Having just recently lost a Mosquito to the model rocket gods, I thought it would be a good time to expound on my history of these little 'boyds'.
This latest Mosquito was the fourth in my model rocketry journey.
The first three were built and flown back in the old fleet days.
A Mosquito was one of the earliest of my builds, being assembled and flown in the summer of 1973. I didn't ever take a photo of it, but I do have a full sized sketch showing its color scheme.
The little model did what most Mosquitos do on their maiden flight - Whoosh and disappear.
I did get this one back, however, but not until the following day. The little blue and green model had landed in the middle of a dirt bike trail adjacent to the flying field.
And it was crushed beyond recognition by...a dirt bike, of course! No parts salvageable.
The second Mosquito, fleet number 50, was built in 1975. It flew once with the typical result - lost in the weeds. Again, no pictures of this one. I don't even recall how it was painted.
The third Mosquito was built in 1977 and was designated as fleet number 65. It also flew one time, but was successfully recovered. The model was eventually sold with the rest of the fleet when I exited the hobby in 1985. Here's a pic:
So that brings me back to today. Do I really want to build another Mosquito?
Probably not.
But, I do have this in my stash of spare nose cones:
...as well as some extra BT-5 tubing...
Cheers!
Ed, my daughters and I played “Lose the Mosquito” back in the early 90s. Both kids’ Mosquitos had numerous (meaning 2-3) flights. Amazing how brightly-colored little rockets can disappear so easily.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, those rounded nose cones are great for glider power pods. Something different to build that can easily get lost! :-)
Hi, Lee,
ReplyDelete"Lose the Mosquito" That's funny.
Yep, that little PNC-5 nose is earmarked for a build of a 1/2A rocket glider, the 'Rascal'. This was a Paul C. Conner design published in Model Rocketeer back in 1973/4. I built one in my old fleet days. It was a good flier. Lost it on its 6th or 7th flight. I'm definitely no stranger to losing (and pranging) gliders.