Saturn 1-B

One of the rockets pulled down from the attic and in major need of repairs. My dad built most of this rocket in 1971 when I was in the Army. He saved the finishing touches for me, when I got out of the Army. Not long after I got out, we were headed to the high school parking lot with most of the family in tow. Man, was I excited. Dad and I had studied the technical bulletin for cluster engines, and had four big old C5-3's ready to launch. For what reason, we couldn't determine, only one of the engines ignited. It just sat on the launch pad for a second with smoke billowing out from below. It looked awesome. Then, slowly the rocket lifted beyond the launch rod to about 15 feet above, and then shot off to one side barely clearing the fence around the baseball diamond and burying itself just on the other side. The ejection charge blew, throwing the rear of the rocket into the fence. The entire rocket was a mangled mess. The Apollo capsule was smashed into bits and most of the fins were crushed. It was devastating. I was never able to get the courage to put the thing back together again. Rats chewed up the remains of the capsule and portions of the upper body tube. Fin can is in fair shape, but all the fins need to be replaced. So, there it sits in the rocket box. I ordered replacement decals and a resin re-make of the Apollo capsule from JimZ, so maybe I'll repair it one day. Although I'd love to see it fly, I'm not sure I will. The glue connecting the outer tube to the inner tubes has chrystallized, so I'm not sure it's safe to fly without totally dismantling and putting it all back together again. Perhaps, it may become a retirement project or something Blake will be willing to take on in later years