Stepdaughter Angie want's to ask a question!!

Last night’s episode of Rove Live broadcast here in NZ featured a humorous recent newsclip of “Rocketman”, as they called him, making a rather ungraceful landing on his face at some event in Aussie. Rove put cartoon sound effects to the clip and it was hilarious.

‘New Scientist’ magazine 1st October 2005, 4 – page article and front cover feature of the jet pack, or ‘rocketbelt’ . . .very interesting !

There is still a very long way to go in the 21st Century Melv. Be patient.

I mean, in 2018, George Bush tellis us, the world will have people living in a space port on the moon. He must have read the same comics you did.

This is one of those things that is a great idea until you actually think about it a little deeper. When iw as a kid we were told in comics that in the future, which in those days was always referred to as the “21st Century” we would all be living in spaceports and have out own personal rocket packs. Now, it is the 21st Century and I don’t live in a spaceport OR have a rocket pack THEY LIED TO ME!!!!

The idea of strapping something on your back and hovering is great but the downside is that you basically have a bomb strapped to your back that is supposed to explode in a controlled fashion through two nozzles. You have no inbuilt stability in the maching, so it relies soley on the balance of the pilot and it is critically unstable. You also have no failsafes whatsoever. Even if the motor goes in a helicopter you can control your descent but in a jet pack you would be toast.

One of these was used, I think, at the start of the Los Angeles Olympics and I never really got over seeing one in that James Bond film (I have always considered myself the natural successor to Sean Connery).

Here is a picture taken in the late 60’s at NAS Point Mugu of a jet pack flight. The photo was taken by my father.

Yep i was referring to the one in ‘Thunderball’. I remember reading about the Germans experimenting with one in WW2, although it could have just been another blueprint design that never got past prototype stage, if that, like the Horten HO IX etc.

That grand-daughter of yours must be interesting asking you about jet packs and waking you up to watch aviation films! :rolleyes:

Rocket Pack Man

I think the personal rocket pack which you saw is the very same device which was featured in the pre-credits sequence of the “James Bond ” film “Thunderball” (1965) . It was invented in the mid sixties in the USA.

It was created as a way of getting soldiers about but one snag with this device is that flight time is limited to just 30 seconds so it was found to be of little practical use on the battlefield. I believe the Germans had an experimental device like this during WW2.

Best Wishes,

Colin

I know us Brits experimented with them in the 50’s/60’s, but the idea has been around for decades before i think