SOLD Robert Goddard Investigates Rockets As Propellors For a Payload

Goddard was a physicist and professor at Clark College with a passion for the possibilities in rocketry, which he believed was a viable technology. In 1914, he received two U.S. patents, one for a rocket that used liquid fuel, the other for a multi-stage rocket using solid fuel. Neither of these fuels was really perfected, so at his own expense, he began to make systematic studies about propulsion provided by various types of gunpowder. His work resulted in a proposal in 1916 requesting funds from the Smithsonian Institution to continue his rocketry research.

World War I intervened, and in 1917-1918, he worked for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and Ordnance Department, developing the basis for a rocket weapon, later known as the bazooka, which was to prove crucial in World War II. Goddard now saw the greatest impediment to successful rocketry as the lack of the right fuel. He made improvements in smokeless powder that greatly increased the efficiency of his motors, but this got him no closer to a working multi-stage design. For a number of years he concentrated on perfecting a mechanism to inject powder cartridges into the firing chamber, but this proved too complicated and prone to failure. Finally he had the insight that liquid fuel would be the answer to his problems, and gave up on solid fuel. He would ultimately be the first to develop a viable rocket motor using liquid propellants (liquid oxygen and gasoline).

Parallel with these experiments, from 1920-1923, Goddard was also a part-time consultant on solid-propellant rocket weapons for the U.S. Government, and used the information he obtained in that capacity to advance his rocketry research. In 1925, in a test at Clark College, a liquid-propellant rocket lifted its own weight for the first time. Then, on March 16, 1926, Goddard achieved the success that proved his rocketry theories were sound, launching the first liquid-propellant rocket. Lt. Commander O.M. Hustvedt was the head of the Experimental Section of the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance from 1919-1922. He met Goddard early in 1919, and aware of his work, made available for Goddard’s use in tests the naval proving ground and its facilities at Indian Head. In an interview he gave to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in 1972, a complete transcript of which is included, Hustvedt stated that “Indian Head was the source of the propellants that he [Goddard] wanted for his rockets because our powder factory was still there…and when he came down with something he wanted to try out, after stopping in at the Bureau to see me and having a little talk, he would normally go down to Indian Head…”

Goddard would then report to Hustvedt on the results of his tests. Hustvedt goes on to explain that “the principal interest of the Bureau of Ordnance in rockets at that time was to explore the potential of the rocket as a propellor for a payload…We visualized, I think, a rocket launcher which would increase the range considerably over what the Y-Gun was capable of.” While Hustvedt was with the Bureau of Ordnance, it was authorized by the Navy to investigate and report upon the feasibility of flying bombs and the remote control of aircraft by radio. The research in these areas had some overlap with Goddard’s work in rocketry, another reason for the Navy’s willingness to cooperate with him. In World War II, as a Rear Admiral, Hustvedt was a battleship commander and member of the Navy Board.

Robert Goddard Autograph Letter Signed on his Clark College letterhead, Worcester, Mass., January 1921, to Lt. Commander Hustvedt, concerning weapons payloads and velocities, concepts he taught in his physics class and utilized in his work for the Navy. “In connection with lectures on mechanical subject, I am interested in the maximum striking energy of a 16” gun, as being the most powerful in existence. I understand the velocity is 2800 ft/sec., and think I have heard stated that the shell weighs 2100 lbs. If it is no secret, I would appreciate knowing whether or not this weight is approximately correct.”

Also included is the unsigned retained copy of Hustvedt’s response to Goddard, January 17, 1921. “Your note with regard to the characteristics of the 16” gun has just been received. The muzzle velocity and weight of projectile you give are correct for your 16” – 50 caliber gun.” The issues of gun propulsion, weight and throwing distance in flight were central to Goddard’s experiments in the area that Hustvedt said most interested the Navy – rockets as propellors for a payload. His work was significant, and contributed to the discovery and use in World War II of rocket-powered missiles, guns and torpedos. Goddard probably also found this information useful in calculating potential distances to be traveled by solid fuel rockets. A very scarce ALS of Goddard.