Rocket Glider & Free Flight

This is Josh Finn. Josh is an engineer who lives in Georgia and creates some of the coolest rockets we have ever seen. 

As you can probably tell by this photo, Josh is extremely passionate about model aviation. 

These delicate balsa builds resemble flat looking rocket, which they are! But they also hold a secret...

BOOM! Rocket glider! 

On most model rockets there is an ejection charge at the end of the burn that deploys a small parachute. 

What Josh did was use that ejection charge to instead deploy a pair of swing wings. 

In short, the rocket takes off, goes really, really high, and then the wings fold out and the craft glides gently back to Earth. 

These are the exact same Estes A8-3 engines you would use on any other type of model rocket but the end result is much more impressive! 

After a brief retrevial mission the glider made it back safely.

After a few more launches we though that Josh couldn't impress us more than he already had. Then he went to his car to retrieve this...

This is a stick and tissue replica of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (aka the Spruce Goose).

The "Spruce Goose" holds the record for the largest flying boat ever made and the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever made.

Also a fun bit of trivia, even though it was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" it wasn't made from spruce at all, but instead birch wood.

This model is constructed from tissue paper covering a balsa frame. Believe it or not, there isn't a single scrap of electronics on this thing. 

The motors are instead powerd by very special rubber bands. Josh uses a winding tool with a counter to make sure each band has the same amount of tension. 

Once all the bands are wound, it's ready to go!

We've met a lot of brave pilots over the years, but anybody who builds something with this amount of detail and no way to control where it flies definitely has something special! 

We want to again thank Josh and his wife Hope for allowing us to visit their home and for showing us these amazing feats of model building.