The Bell Rocket Belt is a low-power rocket propulsion

Spacecraft propulsion

Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...

 device that allows an individual to safely travel or leap over small distances. It is a type of rocket pack

Jet pack

Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....

.

Overview

In the early 1960s, Bell Aerosystems built a rocket pack which it called the "Bell Rocket Belt" or "man-rocket" for the US Army, using hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...

 as fuel. This concept was revived in the 1990s and today these packs can provide powerful, manageable thrust. This rocket belt's propulsion works with superheated water vapor. A gas cylinder

Gas cylinder

A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...

 contains nitrogen

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...

 gas, and two cylinders containing highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide. The nitrogen presses the hydrogen peroxide onto a catalyst, which decomposes the hydrogen peroxide into a mixture of superheated steam

Steam

Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...

 and oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 with a temperature of about 740 °C. This was led by two insulated curved tubes to two nozzles where it blasted out, supplying the recoil. The pilot can vector the thrust by altering the direction of the nozzles through hand-operated controls. To protect from resulting burns the pilot had to wear insulating clothes.

One Bell Rocket Belt is on display at the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

's, National Air and Space Museum

National Air and Space Museum

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...

 annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States....

, located near Dulles Airport. Another resides at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Industrial engineering

Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...

.

Use

The rocket could carry a man over 9-meter-high obstacles and reached a speed of 11 to 16 km/h. However, its flying time was limited to 20 seconds. A later advancement during the years 1995-2000 could not improve the flying time to any more than 30 seconds.

Apart from the extremely limited working time, this rocket belt did not allow for a controlled landing should its drive fail, as it would operate at altitudes far too low for a parachute

Parachute

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

 to function. This represents a substantial safety risk and differentiates the rocket belt from airplane

Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

s and helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

s, which can land safely without power by gliding or autorotation

Autorotation

In aviation, autorotation refers to processes in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The term means significantly different things in each context....

.

It has been used in presentations at Disneyland and at the 1984 Summer Olympics

1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

 and 1996 Summer Olympics

1996 Summer Olympics

The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

 opening ceremonies. It has also been seen in movies and on television. This type of rocket belt was used in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball

Thunderball (film)

Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

. It also made an appearance in the Lost in Space

Lost in Space

Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...

 television series as well as the 1976 CBS Saturday morning children's live action TV show "Ark II

Ark II

Ark II is an American live-action science fiction series aimed at children that aired on CBS beginning in 1976 as part of its Saturday morning line-up...

" .

Specifications

History

Wendell F. Moore began working on a rocket pack as early as 1953 (possibly, after learning about Thomas Moore's work) while working as an engineer at Bell Aerosystems

Bell Aircraft

The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters...

. Experiments began in the mid-1950s. Developing the engine did not present difficulties — the application of hydrogen peroxide was well developed by missile

Missile

Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...

men. The main problem was achieving stable and steady flight; for this, a reliable and convenient control system had to be developed.

In 1959 the U.S. Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 contracted Aerojet General

Aerojet

Aerojet is an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange, Gainesville and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet is owned by GenCorp. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket...

 to conduct feasibility studies on a Rocket Belt and contracted Bell Aerosystems

Bell Aircraft

The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters...

 to develop a Small Rocket Lift Device (SRLD). The experimental rig, which worked on compressed nitrogen, was prepared. Its steel tubing frame allowed a tester to be attached to the rig. Two hinged nozzles were set on the frame. Nitrogen at 35 atmospheres (3.5 MPa) was supplied to the nozzles by flexible hoses. An engineer-operator on the ground regulated the supply of nitrogen through a valve. Additionally, the tester regulated the thrust using levers under his shoulders. The tester inclined the nozzles forward and backward, trying to reach stable hovering at a limited height. A safety tether was attached from below, so that the rig and tester could not fly too high.

Testing

The first tests showed that the human body was a very unstable platform. Experimental testing found the best arrangement for the jet nozzles relative to the center of gravity of both the pilot and pack. Experimentation allowed development of directional control for practical flight. Wendell Moore and other members of his group participated in the test flights. These first flights were more like short and sharp leaps, but further experiments proved the concept successful. These experiments were enough to persuade the military to proceed with development. The Bell company was awarded a contract to develop, flight test, and demonstration a practical SRLD.

For the pack they selected a rocket engine with a thrust of 280 pounds-force

Pound-force

The pound force is a unit of force in some systems of measurement including English engineering units and British gravitational units.- Definitions :...

 (1.25 kN or 127 kgf

Kilogram-force

A kilogram-force , or kilopond , is a gravitational metric unit of force. It is equal to the magnitude of the force exerted by one kilogram of mass in a gravitational field...

). The pack with its fuel weighed 125 lb (57 kg). The pack had a solid glass-plastic frame contoured to the shape of the human body. The cylinders of fuel and nitrogen were attached to the frame. The Engine was fastened using a hinged assembly that was controlled by levers under the shoulders. The engine thrust was controlled through a regulator assembly connected to a throttle handle on the right lever of the device. The handle on the left lever governed the slant of the (jetavators) nozzles. The pilot was strapped to the frame and the tests of the pack began toward the end of 1960. Test flights were performed in a large hangar "on the leash" (i.e., with a safety tether). Wendell Moore completed the first 20 tethered takeoffs personally, checking the functioning of control systems, revealing deficiencies, and improving the construction of the device.

On 17 February 1961, the safety tether caused an accident. During the flight the pack veered sharply and carried the pilot and device to the left. It reached the limit of the tether, which broke. The pilot and heavy pack fell from approximately 2.5 meter height, breaking Moore's kneecap. He could no longer fly. After this, Moore's associate, engineer Harold Graham, accepted the role of test pilot

Test pilot

A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....

. On 1 March flight testing was resumed. Graham carried out 36 more tethered tests. These test enabled him to master stable control of the pack. Finally, pilot and pack were ready for the next step.

On 20 April 1961 (the week after Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

's flight), on a vacant spot near the Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

 airport, the first free flight in history of a rocket pack was performed. Harold Graham reached an altitude of approximately 4 feet (1.2 meters), and then flew smoothly forward at a speed of approximately 10 km/h. Pilot and pack flew 108 feet (less than 35 meters) and then landed. The entire flight lasted 13 seconds. It was at this moment that rocket packs ceased to be fantasy.

In subsequent flights Graham mastered the technology. He learned how to control the pack and perform more complex maneuvers: flying in a circle and turning on a spot. He flew over streams and cars, ten-meter hills, and between trees. From April through May 1961 Graham further perfected his techniques in 28 additional flights. Wendell Moore worked to attain absolute reliability from the pack and confident piloting from Graham in preparation of presenting the rocket pack to the public. In the course of testing maximums of duration and distance were achieved: duration 21 seconds; range 120 m; height 10 m; speed, 55 km/h.

Demonstrations

On 8 June 1962, the pack was publicly demonstrated for the first time before several hundred officers at the Fort Eustis military base. Other public demonstrations then followed, including the famous flight in the Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

 courtyard. On that day Harold Graham flew before 3000 members of the military department, who observed with enthusiasm.

On 11 October 1961, (according to other data, 12 October) the pack was demonstrated personally to President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 in the course of exponential maneuvers on the military base Fort Bragg. Graham took off from an amphibious LST, flew over a strip of water, and landed in front of the President.

Harold Graham, along with an entire command of service personnel, travelled to many cities in the USA. They visited Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Germany, and France, as well as other countries. Each time they achieved enormous success demonstrating the rocket pack in action before the wide public. However, the army was disappointed. The maximum duration of flight of the rocket pack was 21 seconds, with a range of only 120 m. An entire command of service personnel needed to accompany the rocket pack. During flight 5 U.S. gallons (19 liters) of hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...

 was expended. In the opinion of the military, the "Bell Rocket Belt" was more a spectacular toy than an effective means of transport. The army spent $150,000 on the Bell Aerosystems contract. Bell spent an additional $50,000. The army refused any further expenditure on the SRLD program, and the contract was cancelled.

Operating principle

All existing rocket packs are based on the construction of the "Bell Rocket Belt" pack, developed in 1960-1969 by Wendell Moore.

Moore's pack has two major parts:

• Rigid glass-plastic corset (8), strapped to the pilot (10). The corset has a tubular metallic frame on the back, on which are fixed three gas cylinder
  Gas cylinder
  A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...
  
  s: two with liquid hydrogen peroxide (6), and one with compressed nitrogen (7). When the pilot is on the ground, the corset distributes the weight of the pack to the pilot's back.
• The rocket engine, able to move on a ball and socket joint (9) in the upper part of the corset. The rocket engine consists of a gas generator (1) and two pipes (2) rigidly connected with it, which end with jet nozzles with controlled tips (3). The engine is rigidly connected to two levers, which are passed under the pilot's hands. Using these levers the pilot inclines the engine forward or back and to the sides. On the right lever is the thrust control turning handle (5), connected with a cable to the regulator valve (4) to supply fuel to the engine. On the left lever is the steering handle, which controlled the tips of jet nozzles.

• In the figure the hydrogen peroxide cylinders and compressed nitrogen cylinder are designated (pressure c. 40 atm or 4 MPa).
• The pilot turns the engine thrust control handle, and opens the regulator valve (3).
• Compressed nitrogen (1) displaces liquid peroxide of hydrogen (2), which on the tubes enters the gas generator (4).
• There it contacts the catalyst (thin silver
  Silver
  Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
  
   plates, covered with a layer of samarium
  Samarium
  Samarium is a chemical element with the symbol Sm, atomic number 62 and atomic weight 150.36. It is a moderately hard silvery metal which readily oxidizes in air. Being a typical member of the lanthanide series, samarium usually assumes the oxidation state +3...
  
   nitrate
  Nitrate
  The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
  
  ) and is decomposed.
• The resulting hot high-pressure mixture of steam and gas enters two pipes, which emerge from the gas generator.
• These pipes are covered with a layer of heat insulator to reduce loss of heat.
• Then the hot gas enters the jet nozzles (De Laval nozzle
  De Laval nozzle
  A de Laval nozzle is a tube that is pinched in the middle, making a carefully balanced, asymmetric hourglass-shape...
  
  s), where first they are accelerated, and then expand, acquiring supersonic
  Supersonic
  Supersonic speed is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound . For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C this speed is approximately 343 m/s, 1,125 ft/s, 768 mph or 1,235 km/h. Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound are often...
  
   speed and creating reactive thrust.

The whole construction is simple and reliable; the rocket engine has no moving parts.

Piloting

The pack has two levers, rigidly connected to the engine installation. Pressing on these levers, the pilot deflects the nozzles back, and the pack flies forward. Accordingly, raising this lever makes the pack move back. It is possible to lean the engine installation to the sides (because of the ball and socket joint) to fly sideways.

Control with the aid of the lever is somewhat rough; for finer control the pilot uses a handle on the left lever. This handle governs the tips of the jet nozzles. The tips (jetavators) are spring-opposed and can with the aid of the flexible thrusts be slanted forward or back. The pilot inclines the handle forward or back and slants both nozzle tips at the same time to fly straight

Line (geometry)

The notion of line or straight line was introduced by the ancient mathematicians to represent straight objects with negligible width and depth. Lines are an idealization of such objects...

. If pilot must turn, he turns handle, to slant the nozzles in opposite directions, one forward, another back, turning the pilot and the pack around its axis. By the combination of different motions of lever handles the pilot can fly any way, even sideways, to turn, rotate on the spot, etc.

The pilot can control his rocket pack's flight differently, by changing the center of gravity

Center of mass

In physics, the center of mass or barycenter of a system is the average location of all of its mass. In the case of a rigid body, the position of the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body...

 of his body. For example, if we bend the legs and raise them to the stomach, the center of gravity will move forwards, and pack will be inclined and it will also fly forward. Such a control of pack, with the aid of the body, is considered incorrect and is characteristic of novices. Most experienced pilot Bill Suitor asserts that during the flight it is necessary to hold legs together and straight, and to control flight by the pack's levers and handles. This is the only way to learn to competently pilot the pack and to confidently carry out complex aerial maneuvers.

On the right lever it is the "gas handle". In the fixed state it completely shuts the fuel regulator into the engine. Turning the handle counterclockwise, the pilot increases the engine thrust. During servicing of the pack with compressed nitrogen the handle is fixed in the closed position with a shear pin

Shear pin

A shear pin is a safety device designed to shear in the case of a mechanical overload, preventing other, more-expensive parts from being damaged...

. The timer is on the same handle. Since the pack has fuel for only for 21 seconds of flight, it is necessary to know when the pack will run out of fuel, so that the pilot is not 10 meters above the ground when his tanks are empty.

Before the flight the timer is set for 21 second. When pilot turns the handle for the takeoff, the timer begins counting and will give second-by-second signals to a buzzer in the pilot's helmet. In 15 seconds the signal becomes continuous, telling the pilot that it is time to land.

Special features of flights of the Bell Rocket Belt

The pack's pilot wears shielding overalls made of thermal resistant material, since the exhaust jet and the engine's pipes are very hot. The crash helmet (which has inside it the signal buzzer) is put on. The rocket thrust-chamber's supersonic exhaust jet makes a deafeningly loud sound (by force to 130 decibel

Decibel

The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...

s), more like a shrill screech than the roar of an aeroplane's jet engine.

As a rule, the jet exhaust is transparent and not visible in air. But in cold weather the water vapor, which is a large part of the steam-gas mixture, condenses soon after it leaves the nozzle, and then a cloud of water fog enwraps the pilot (for this reason, the very first tethered flights of the Bell Rocket Belt were carried out in a hangar). The jet exhaust is also visible if the fuel is not decomposed completely in the gas generator, which occurs if the catalyst

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 works poorly or the hydrogen peroxide is impure.

RB2000 Rocket Belt

In 1995, the construction of the rocket pack was improved. Three men from Texas, Bradley Wayne Barker (Brad Barker), Joe Wright, and Larry Stanley, after inviting professional inventor Doug Malewicki, built the new version of the rocket pack, which they named "RB 2000 Rocket Belt". The "RB 2000" pack in essence repeats the construction of Wendell Moore, but is made from light alloys (titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

, aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

) and composite material

Composite material

Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

s, has increased fuel stock and increased power. As a result its maximum duration of flight is increased to 30 seconds. On 12 June 1995 Bill Suitor flew the RB2000; afterwards he gave the RB2000 back to Bradley Wayne Barker, who drove away with it, and it has not been seen since. A lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

 resulted. The story is recounted in the book The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession and Murder by Paul Brown, and fictionized in the 2008 movie Pretty Bird

Pretty Bird

Pretty Bird is a 2008 American film. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.-Plot:A sweet-natured guy enlists his pals to help him create and market his idea for a rocket-powered belt...

.

The following is from New Scientist

New Scientist

New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...

 October 2005 [No2519]:

In 1992, one-time insurance salesman and entrepreneur Brad Barker formed a company to build a rocketbelt with two partners: Joe Wright, a businessman based in Houston, and Larry Stanley, an engineer who owned an oil well in Texas. By 1994, they had a working prototype they called the Rocketbelt-2000, or RB-2000. They even asked [Bill] Suitor to fly it for them.
But the partnership soon broke down. First Stanley accused Barker of defrauding the company. Then Barker attacked Stanley and went into hiding, taking the RB-2000 with him. Police investigators questioned Barker but released him after three days. The following year Stanley took Barker to court to recover lost earnings. The judge awarded Stanley sole ownership of the RB-2000 and over $10m in costs and damages. When Barker refused to pay up, Stanley kidnapped him, tied him up and held him captive in a box disguised as a SCUBA-tank container. After eight days Barker managed to escape. Police arrested Stanley and in 2002 he was sentenced to life in prison, since reduced to eight years. The rocketbelt has never been found.

Technical characteristics of rocket pack
	Bell Rocket Belt	RB 2000 Rocket Belt
Duration	21 s	30 s
Thrust	136 kgf (1.33 kN) (calculated 127 kgf or 1.25 kN)	145 kgf (1.42 kN)
Maximum distance	approximately 250 meters
Maximum altitude	18 m	30 m
Maximum speed	55 km/h	96 km/h
Equipped mass	57 kg	60 kg
Fuel stock	19 liters	23 liters

Books

In 1993 a book was published by Derwin M. Beushausen entitled "Airwalker: A Date with Destiny", Rocketbelt History and Construction Plans. This was the first book ever published that went into great detail describing the history of this device and how to actually build it.

In 2000 another book was published by Derwin M. Beushausen entitled "The Amazing Rocketbelt" in which you could find the history and more construction plans for the rocketbelt device.

In 2009 William P. Suitor published a book entitled "Rocketbelt Pilot's Manual" A Guide by the Bell Test Pilot. In this book Mr. Suitor describes the rocketbelt in great detail, including servicing, fueling, and even step by step flying lessons. This is the first book ever published on the rocketbelt device by a man that has actually flown it over the years.

The Bell Rocket Belt was successful and popular but was limited in its potential uses to the Army due to limited fuel storage. As a result, the Army turned its attention to missile development, and the Rocket Belt project was discontinued.

See also

• Bell Pogo
  Bell Pogo
  Bell built several versions of the rocket POGO under contract with the NASA because it was intended to be used as a means of transportation on the moon during the Apollo missions; however NASA decided not to use the POGO because of the risk of a crash, and decided to send the Rover car instead of...
  
   - a two-man flying platform based on the Bell Rocket Belt
• Jet pack
  Jet pack
  Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
  
   - includes the Bell Jet Flying Belt, the RB2000 Rocket Belt, the Moore Jet vest, and the Thiokol Jump Belt
• List of personal aircraft
• Pretty Bird
• The Rocketeer
  The Rocketeer (film)
  The Rocketeer is a 1991 period superhero adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and based on the character of the same name created by comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens. Directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino...
  
  

External links

• The Rocketbelt Caper - Website for the book about rocketbelt history and the Rocketbelt 2000.
• TAM Rocket Belt - The website of the company that makes the Rocket Belt.
• The Rocketman - The website of the company performing Rocketbelt flights today.
• Rocket Belt - Website with information and pictures about flying devices similar to the Bell Rocket Belt.
• video of one of Harold Graham's flights (Windows Media Player
  Windows Media Player
  Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
  
  ).