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The Amazing "Touring Rockets" of the 1950s!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Fascinating! I had no idea.

That hatch in the side about halfway up might just be decorative, but there's a ladder leading up to it on the right in the picture you posted, and there's a gantry positioned on the left side, up near the nose cone, which might lead to a second hatch near the top.

So, now I'm wondering if there was something interesting inside that gorgeous steel rocket! Very Happy

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
A local school in Tonnawanda NY had (And still has!) a Grumman F9F-8 Cougar on display.


Technically, that's the earlier Grumman Panther. It had straight wings with wingtip tanks. The "next gen" Cougar used the same fuselage and vertical tail, but had swept wings, as seen in the second photo of your post. Both aircraft were designated F9F, with the Cougars starting from F9F-6 and up.

Here's a photo showing both aircraft:


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The aircraft on display has the swept back wings with no wing tanks. It is painted all blue now with no insignia on it (Although I remember when it did have the star and bar insignia originaly.)

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Found another in my collection. This photo was evidently a postcard given out to attendees.



Aside from what's on the card, I have no other info. I found the image on another forum site (Alphadrome), and they were stumped as well. It also appeared as an 8x10 photo on eBay.

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That last one is amazing! I've never seen or heard reference to it anywhere.

It's obviously meant as a presentation rocket with an entry and exit door, but whithout any advertising reference on the craft it's a bit of a cipher. It appears to be larger than the Ralston or Silvercup Rockets by a few feet longer.



Plus, it says "entrance" over the first door.
There appears to be a "black-out" curtain inside the door possibly indicating a movie or lighting effect inside.

It seems to be in a parklike setting, not an amusement park or supermarket, so it really is a puzzle!


Last edited by Gord Green on Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

What a gorgeous rocket! I like the design as much as any of the others we've seen!

I tried a Google image search (as I'm sure bother you guys did, too), but all I found was the source Wayne mentioned.

Wow, we have GOT to find out more about this rocket! Shocked

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My best guess would be that it's an early version of the Wisdom Astroliner Space Simulator Ride or a variation of it by another company.

As you can see there are many different versions of it. Most of these are from the 1980's to 2000 period. I don't think there are new ones being produced.


INTERIOR:


SOME VARIATIONS:




























These are all mounted on flatbeds obviously meant to be mobile and hence ---Touring!


Last edited by Gord Green on Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There certainly was a noticeable progression from promotional exhibits to flight simulator rides.

Initially the touring rockets served to promote commercial products (from companies that produced bread, breakfast cereals, processed meats, oil products, etc.), cashing in on the popularity of TV programs to attract an audience. These early rockets were essentially walk-through exhibits, and may have included limited effects to one extent or another: sound effects, shaking or vibration, voice recordings, motorized miniature displays, illuminated instruments, simulated video screens. The most important effect, however, came from the aura provided by the TV shows the rockets represented.

As the TV programs faded away, the rockets became attractions for their own novelty, and the special effects became more important for attracting paying customers or patrons of businesses that owned them. Eventually, the exteriors became less important than the effect of flight simulation, and the walk-through exhibits became sit-down rides.

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you're spot on in your assesment Orzel. The attraction in these rockets was the "tie in" with their respective shows.

It seems the Ralston Rocket made the rounds mainly in supermarkets and shopping centers to tie in with Ralston cereals, while the Rocky Jones Silvercup did supermarkets and state/county fairs as well.

The Astroliners came later and were mainly at amusement parks and traveling carnival shows but had no connection with a radio or TV show although they had a pseudo NASA touch.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Good analysis, guys. Cool

Gord, that is a beautiful gallery of photos showing the flight simulators. Those rides were obviously more plentiful and elaborate than I realized, even after reading your fine initial post about them which introduced the idea to me. Very Happy

Apparently the Luer Rocket — which had seats and a movie screen which presented a brief "space voyage", complete with a shaking floor during blast-off — is the initial inspiration for the flight simulator rides.




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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:38 am; edited 4 times in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
Apparently the Luer Rocket — which had seats and a movie screen which presented a brief "space voyage", complete with a shaking floor during blast-off — is the initial inspiration for the flight simulator rides.

That would fit in with our hypothetical line of development. The Luer rocket had no apparent association with Space Patrol, even though its design was closer than either of the Ralston rockets to a ship connected to the series.



Therefore, they felt it needed some extra gimmick to attract visitors.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

An excellent theory, Professor Orzel! I fully concur, and I'm sure Professor Green does as well.

Professor, I must say that even though you joined this research project fairly recently, you've hit the ground running! And you've energized our enthusiasm for the project with your startling new discovery and your fascinating theories on the subject!

In fact, the more I study the USSS-X-1, the more it looks like a stationary flight simulator rather than a touring rocket. It's not on a flat bed truck, and yet it obviously hasn't been abandoned in a junkyard, either.






I've been doing some research myself today, and just for a "New York minute" I actually thought I'd discovered the identity of your mystery rocket when I found several pictures of the famous "Star Flyer" from Coney Island's Astroland!


*


But on closer examination I saw the clear differences in design. Note the way the fins extend further forward, and the nose cone spike lacks the small "ring" feature which the Mystery Rocket has.




*


However, the photos above show the way the rocket looked in 2006 when it was eventually mounted atop the food pavilion. But the "Star Flyer" (soon renamed the "Moon Rocket") was original brought to Coney Island in 1963 as one of the first flight simulator rides in America.






*


Based on the extreme tilt we see in the picture above, it had the ability to rear back at a steep angle. That's not surprising, because the appeal of this ride must have relied heavily on the physical sensations it provided — tilting, shaking, rocking, rolling, and making noises.

Why do I think that? Well, frankly (based on the pictures below of the interior) the ride didn't provide much for the folks inside to look at! Shocked








Still, I'm guessing it was a popular attraction for several years (I've yet to find a good article with details about it's history), and from the outside it presents a nice appearance.




*


So, even though the Astroland Rocket simulator isn't our Mystery Rocket, it does suggest that way back in the earlier 1960s there were versions of those amusement park Astro-Liners which, as Professor Green discovered, were popular a few decades later.

As you suggested, Professor Orzel, the touring rockets gradually evolved into the amusement park flight simulators, with the Luer Rocket being the "transitional species" in this evolution, followed just a few years later by the Coney Island Astroland Rocket, and eventually leading to the Astro-Liners which Professor Green's team of archeologists excavated from a later geological era!

Now it's our task, gentlemen, to continue our "cyber digs" until we unearth new evidence to help us determine just where the Msytery Rockasaurus fits into the fossil record! Very Happy

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
In fact, the more I study the USSS-X-1, the more it looks like a stationary flight simulator rather than a touring rocket. It's not on a flat bed truck, and yet it obviously hasn't been abandoned in a junkyard, either.

You're not seeing the tires, then? See if this helps...



And since you've introduced the Star Flyer, here's another image (well, two) when it was in its prime.


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Wow! Beautiful. Very Happy

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



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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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alltare
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Obviously this rocket, the USSS X MINUS ONE, was used to promote a popular old radio show. Its predecessor, the USSS DIMENSION X, has been lost to the ages.

Bud Brewster wrote:
In fact, the more I study the USSS-X-1, the more it looks like a stationary flight simulator rather than a touring rocket. It's not on a flat bed truck, and yet it obviously hasn't been abandoned in a junkyard, either.


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