Bill related the story of the beginnings of the hobby of model rocketry, starting with how his father, G. Harry Stine, an engineer at White Sands , had published articles about the dangers of amateur rocketry. One of these articles came to the attention of Orville Carlisle, who had developed a small paper and balsa rocket powered by hand loaded solid propellant engines - the first model rockets as we know them today. Orville sent some of his rockets and engines to Mr. Stine to test out. The models turned out to be the solution to the 'Youth Rocketry Problem".
Bill went on to describe the formation of the first model rocket manufacturer, MMI, in 1958, and the founding of the Model Missiles Association, which later came to be known as the NAR, and the establishment of the Model Rocket Safety Code, which has been so important to the hobby.
He went on to describe a brief history of the first NAR sections in Denver and Colorado Springs, as well as the very first National Championship meets that came to be known as NARAM.
During his presentation, Bill made the statement that, in the 60 years since the beginning of model rocketry, over 500 million successful flights have been conducted!
To help us wrap our heads around that large number, Bill asked everyone in the room to close their eyes. He then began to pour some pellets into a metal bucket. (I'm not sure whether they were pellets, beads, beans, or what. My eyes were closed).
As he poured, Bill stated that the sound of each pellet hitting the bucket represented 100,000 successful model rocket flights.
And there were a lot of pellets!
On a more amusing note, Bill held up an object in a small baggie. It was a rubber grey nose cone that was used for the Aerobee Hi model rocket from MMI, the first commercially produced kit.
Bill stated that this nose cone was given to him as a baby for him to chew on as a teething device.
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