite model of the ship from "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" (featured in last month's issue). Geoff Canham had two models: the Crypt ship from the "Dan Dare" comic books (it's not what you're thinking, in the story it's from the planet "Cryptos") and a strange little vessel from a Star Trek comic book that was shaped like an artichoke. I hauled the Myst rocket out again for display, although it's still not complete (I'm still missing the rivet bands and the permanent air scoops and tail flanges).

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F/F scale contest entries: Crypt Ship and artichoke-like vessel by Geoff Canham (center). (photo by Lynn Kissel)

Geoff had to leave before the artichoke ship could be judged, which is why only two rockets were actually in competition. Lynn's simple three-legged beauty went up against Geoff's large, complicated effort. The results were remarkably close with "IT!" edging out the "Crypt" 750 points to 715. Thanks to both of Lynn and Geoff for the time and effort that goes into an entry like this.

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F/F scale contest entries: It! The Terror from Beyond Space, Lynn Kissel (center). (photo by Lynn Kissel)

Despite our efforts here in the newsletter and on our web page, many didn't know about the contest (mostly new members) and wanted to know when the next one would be so they could join in. I sense a boot strapping operation at work here, and I don't want to loose momentum. Next month is a little early (and a lot of people are going to be on vacation) so I'm suggesting the September launch be our next F/F scale contest. That gives you all two months to get something together. Contact me for details.

Information date: May 8, 1998 lk