Martin Bennitt Posted 15 January , 2007 Share Posted 15 January , 2007 From 'The War the Infantry Knew', half-way through the long entry for October 8, 1918: 'I still have the message I shot back to H.Q. by a rocket apparatus, informing the C.O. of the situation and asking for stretcher bearers..... The rocket, I am told, landed within 50 yards of H.Q. which, I estimated, was 1000 yards in the rear.' Does anyone have any more details of what sounds like a rather Heath Robinson device, how it worked, when it was introduced, how successful it was, etc? Thanks and cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph Posted 15 January , 2007 Share Posted 15 January , 2007 Martin, The rocket was featured in a History channel program they made and fired a couple one went way off and the other achieved the aim and got the message through. Seemed like a normal 'Rocket' fired from a tube, the message was in the head of the rocket. Now for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the programme! it was presented by an ex army officer with a big mustache called 'Dick' and his sidekick Dairmund. Regards Charles Dosn't tell you much but I'll post it anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eltoro1960 Posted 15 January , 2007 Share Posted 15 January , 2007 I don't have any knowledge of rocket messaging in WW1, but in the 1930's I do know that a German scientist called Zucker tried to pioneer a rocket mail service to the island of Scarp in the Hebrides, it wasn't too successful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nittenman Posted 15 January , 2007 Share Posted 15 January , 2007 I think John and Joseph are referring to the same programme. I think it was unsuccessful due to the propellant if my memory serves me correctly. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 16 January , 2007 Share Posted 16 January , 2007 Martin Attached is a diagram of the message carrying rocket. It is from a manual "Handbook of Firework & Signalling Stores in use by the Land, Naval & Air Services." HMSO 1920. I can't give you a date of adoption but the rocket was in use before the end of the War. The range was somewhere in the region of 2000 yards and this could be controlled by flanges that fitted over the nose of the rocket to increase air resistance and thus reduce range. There were flanges to reduce the range to 1600, 1300 and 850 yards. There was an example on display in the IWM in the Communications case in the WW1 permanent exhibition. Hope this helps Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 16 January , 2007 Share Posted 16 January , 2007 ......................... Does anyone have any more details of what sounds like a rather Heath Robinson device, how it worked, when it was introduced, how successful it was, etc? Thanks and cheers Martin B This was in no way a new technology. For instance, the use of rockets to carry lines to beached ships was well established in the Coastguard Sevice. What with signal flares and rockets being used by all the armies in the field, it would have been an easy step to attach a message and point it at HQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 16 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 16 January , 2007 Martin Attached is a diagram of the message carrying rocket. It is from a manual "Handbook of Firework & Signalling Stores in use by the Land, Naval & Air Services." HMSO 1920. I can't give you a date of adoption but the rocket was in use before the end of the War. The range was somewhere in the region of 2000 yards and this could be controlled by flanges that fitted over the nose of the rocket to increase air resistance and thus reduce range. There were flanges to reduce the range to 1600, 1300 and 850 yards. There was an example on display in the IWM in the Communications case in the WW1 permanent exhibition. Hope this helps Mike Very interesting. I suppose the whistle in the nose was to provide some sort of warning of its approach. Thanks very much to all who responded. This was a new one on me. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwin astill Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Very interesting. I suppose the whistle in the nose was to provide some sort of warning of its approach. Thanks very much to all who responded. This was a new one on me. And did it emit a smoke trail to aid visual tracking - the diagram suggests it. Edwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Edwin Edwin There would be quite a bit of smoke from the burning propellant emitted from vents in the base of the head. The additional smoke/flare composition could be lit when launched as judged necessary by the person launching the rocket. The whistles of these rockets emit a good loud siren sound. I have never seen a photo of launching but presume that it was done from a trough of some sort. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 There also appears to have been some effort in gauging an accurate range, rather than a point and hope approach. I would love to see a close up of the "range flange" Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 It seems very much a case of lighting the blue touch paper and standing well clear. Must have been difficult to manoeuvre in a trench, but the instance I referred to -- the only one I have seen -- was during the final advance. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 A photo of one of the beasts can be found here http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results...&imagepos=2 Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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