Yestertainment – The Cox .049: the engine that modern America banned
An evening pause: This bit of technological history with a sad ending.
Hat tip Blair Ivey.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
KILL ME ..!
Love your site Mr.Z.
This single post took me way back. WAY BACK !!
Especially just after having watched the succesful … “THE Launch”.
Congrats SpaceX.
Now back to the neighborhood elementary school play ground.
Wow, did I ever have the nicks and cuts on my “prop flip ignition” finger.
And the aroma of that fuel can juice was so lovely.
Later in life I pondered if it was my .409 fuel, or agent orange from the other side of the world and my life.
THEN the crazy twirling about with the plane guide lines in my grip !!
THEN the crazy death spirial of my plane embedding itself into the local playground fat grass turf.
Instant silence. I could only stagger vetrtigo impared over to the impact site.
Well, not much better than that, back to the repair desk.
Thanks Mr. Z.
I see I’m not the only one who has memories of model airplanes.
My father was the airplane modeller. When I was younger, I kept my distance, partly because of the noise the engines made and, also, one could easily get hurt from the props. (This was before the Chicken Stick came on the market.)
Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I started building my own airplanes. I began with some simple hand gliders and made my way through rubber-powered models. I never did get to building an engine-powered plane as I got sidelined with university studies and, later, earning a living.
It saddens me that yet another part of my youth is now gone forever.
Oh man, had a few of those, and some larger ones. My father and brother were into R/C planes, and I flew control-line and free-flight planes for a bit. The .049 was a great engine.
But I was more into rockets — Estes powered from 1/2A to D size. Loved those.