Eponymously Yours, W. Skeffington Higgins

In a new article on the Scientific American site, Larry Greenemeier considers the future of rocket belts and jet belts.

I strongly recommend that you examine the accompanying slideshow. Really.

I hear the Rose Bowl had a rocket belt flight the other day.

In the U.S. Wired Science debuts this week on PBS stations, Wednesday night in some markets.

The pilot episode (available online) features rocket belt experimenters they interviewed at the Rocketbelt Convention I attended in September. It's a good piece, and incorporates nice historical footage of the Bell team. More clips are available on the show's site.

If you are the sort of viewer who freeze-frames the Tivo to catch gags on The Simpsons, watch for the interview with the Irishman in the hat-- Will Breaden-Madden. I appear subliminally with Will, wearing a red shirt. (Don't blink.)

By popular demand, Harold Graham performing "My Rocketbelt Daze" on the baritone ukulele. Video by John B. Carnett, who was covering the conference for Popular Science.

(Thanks to whl, streettech.com, and smithmag.net for pointers.)

My Rocket Belt Daze
by Harold Graham
Copyright 2006 by Harold Graham


I am getting old and feeble now
and I cannot work no more
They put the old rocket belt away
No more demonstrations in front of JFK
No more flights at the U.S. Pentagon

Oh, my rocket belt days are over
My fame is fleeting fast
The task before you people
Is to improve upon the past

Wendell, Ed, and Ernie are up there looking down
Their spirits now are roaming with the blessed
Their efforts on the project
Brought them great renown
I tip my hat up to them
I wish they'd come back down

Oh, my fame is fleeting fast
Reporters never call
Haven't had a press release
in years
But sometimes in the springtime
More often, in the fall
I remember certain details
After tossing back some beers...

Here are a few of my photos from Day One. ( Rocketbelt Convention )

Am in Niagara Falls at the Rocketbelt Convention, a gathering of former Bell Rocket Belt pilots and engineers, new-generation RB builders, and enthusiasts. At one point I thought I was gonna be the only guy here who doesn't have an Agena engine in his garage.

I have posted some of my photos to Flickr. I'll work on captions when I get some time.

Met first pilot to fly a rocketbelt, Hal Graham. Quizzed John Spencer, test pilot for X-22 ducted-fan VTOL (which is here in the museum). Sat in rocket chair. Saw three Bell belts and a couple of others. Visited vast Bell plant, where they turned out about one P-39 fighter per hour during WWII. Stood in the pit where the X-1 and her sister rocketplanes were slung beneath B-29s. Met daughters and wife of Bell's chief photographer, Thomas Lennon. Met Hugh Neeson, former VP of Bell Aerospace, trustee of the Niagara Aerospace Museum, and walking encyclopedia on Bell history.

Saturday should be fun.

concertinette writes:

- how does one get to actually *try* this, other than building your own and then taking the leap of faith? It's one of those things that sounds just amazing to see, but partially because it pushes all my "I wonder what it would be like to do that" buttons.

Short answer: one doesn't.

Nobody is currently offering a rocketbelt ride to customers, nor is this likely to happen soon.

(Also note that in 45 years of history, no woman has ever flown a rocket belt. This may change.)

If you were to pursue the avenue you suggest, most of the people who have built their own will be in Niagara Falls next weekend, so you could get some tips from them.

In the old days, Bell's original rocket belts were flown by experienced test pilots. But at one point, the Army wanted to know whether inexperienced recruits could be taught to operate them. So Bell brought in a teenager, Bill Suitor, and he did indeed learn easily. Today he has more time-in-corset, and has flown more different versions of the rocket belt, than anybody else. People who've built new versions keep hiring him to test-fly them.

If you were learning to fly, you might start with something like Bell's tethered test rig: a set of nozzles fed by compressed-air hoses that allows you to "fly" inside a hangar. This would let you get experience controlling the thing and landing correctly, without the hazards of operating rocket engines or running out of propellant.

Come to think of it, this would be a lot easier to make than a real RB. Mention it to the Country House gang.

I can scarcely believe this:

A convention for rocket belt enthusiasts is being organized.

Niagara Falls, New York. Saturday and Sunday, 23 and 24 September, 2006.

Four Bell Rocket Belt pilots have committed to appear.

A bunch of new-generation rocket-belt builders will attend.

Wow.

Thanks to Peter Gijsberts, who runs a Web site on all matters rocketbelty.