more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/aviation_news_and_search.html The Bell Rocket Belt is flown in several demonstrations during the Summer of 1961 in this compilation of footage. Venues include Fort Eustis Virginia, and the Pentagon courtyard. Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The film was silent. I have added music created by myself using the Reaper Digital Audio Workstation and the Independence and Proteus VX VST instrument plugins. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Rocket_Belt The Bell Rocket Belt is a low-power rocket propulsion device that allows an individual to safely travel or leap over small distances. It is a type of rocket pack... 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 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 vapour. A gas cylinder contains nitrogen 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 and oxygen with a temperature of about 740 °C. This was led by two insulated curved tubes to two nozzles where it blasted out, supplying the propulsion. 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. The Bell Rocket Belt was successful and popular but was limited in its potential uses to the Army due to limited fuel storage... One Bell Rocket Belt is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's, National Air and Space Museum annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located near Dulles Airport. Another resides at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. It has been used in presentations at Disneyland and at the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics 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... 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. Experiments began in the mid-1950s. Developing the engine did not present difficulties — the application of hydrogen peroxide was well developed by missilemen. 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 contracted Aerojet General to conduct feasibility studies on a Rocket Belt and contracted Bell Aerosystems to develop a Small Rocket Lift Device (SRLD)... On 17 February 1961, the pack veered sharply, reaching the end of the safety tether, which then broke, causing Moore to fall approximately 2.5 meters, breaking his kneecap. He could no longer fly. Engineer Harold Graham took over as test pilot and testing resumed on 1 March. He then carried out 36 more tethered tests which enabled them to achieve stable control of the pack. On 20 April 1961 (the week after Yuri Gagarin's flight), on a vacant spot near the Niagara Falls airport, the first free flight of a rocket pack was performed... In subsequent flights Graham 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 carried out 28 additional flights. Wendell Moore worked to achieve reliability from the pack and confident piloting from Graham in preparation of presenting the r...