ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

                                 

On Tuesday the final flight of Wilfred Ashley McIsaac’s Canadian high powered rocket mail program blasted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario carrying mail with 1936 Gerhard Zucker ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

November 7th, 2012

     A nearly six foot high powered test rocket lifted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario on Tuesday carrying a variety of electronics (EB1 and EB2 [electronics bay 1 and electronics bay 2] in nose cone and booster) as well as twelve pieces of mail with rare 1936 ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

   The 3.42 pound Astrobee D IV was a revised Astrobee D high powered scale rocket originally produced by Aerotech in the United States.  A long list of changes were made to the launch vehicle including the addition of two integral black powder side boosters which were to give the rocket almost forty pounds of thrust.

    Unfortunately during Tuesday’s launch attempt the twin boosters failed to ignite followed by an onboard backup system malfunction.  A similar incident took place on June 29th to a Astrobee D III rocket during the third test flight of the program when three strap-on boosters didn’t ignite and the rocket crashed into a cornfield.  On Tuesday’s launch however the Astrobee D IV remained stable throughout the entire twenty-five second test flight confirming the rockets center of gravity and center of pressure were redesigned correctly. Although the altitude was much lower than expected (prior to flight 2000 feet was calculated and only near 800 feet was reached) the 1 and ½ stage rocket did release it’s payload section (Canadian mail) on time while the recovery system returned the upper stage across the airfield shortly downrange.   The booster landed not far from the payload section after making a hard landing due to a parachute malfunction.

   Tuesdays launch was the final flight of a Canadian rocket mail program dating back to October 31st, 2011 with the ultra successful single motor ARCAS high powered rocket made by Aerotech.   According to the ‘Air Mails Of Canada And Newfoundland’ these mail flights are the first and only in Canada’s history to carry official Canadian rocket mail postal stamps on board and later recovered safely.   Back in 1936 a German businessman named Gerhard Zucker produced the first and only series of stamps intended to be launched inside a rocket in Canada however Zucker was arrested by the Gestapo before he could make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean himself.  As per official record the stamps were never launched in this country until 2011 when rocket experimenter Wilfred Ashley McIsaac commenced his private rocket mail program seventy-five years after the fact near the Thousand Islands in eastern Ontario.  Following Tuesday's launch attempt most of the previously unflown Canadian rocket mail stamps from the 1936 Zucker collection have now made a trip inside one of McIsaac’s rockets.

     Since the programs inception most of the nicely decorated mail covers designed by McIsaac himself have been auctioned off on Ebay by a company on the west coast of the United States named Gemada Stamps.  11 of the 12 covers from the November 6th test launch will make the same trip south of the border and should be available on Ebay through Gemada Stamps before Christmas.  McIsaac, who suffers from long term health issues including rheumatoid arthritis will donate $200 to the Arthritis Foundation on behalf of the Canadian rocket mail program.   In the future more test flights are expected to take place with the three motor Astrobee D IV while the rocket's payload bay will only carry ballast weight.

 

  

(left) Wilfred Ashley McIsaac shows off his precious cargo following Tuesdays rocket mail flight in eastern Ontario.   The letters were later officially cancelled at the nearest post office in Gananoque,Ontario. (right) The upper payload section was returned to the ground safely under a bright orange parachute.    Pictures provided by my Father, Rennie McIsaac.

A short circuit in the booster ignition system may have been the cause of the integrated side booster malfunction.  The test flight did prove however the Astrobee D IV was stable and that future launches could continue.