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The Amazing "Touring Rockets" of the 1950s!
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 12:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
Yep, I missed the tires, but I did notice that the spire on the nose cone looked bent upward.

So, I fix it. Very Happy

Thanks, Bud. I kept looking at that and wondering if my eyes (or the camera) were playing tricks on me. Then I figured they may have had to raise it up to clear the cab of the tractor, especially with that tin can on it.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 2:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I get the connection Altare ! That would work if "NBC Radio Corp" had a banner hanging from the side! But you have a sharp eye!

I"ve been looking into the history of the Rocket phenomenam and it's quite interesting.

It seems that "Trip to the Moon" type attractions have existed in some form since the late 1800's at world fairs and expositions.

The earliest such reference I've found was a movie titled A HONEYMOON IN SPACE adapted from a book of the same name by George Chetwynd Griffith from 1901. In the film a newlywed couple go on to a "trip to the Moon" exhibition at the Worlds Fair and find that they are being kidnapped by an alien being who whisks them off to parts unknown.



The plot is similar to an episode of The Outer Limits, "Second Chance" from 1963 . A Carnival space ride becomes frighteningly real when an alien bird-man secretly rigs it with actual rockets. The ominous bird-man carefully picks his unknowing crew including the carny ride captain who's a closet intellectual, an angry middle-aged man, and a star high school quarterback accompanied by his adoring buddy and his steady girl. It was written by David Stevens .



More to come.....

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

By the way, Gord, congratulations on your 1,000th post here on All Sci-Fi!

You made another post after the one above, so your total as of today is 1,001! Very Happy

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I ran across this photo of an apparent flight simulator attraction at the Festival of Britain.

Although the image title carried a date of 1953, information I found on the Festival indicated it was held in 1951.



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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
Although the image title carried a date of 1953, information I found on the Festival indicated it was held in 1951.

I found one site that indicated it was in fact 1953, like the one below. But I can't find any other pictures of the rocket, nor any info about it.

Amazing Colour Pictures of the Festival of Britain in Battersea Park in 1953

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think this is the key to the date issue...
Quote:
The Festival Pleasure Gardens were designed to show a lighter side of the Festival. Memorably it included an amusement park which would eventually outlast all the other entertainments and later become "Battersea Fun Fair" which only closed in the mid 1970s.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The rocket is impressive, and I hope we can find more pictures of it, along with some interesting info. Very Happy

Click on the ink below to view a 1,280px wide version that provides more details.

For example, if you zoom in on the red text and the arrow on the facing side of the stairway with the man in white near the rocket's doorway, you'll see the words Trip to the Moon! Very Happy

And what do the letters B.A.N.C.O. on the nose mean? (Click on the link and enlarge for a better look at the nose.)



https://i.imgur.com/SvUqSLA.jpg
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:00 am; edited 2 times in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From the examples we've seen so far there must be HUNDREDS of "Rockets" laying around in junkyards and parking lots all over the world!

Thanks for your find!
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 3:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It may be that the spaceship was brought in after the 1951 event. I didn't find it shown on the 1951 Festival map.
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
It actually is a touring rocket. It just doesn't have wheels, and must be disassembled between locations.

I remember seeing this when it was here in San Francisco. It was pretty impressive.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Couple of updates...

Remember Gord's post from July of last year showing a coin-operated Space Patrol kiddie ride? It turns out that was one of Randy Hage's astounding 1/12 scale miniatures.



Randy builds miniature store fronts inspired by actual stores he saw and photographed in New York City.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/RandyHageArt/photos/?ref=page_internal

Item 2: Here's a photo of one of the Ralston Rockets that appeared in Pasadena. I don't recall having seen this photo before.



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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No Wayne....That's one I've never seen before.

That just goes to show that there must be hosts of pictures and data that has gone undiscovered just waiting to be found!

Thank you!!!

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This guy built his OWN "touring rocket"!


_The Atomic Camper Is The Future Of Camping In The 1950s


__

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are plenty of yester airlines you could fly on your way to Yesterland — including Western Airlines, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), and Bonanza Airlines. But once you get to Yesterland, only Trans World Airlines — TWA — can take you to the Moon. Well, in reality, only TWA can provide a simulation of it.







The TWA Moonliner is the tallest point in Yesterland — at least if you visit before the construction of 147-foot Matterhorn Mountain. Standing on its three legs, the tip of the 72-foot rocket is 80 feet above the ground, so it’s taller than 77-foot Sleeping Beauty Castle. You can even see the Moonliner from the freeway.





Tomorrowland represents the future — the world of 1986, around 30 years from the present. By then, TWA expects to provide passenger service to the Moon at speeds exceeding 172 thousand miles an hour. In 1986, the trip will take eight hours.



TWA’s Rocket to the Moon gives you a preview of that experience, “in ten thrilling minutes — all without ever leaving the ground.”

The Moonliner is big, but a real Moonliner in 1986 will be even larger. A sign at the base of the Moonliner explains its scale:





THIS 80-FOOT PYLON is a ⅓ scale model of a rocket ship of the future. The full-scale ship would be 240 feet in length and designed to use nuclear energy as fuel.

Stabilized in flight by gyroscopes, it would be controlled by automatic pilots and magnetic tapes. Landing tail-first, no air-foils or wings would be necessary, its vertical descent controlled by its jets. The 3 retractable landing legs would be equipped with shock absorbers.



The light color used on the outer surface is for maximum reflectivity of solar radiation and would probably be a baked enamel finish to resist excessive heat due to atmospheric friction. Liquid coolants would circulate through all window panels and cockpit enclosures.
Launching and landing would be done over a “firing center” to confine and lead off the superheated exhaust gases.

Although this attraction is sponsored by TWA, you still need to present a ticket as you enter the show building.

Your Rocket to the Moon simulation takes place in one of two identical dome-shaped “passenger chamber” theaters. Take a seat in one of the three tiered rows surrounding the screen in concentric circles.



There’s a round projection screen in the center of the floor, another on the ceiling. The floor screen will show you where you’ve been, while the ceiling screen will show you where you’re going — almost as if they were windows.

As you lift off, look at the floor screen. You’re high above the launch pad, then high above Anaheim, and soon high above the Earth. As you leave the Earth’s atmosphere, the blue sky changes to the blackness of outer space. The Moon grows larger on the ceiling screen as the Earth gets smaller on the floor screen.







You don’t actually land on the Moon, but you get to fly around the back side of the Moon. Along the way, you learn interesting facts about the Moon and the planets. Soon you’re heading back to Earth. After your craft turns around, you see your destination on the floor screen. Prepare to land.



Rocket to the Moon opened in Disneyland in 1955. The red-and-white TWA Moonliner was the icon for Tomorrowland. TWA’s sponsorship lasted until 1961.

Douglas Aircraft sponsored Rocket to the Moon from 1962 until 1966. The Moonliner stayed, but it sported a new, less elegant paint scheme. Blue vertical stripes down the rocket were interrupted by columns of large, red uppercase letters spelling DOUGLAS.



Rocket to the Moon closed permanently September 5, 1966. The show building was demolished.

For the New Tomorrowland of 1967, Disneyland built a new, larger show building — again with two round theaters, but larger in diameter and with a fourth concentric circle of seats in each. Flight to the Moon, presented by McDonnell Douglas, opened August 12, 1967. The new version added an Audio-Animatronics “Mission Control” pre-show and moving seats.

The 1955-vintage Moonliner rocket was no longer anywhere to be seen. It had been scrapped.

From July 1969 through December 1972, six manned missions of NASA’s Apollo program landed on the Moon. Travelling to the Moon didn’t seem so futuristic anymore. Although these weren’t passenger flights, the present had caught up with Tomorrowland. Disneyland’s Flight to the Moon closed January 5, 1975, less than eight years after opening.



Mission to Mars, an updated show using the same show building and Audio-Animatronics cast, lasted from March 21, 1975, to November 2, 1992.

Mission to Mars closed in November 1992. But this time, the closing wasn’t to make way for a major update or brand new attraction. Except for a short period in 1996, when part of the building was used for the temporary Toy Story Funhouse, the former Mission to Mars was simply shut. It was part of a sad corner of Disneyland with several other shuttered attractions that weren’t replaced until years later (or not replaced at all): America Sings (closed 1988), the Skyway to Fantasyland (closed 1994), and the PeopleMover (closed 1995).

In 1998, the building was transformed into Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port restaurant, as part of the new New Tomorrowland project. A new Moonliner, approximately two thirds the height of the original, landed near the restaurant’s entrance. The 1998 Moonliner is red-and-white, just like the original — only now it’s the red-and-white color scheme of Coca Cola, not the red-and-white color scheme of TWA.

The sponsors of Rocket to the Moon are now yester-companies. American Airlines acquired the assets of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 2001, marking the end of the once-mighty global carrier TWA. Aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company merged with the McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas (the sponsor of Flight to the Moon). When McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997 to form The Boeing Company, it was the end of the Douglas name and the “DC” (Douglas Commercial) series of airliners.

When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Flight to the Moon was one of the original attractions of Magic Kingdom Park. As at Disneyland Park, it became Mission to Mars in 1975.

Twenty years later, in 1995, The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, an intense, fear-inducing attraction, replaced Mission to Mars. Stitch’s Great Escape! starring the less-menacing alien from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch (2002), replaced Alien Encounter in 2004.

The pre-shows changed; the main shows changed; and the decor changed. But these attractions all used the same infrastructure with a single stand-up pre-show area that led to two round theaters with concentric circles of tiered seating.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

What a magnificent post, Gord! Wow!

I did a Google search of the first line of text to find the source of the article you shared with us, and I discovered that the text and some of the pictures came from this amazing page.



Rocket to the Moon

Presented by TW




The home page of the site is well worth exploring! It features dozens of similar articles on sections of Disneyland that once existed but now are gone. A person could spend many hours exploring this fantastic site.



Gord, I was VERY impressed by the fact that you used a few of the images from the website as well as several others that weren't in the Yesterland article. They added a great deal to the appeal of your post. You did a fine job of researching the Flight to the Moon ride and providing additional material which enhanced the article. Very Happy

Below are the pictures you chose not to use from the article, substituting images that are just as good or better, like that wonderful artwork at the top of his post!








In the late 1950s my family visited Disneyland and I experienced the Flight to the Moon ride.


_________




In 1986 I took my wife and kids to Disney World and we went on the Mission to Mars ride.







Several years later we went again and enjoyed the Alien Encounter ride.





I tried to find a YouTube video which documented Flight to the Moon, but all I found were two which played the soundtrack of the ride while presenting a slide show of images taken back in the 1960s.

I distinctly remember seeing a Disneyland episode in the 1950s which featured the ride, with footage of an audience experiencing it. The episode even included a great special effect of the Moonliner actually blasting off from its pad outside the ride building!

The first video below is the soundtrack of that portion of the Disneyland episode, with a slideshow of photos taken in the 50s or early 60s. Walt introduces the segment (shown in pictures only), followed by the rest of the program's audio with photos only.

You might think that just listening the audio of the ride wouldn't be interesting — but it's not! The ride was a fascinating science lesson about space travel, with a wealth of interesting facts, presented in a fabulous fictional setting.

Enjoy! Cool


__________ 60-177 TWA ROCKET TO THE MOON


__________


This second video is the compete soundtrack of the ride's "preshow" in the waiting area outside the Moonliner cabin, with animatronic technicians behind a glass wall inside Launch Control. The Flight Director addressed a standing group of audience members who were waiting to board the ride.

This is followed by the complete audio of the ride itself.


______________ 60-187 FLIGHT TO THE MOON


__________


This next video does have a 60 second segment at the 1:00 mark which shows film footage of the actual ride with an audience inside, along with a brief portion of the footage the audiences saw on the upper and lower screens inside the ride.

_______ Disneyland's Rocket to The Moon History!


__________

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:59 pm; edited 3 times in total
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