Jetco "Jet 50" Jetex-Powered Free Flight Model

This "Jet 50" kit was part of Jetco's Superflite series. It was designed to be powered by the venerable Jetex 50 rocket motor. It is one of the models I had as a kid in Mayo, Maryland, back in the late 1960s. It was a lot like building and flying the Estes Falcon rocket-powered glider. The big difference was that the "Jet 50" flew at a leisurely pace as the Jetex 50 motor burned for about 20-30 seconds with a gentle "hiss," whereas the Falcon blasted off with more of a "ssst" sound for about half a second whilst the craft ascended to a couple hundred feet high. Each had its advantages. The "Jet 50" could be trimmed to fly in a tight circle in the back yard of our half-acre lot, but the Falcon required bicycling over to Klinken's Field where there was a big open field of many acres.

The "Jet 50" was a quick, simple build that did not even require any kind of finish. At the time, I don't think I had access to dope (the modeling type, not the hippie type), so mine probably was just bare balsa. It saved weight, but that was not my motivation for not painting it.

Many thanks to Mr. Steven Krick for providing the kit to me.

Jetco "Jet 50" Jetex-Powered Free Flight Plans

Posted June 29, 2019