JC Alpha III

In Primer	On The Pad	In the Air

JC Alpha III is an upscale of the Estes Alpha that was built by John Coker to fly on 38mm motors up to a 38/600. He wrapped the airframe with a layer of carbon fiber, and through-wall mounted the G10 fins. John lost interest in the rocket (probably just got interested in bigger things), and gave it to me when he was doing some spring-cleaning (sort of). I outfitted it with positive motor retention, and an R-DAS, then finished the rocket with a scale Estes Alpha III orange & black paint job. In contrast to Old Glory (an old favorite of mine) that was retiring at the same event, this was the maiden flight for this cute little bird. I broke her in gently on a long burning H45 for a nice slow launch that went about 4300’. Since John designed it to hold a 38/600, and this is a kind of “Oh-by-the-way” rocket, I’ll just work it in between other projects when I get time. I’ll fly bigger & more vigorous motors gradually until something bad happens, I find it’s limit (marginal flight characteristics), or it flies successfully on an I435.