Rocket man...

[Duncan Grimmond]

Wow, wow, wow, I'm so glad that there are enough crazy idiots around to do stuff like this! I'd love to but don't have the nerve

[Tony Press]

I didn't know that the V1 engine would have been glowing red but of course all the pictures of buzz bombs are in black and white so not obvious.

[jansens]

Those are Lockwood-Hiller style pulse jets. It's basically a specially tuned, resonant pipe. No valves at all. The V1 used a valve style Argus engine where you effectively have a bunch of one way valves in the mouth of the tube.

Describing them as rockets is wrong since they use external air as an oxidiser whereas rockets that need oxygen carry their own fuel and oxidiser.

These might need some air flow to get them started (for these hobby ones compressed air or leaf blower usually) but then will run stationary as others have noted. The Argus engine on the V1 was started on compressed air, it doesn't have to be moving. They launched them up ramps using potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide to generate steam to move a piston in the launcher (like on aircraft carriers) presumably to get the whole bomb up to flying speed quickly. The engine was started before they shot it up the ramp.

Also different to a ram jet which does need to be travelling at high speed before they will work. The SR-71 aircraft engines operated as turbo-ram jets at high speeds. Strapping a J58 on an Austin 7 would be something to see!

Bruce Simpson in NZ did a lot of work on pulse jets quite some time ago: https://aardvark.co.nz/pjet/

I've always wanted to make a pulse jet but ended up making a turbo jet from an old turbochargers instead (over 20 years ago). I've recently been collecting parts to make another, smaller, more portable one.

Simon

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Can retitle the thread "Not Rocket man, Pulse Jet Man"?

[jansens]

Can retitle the thread  "Not Rocket man, Pulse Jet Man"?

I'll let you off this time. But don't let it happen again

Here is a good film of a V1 Argus pulse jet being started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RYO_z3cQ_0

And it looks like they have a nice one on display too.

We have a V1 in the War Memorial museum in Auckland but it's hanging at the top of a stair well so you can't get close to it.

Simon

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Phew!

[Tony Press]

Can retitle the thread  "Not Rocket man, Pulse Jet Man"?

I'll let you off this time. But don't let it happen again

Here is a good film of a V1 Argus pulse jet being started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RYO_z3cQ_0

And it looks like they have a nice one on display too.

We have a V1 in the War Memorial museum in Auckland but it's hanging at the top of a stair well so you can't get close to it.

Simon

Big isn't it - and very noisy close up.  Can you imagine flying close enough to tip it offline in a Spitfire or Hurricane.

[Duncan Grimmond]

"Big isn't it - and very noisy close up. Can you imagine flying close enough to tip it offline in a Spitfire or Hurricane.

Did that really ever happen? I recall on the front of a long defunct publication "Boys World", C.1961or2? , a "What would you do?" conundrum showing a scene as described above. A grand tale of pluck and derring-do but was this ever verified?

[Chris Garner]

V-1 flying bomb - Wikipedia.
See Interceptor section.

[Duncan Grimmond]

Wow, that must have taken a steady hand and nerves of steel!