Frederick A. Johnsen’s recent Of Wings & Things — JATO pushed performance — looked back at jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) power. While interest in the column was high, several commenters referred to an Ercoupe as early JATO test bed.
In response, Fred reached out to his connections and was able to gain access to a few documents, including a photo and a page from the JATO-powered Ercoupe’s test report.
In the meantime, enjoy…
Thank you to André Dressler for making me aware of the book Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons that references Ercoupe test flights.
Lastly, Fred is planning to spend some time in the Air Force archives in Montgomery, Alabama, and has added “the Ercoupe rocket plane” to his list for a future Of Wings & Things column.
The “Cub” is either a Porterfield or an Interstate Cadet.
That was not a cub. I too own a nice 46 Ercoupe.
I’ve not tried Jato yet. From what I hear the government has run out of the chemical. I saw Fat Albert take off with it at an airshow at Moffett Field. It was amazing to see.
The Ercoupe Owners Club has the complete filmed documentation on the rocket-assisted Ercoupe tests. They filmed the entire project. They did tests with 4 and 6 rocket boosters. Early on they burned a hole in the tail cone…
Just a note, the information may be be with the Army since at the time it was the Army Air Corp. Also they were comparing the takeoff performance of the Ercoupe against the Cub in the picture. (High, hot and humid, I don’t need your stinking density altitude 😉
March Field is not that high in elevation, 1,535 ft. There were other airports withing a reasonable distance several thousand feet higher. I’m guessing it was the proximity to GALCIT why March Field was chosen.
Anyway, that made the Ercoupe a high performance airplane for a limited amount of flights.
I believe the “Cub” in the picture is actually a Porterfield…
Agreed. As a coupe owner who flew into Oshkosh alongside a Porterfield, I can attest to the speed difference even without rockets strapped to the belly!
Nice pic of the ERCO YO-55.
What a cool article! Never seen an Ercoupe perform like this.
Oh, yeah. It’s a one-of-a-kind example. The YO-55.