[327] Setup for final test of JATO unit at Roswell, June 27 1942

Photographer

Esther C. Goddard

Preview

Description

Photograph showing the setup for the final JATO (jet-assisted takeoff test) unit at Roswell, New Mexico before moving operations to the Navy Engineering Experiment Station in Annapolis, Maryland in July of 1942.

Starting in September 1941, Robert Goddard began a period of government contact work for the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department that would extend through the rest of his life. Goddard had been looking for military opportunities since the start of World War II, as questions of national defense became a top priority. Following a period of frustrations, obstacles, and feeling left out of the breakthroughs happening around him re: jet propulsion and rocket-propelled piloted aircraft, he finally secured government work. Goddard and his associates would work on a liquid-fuel, assisted-takeoff unit for aircraft, which required modifying and adapting his rocket from the vertical to the horizontal. The variable-thrust rocket motor he perfected during this period would posthumously become the basis for the Curtiss-Wright engine on the Bell X-2 supersonic research aircraft. Footage from Robert Goddard's 1941-1945 government work can be seen in Reel 11 of The Goddard Rocket Film Reels.

'The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record' is an annotated photo album covering Robert H. Goddard's work and experimentation with rocketry. It was assembled and curated by Esther Goddard sometime after her husband's passing in 1945. Additionally, almost all of the photographs were taken by Esther herself.

Photographs were scanned at 400dpi.

Date Taken

6-27-1942

Type

image

Genre

photograph

Format

jpg

Keywords

Robert Goddard, rocketry, rockets, Roswell, New Mexico, liquid-fuel rockets, liquid propellant rocket engine, variable-thrust rockets, jet-assisted takeoff, rocket-assisted takeoff

Recommended Citation

Goddard, Esther C., "[327] Setup for final test of JATO unit at Roswell, June 27 1942" (1942). The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record [Individual Photographs]. 327.
https://commons.clarku.edu/goddardphotographs/327

Rights

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