The Goddard Rocket Film Reels

Reel 11: Development of Jet-Assisted Takeoff (JATO) Unit for US Navy, Roswell NM and Annapolis MD. Sept 1941 - June 1945

Type

Video

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Date

1941-1945

Description

The Goddard Rocket Film Reels consists of twelve four-hundred-foot 16mm black-and-white film reels documenting Robert Goddard's experimental work with rockets in Auburn, Massachusetts, Roswell, New Mexico, and Annapolis, Maryland from 1926 through 1945. These reels were restruck in the mid-1960s, which were then digitized several years ago. Some, and very likely all, of these home movies were shot by Robert's wife Esther C. Goddard. The description for the individual reels 4-8 could not be located, so these reels were grouped to our best estimate. While this video goes significantly longer than the length of one reel, we chose to keep the L series of tests together.

Reel 11 contains footage from tests that aimed to develop a Jet-Assisted Takeoff (JATO) Unit for the US Navy. From The Papers of Robert rom The Papers of Robert H. Goddard: “Beginning in September 1941, the Goddard rocket establishment worked under contracts with the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department and the Army Air Forces. In July 1942 the personnel and equipment were moved to the Navel Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis, Maryland, where they continued until July 1945. During this time a liquid-propellant assisted takeoff unit for aircraft was developed and tested.” Once set up in Annapolis, Maryland, JATO tests took place on a stand overlooking the Severn River.

This list of intertitles is significantly less detailed than the previous ten reels:

(00:11)) Some of the Early Tests of the Takeoff Unit at Mescalero Ranch, Roswell, NM, Oct. 1941-June 1942
(02:30) Some of the Tests at the U.S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Maryland. June 1942-June 1945

Duration

00:12:14

Genre

home movies

Keywords

Robert H. Goddard, rocketry, home movies, motion picture film, jet-assisted take-off, Annapolis

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