Western Museum of Flight, California
HWK 109-509.A-1   Wrk.Nr. T-1817

Thanks to a couple of fellow rocket enthusiasts, I have been able to display pictures of this motor for the first time. The motor is still displayed amongst other exhibits in one of the main halls within the museum.

Robert West was the first to help me out, and has supplied a good long shot of the motor which he took when visiting the museum earlier in 2005.

With a clear, if colourful background, it shows the motor was displayed without any other surrounding items.

Known History.

The garish colour scheme is obviously not standard. It is quite clear that the motor has been painted with the intention of showing different propellant "circuits".

Initially I thought that the red was for C-Stoff and the yellow for T-Stoff. However, the combustion chamber cooling outflow and return flow are different colours, despite being the same propellant, and the two pipes from the C-Stoff inlet for the fuel pump are different colours. Therefore, I am not quite sure exactly what the colours were meant to represent, other than an eye-catching (and completely erroneous) scheme.

Quite by chance, another Komet / Rocket enthusiast, Ludo Kloek also provided some pictures of this motor, although it seems to have moved locations. This possibility always exists with more moveable exhibits, and sometimes you can be very unlucky and find the item you have gone to see is now in store.

Ludo was able to take some pictures from differnet angles, which show the extent of the colourful painting.

Description.

This is a complete motor, albeit without the electrical wiring, but this is often the case.

The condition of the parts seems good - there has been an overpainting spray, in what appears to have been an approximate match for RLM grey. This has covered the original paintwork and also the aluminium piping, but has possibly helped preserve the unt over the years. Peeping through the paintwork is some corrosion, and especially around joints, but the unit is not heavily affected.

There isn't much spectacular about this motor, but it does still retain its data plate, confirming what we can see, that it is an "A-1" series motor, with electrical starter.

Photographs © Robert West and Ludo Kloek - used with kind permission -

Compare this view with Robert West's (above), and you can see the peculiar colour scheme. One thing that is shown in this view is that there is a fault in the thrust line of the combustion chamber - the thrust tube itself seems to be fine, but the point where the Laterne joins is either damaged, or joined incorrectly. The combustion chamber is therefore sitting down at an angle of about five degrees or so.

The frame carries the motor, but from the photographs, it is difficult to know whether the frame is actually supporting the weight of the Laterne, which might otherwise fall, or whether the Laterne mounting plate has just been bent at some point over time.

Seen from the C-Stoff panel side, the motor's data plate is clearly shown. There is also a patch where something has been removed, and this is in the place where the "C" label is usually attached to indicate the C-Stoff panel. The data plate carries the following information:-
Gerat-Nr.:   109-509.A-1
Werke Nr.:   T-1817
Hersteller:   gxz

This view shows the Bosch starter motor (bottom right corner), sprayed grey, and the very distinctive large, curved T-Stoff pipe.

Looking back up the body of the motor, the combustion chamber is towards the camera, and the Laterne and combustion thrust tube, leading all the way towards the main frame. The steam generator is shown clearly.

This is an interesting shot for two quite different reasons. Ludo Kloek has managed to balance the light down into the combustion chamber interior, to plainly show the propellant burners.

The second reason is the wrong reason. Painting the exterior of the metal parts to either instruct of preserve may be forgiven. It would be nice to use the original colours, but choices are made, and maybe there is a good reason for the choice. But it is a real pity that the interior of the combustion chamber has been painted. All the information about the motor, whether it had been fired, the burning pattern, all the life of the thing, and the way you can get to look and almost meet with history are all gone.

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